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McKenziek's avatar
McKenziek
Explorer
Dec 08, 2015

Onan 5500 Propane model wont stay running until warm

Got a strange issue. When cold, the unit will take about 20 attempts to keep it running. Each try the gennie will run for a little longer until finally it runs. The first time this happened I thought it was because the oil was low, which it was, but after changing the oil and filter the problem didnt go away. Any ideas?
  • Check the intake on the generator, some have a cold weather setting that takes warm air from the generator engine to keep the intake from freezing up.
  • Just for future reference, there's only two ways oil would affect running:

    1. If the generator has a low oil sensor and the oil was critically low, it would not run at all, and you would get an error code or indicator light indicating low oil.

    2. If the generator is old-school and the oil was critically low, it would run its little heart out until it seized up, quite possibly accompanied by some disturbing noises such as clanking or squealing, and a loud bang. You may find pieces of the engine's insides, outside.

    Just being a little low on oil, even down to the ADD mark on the dipstick would not cause the engine to run differently.
  • Sounds like a carburetor issues, while not like a regular gas motor propane motors do have a carb per say, and it sounds like it's not running a richer mixture when cold like the auto choke on gas carbs.

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