BAC Forum
General Boards => Technical Support => Topic started by: Jim Nichols on November 03, 2015, 08:01:51 PM
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We've had 3 Onan dealers give us opinions of why my generator would not carry a load. Columbus MO. came close and got it to charge batteries, but not the air conditioners. Cummins/Onan in Sacramento was able to get it right. They did a compression check and found 2 cylinders at 300 psi while the other one was at 206 psi. Should be at 400 all three. They wanted 9,500.00 to replace the Kubota and that price included the diagnosis. A new unit is over $9k plus labor and the diagnosis. Lots of 7.5 k used gens out there but didn't want to go that route. Found a new 8k for $8,500 plus shipping but we're still into Onan for diagnosis. Short story joined the Cummins Power Club for $20.00 and got 10% off parts and labor so out the door back to normal and new engine $8,500. SO what caused the engine's death? They found the air box where the filter is attached was cracked and basically dusted the engine over 1359 hours of running. There's no way one would know you had a crack in the air box. It is an all plastic box with blind nuts for attachment and the crack was at one of those nuts about 2" or so long. Oh yeah, got us a one year warrantee on it.
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Jim...What tough luck on that boo-boo. :( Glad you finally received the right diagnosis. Good luck with the 8 k one.
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I would complain/ whine to your Onan service rep. i agree that killed the engine, but a plastic box on such a mission critical part?? Really?? A minimum expectation would be a service advisory for others who may have the same issue.... Engine should have ran 15x longer than that. Kubota is a quality built engine.
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Jim,
I would vote for some complaints, that genset was not that old. They should do a recall and change those out if they do not hold up. It may be tilting at windmills but worth some effort. Glad you documented it on BAC Forum, if you had a photo of the cracking to post, that would be helpful.
Later Ed
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Jim,
Feel the pain. I had to drop $3K+ into the Onan in the Marquis due to a bad stator before I traded it. You said the crack was in the air box. Is this the box that contains the air filter and if so, why didn't the filter prevent the problem?
Steve
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Fact ~ unfiltered air destroys piston rings.
Fact~ multiple Onan Dealers missed the faulty filter housing.
You pay your hard earned money for factory service to AVOID costly debacles such as this.
Almost seems like this discussion should be in front of a judge.