Onan generator quit running

Hi all,

Just started a 6 week trip in 2010 2551S last Wednesday.  First night near Elko, NV we turned on the generator to run the air cond, dry camping.  It ran fine for 30 minutes and then died.  It starts and runs slow for about 5 seconds and dies.  It shows a fault code #12 "controller unable to maintain rated voltage".  There are only 2.8 hours on the generator.

I called Phoenix next day, determined it wasn't anything simple and said to find authorized Cummins/Onan dealer for help.  We will be in Missoula, Mt next week and will get to the authorized full service distributor there to see what is going on.

Anyone have any experience with this problem?

Thanks, Bob

Remember, if you have the Ford gas-V10 with gasoline generator, the generator gets it's gas from the main fuel tank.  When the main tank runs down to 1/4 full, the generator runs out of gas.  The generator fuel line is installed so it guarantees leaving the main Ford V10 engine with 1/4 tank of gas.

I don't know what a code #12 means.  Hopefully your generator troubles has quick resolution.

Hi Ron,

The gas level was the first thing Bob at Phoenix mentioned, the tank was nearly full.  Also, I made sure the oil level was ok since the generator will shut down if the oil pressure is low.

Hopefully it can get fixed when we get to Missoula next week, since we have 5 more weeks to go!

Bob

We have a 2009 2350. We had it for roughly a month and had a similar problem. Our generator would run for about 5 minutes with a full load (including the AC on) and it would die. I brought it to an repair man I trust and he found that the carb was set to full choke which was flooding out the engine after a few minutes of operation. He had to change the oil (he showed me you could smell gas on the oil dipstick) and after he adjusted the carb it ran for about 15 minutes with a full load and then died. After some debug he found that the fuel pump was defective - he took the fuel line to the carb off and couldn't get any fuel to come out of the hose while holding the button to prime the generator. The pump must have been working intermittently. After the fuel pump to the generator was replaced the generator ran like a champ.

Got the generator fixed at Cummins Northwest in Missoula, Mt today.  They quickly determined that the voltage regulator in the controller was defective, the controller shut down the generator because the voltage was too high.  They had a new controller in stock and had it repaired quickly.  Great service from Cummins Northwest in Missoula, Mt.