Onan Mayday!

Deep C · 09-26-2009, 12:41 AM

They were working on dock electric today so I was without power... Figured I'd piddle around and just make sure all was good. Been a week since i ran the genset so I went to light her up.

It was cold and first crank she didn't want to light. Gave her a few seconds of preheat and tried again. She almost lit but still cold. Went about ten seconds more pre heat and went to start. Turned maybe a second then all 12 volt to her just up and died???

Her little battery guage dropped to the bottom. No light no nothin. Checked back at the set and those switches dead too. Rest of ship has good 12 volt no issues all happy.

Its like a breaker tripped or a fuse but damned if I can find one along the line. This is the 8kw model. There is a little red "fault" reset button. It looked fine. I pressed it and its just flush with its fitting, no in or out movement...
Is there another accessible breaker on these units? Looked behind the pannel and saw no fuses at that end or even in the control box...???

Andaman Andy · 09-26-2009, 03:38 AM

Could your gen-set have its own independent battery that has now gone flat? if so you may have a parallel switch to start it.

Deep C · 09-26-2009, 10:29 AM

No she has a series of three feeding her and all the 12 volt side... They are all good. Its like a breaker or blown fuse but I can't find one in the line..

canyongear · 09-26-2009, 12:22 PM

Deep..
got juice to the starter solenoid/shut down on the engine? test light. when throwing the start swith on the panel.

Deep C · 09-26-2009, 02:42 PM

No juice back at engine or at panel. Control box does appear to have three or four "fuse" type thingies. And also that "Fault" reset... If the fault reset is bad I could have cooked one of those fuse type thingies and thus no juice... Theres a lot of spaghetti in there. I have full schematics but they are written in fluent electriceese and I have a tough enough time with english much less than that.

I have a lead to a genset guru... He just don't answer phones on saturday...

Not ike theres anything else to do. Its two inches cold outside with about 20 knots shifting all over the place. It seems the few tuna that were at this end went far away. Some weakfish in the river though... If I get grumpy enough maybe I'll go trash some trout...

Deep C · 09-28-2009, 05:02 PM

I guess this is why the pros get the big bucks!

Holy crap... Not in a million, no make that two million years would I have been able to find the problem on my own. I could have stripped the unit down to the last nut and bolt and not found it... It even had the Onan man scratchin his head.

I think the scumbag engineers that put this unit together went to the same school of sadism as some boat companies designers did! Power here but not there. othing making sense. I said from the begining that I felt it was a fuse but where was that little bastard?
The starter on our unit is about two inches inboard on the bulk head side. Even when we accessed it with a shoe horn and KY to get our hands back to the un reachable it was still nowhere to be found. Power here but not there. Running fingertips as our eyes he finally felt a lump. There, behind the starter in a coil of wire wqas a burnt fuse... AHA!
Changed it but system still dead... Ok the blown fuse was a casualty cause by something else. There was a complicated little gizmo in there called a controller. Now she had power in but not out. I guess it has an inaccessible open/ close circuit in there that was open. Closed it and bingo we had juice but no start...
Dug deeper... Solonoid that opens the throttle was staying closed. That explains the no start from the other day... One micro blob of dust had settled and bonded to that shaft after her last shut down and was holding her back from opening. Wiped clean and all good.
I knew it was something simple. Actually three simple things that all happened at once but it took some real knowhow to source the issues to be corrected. Thanks to Cammys Dad Don for putting me on the Onan man, Vinny...

crispy167 · 10-30-2009, 02:50 PM

glad ya got 'er fixed, sounds like a nightmare i've had several times

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09-26-2009, 03:38 AM	#2
Andaman Andy Crab mustard is good Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Phuket Thailand Posts: 629 Credits: 2,121.8 Home Port: Chalong Bay, Phuket, Thailand. Occupation: Fishing Guide	Could your gen-set have its own independent battery that has now gone flat? if so you may have a parallel switch to start it.

09-26-2009, 10:29 AM	#3
Deep C Master of all things wet Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: The Plywood State Posts: 13,716 Credits: 43,413.8 Boat: Several Home Port: Palm Beach Best Catch: Mrs Deep Occupation: Killin Stuff	No she has a series of three feeding her and all the 12 volt side... They are all good. Its like a breaker or blown fuse but I can't find one in the line..

09-26-2009, 02:42 PM	#5
Deep C Master of all things wet Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: The Plywood State Posts: 13,716 Credits: 43,413.8 Boat: Several Home Port: Palm Beach Best Catch: Mrs Deep Occupation: Killin Stuff	No juice back at engine or at panel. Control box does appear to have three or four "fuse" type thingies. And also that "Fault" reset... If the fault reset is bad I could have cooked one of those fuse type thingies and thus no juice... Theres a lot of spaghetti in there. I have full schematics but they are written in fluent electriceese and I have a tough enough time with english much less than that. I have a lead to a genset guru... He just don't answer phones on saturday... Not ike theres anything else to do. Its two inches cold outside with about 20 knots shifting all over the place. It seems the few tuna that were at this end went far away. Some weakfish in the river though... If I get grumpy enough maybe I'll go trash some trout...

09-28-2009, 05:02 PM	#6
Deep C Master of all things wet Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: The Plywood State Posts: 13,716 Credits: 43,413.8 Boat: Several Home Port: Palm Beach Best Catch: Mrs Deep Occupation: Killin Stuff	I guess this is why the pros get the big bucks! Holy crap... Not in a million, no make that two million years would I have been able to find the problem on my own. I could have stripped the unit down to the last nut and bolt and not found it... It even had the Onan man scratchin his head. I think the scumbag engineers that put this unit together went to the same school of sadism as some boat companies designers did! Power here but not there. othing making sense. I said from the begining that I felt it was a fuse but where was that little bastard? The starter on our unit is about two inches inboard on the bulk head side. Even when we accessed it with a shoe horn and KY to get our hands back to the un reachable it was still nowhere to be found. Power here but not there. Running fingertips as our eyes he finally felt a lump. There, behind the starter in a coil of wire wqas a burnt fuse... AHA! Changed it but system still dead... Ok the blown fuse was a casualty cause by something else. There was a complicated little gizmo in there called a controller. Now she had power in but not out. I guess it has an inaccessible open/ close circuit in there that was open. Closed it and bingo we had juice but no start... Dug deeper... Solonoid that opens the throttle was staying closed. That explains the no start from the other day... One micro blob of dust had settled and bonded to that shaft after her last shut down and was holding her back from opening. Wiped clean and all good. I knew it was something simple. Actually three simple things that all happened at once but it took some real knowhow to source the issues to be corrected. Thanks to Cammys Dad Don for putting me on the Onan man, Vinny...

10-30-2009, 02:50 PM	#7
crispy167 Weaky wacker Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: PA Posts: 27 Credits: 100.1 Boat: 23' Seaswirl Striper Home Port: Indian River, DE Best Catch: 152# mako	glad ya got 'er fixed, sounds like a nightmare i've had several times