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Old 07-11-2016, 04:33 PM   #1
flybynight
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Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: East Coast
Posts: 15
Onan 4000 KY gas series - intermittant shutdown

I've been looking into this for a couple of weeks now:

The unit is 2010 era with about 115 hours total on it.

Symptom:
Generator starts, runs for about 35 minutes or so, just shutdowns. It acts like it's out of gas, sputters a little bit, then just stops, almost as if I shut it down manually. It won't start afterwards (turns over, but doesn't run). When I try to prime it, I don't hear the normal buzz, buzz, click, click sound typically when I hit the prime button.

It doesn't matter if it's under load or not, same result. Reports no error code when it does this.

Loosened gas cap - didn't know if this thing can get vapor lock or not.

I let it sit for for a couple of days and then it starts up and does the same thing again. (with no other changes). Gas is at 3/4 full tank.

Anyone seen this before?

I've been running gas with seafoam and Marine stabil (to remove ethanol). I've since found a gas station that has no-ethonol unleaded (at my next fill up it will get this gas).

The one time I did get an error code it was 3 x 3..??

It's been running fine every month for the last 3 years or so.. This is the first sign of trouble. I did notice a light film of oil on the control unit just below the air filter, it looks like there's a little bit of oil coming from the crankcase ventilation line and seeping out from the oil filter housing directly above it, but since this thing doesn't have a PCV valve, I didn't think it's that bad considering it's 3 years worth..Oil level is fine, about 1/8" below full.

My thought is fuel pump, thinking about ordering one just to have as a spare.. I did a tune up 3 years ago (new plug, cleaned the manifold, oil, new air filter.). The other thought is bad low-oil shutdown switch, but I would think an error code would be shown in this situation.

I noticed there's a little green filter (fuel), that I don't think I changed originally, not sure if this could cause this problem.
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Old 07-11-2016, 04:55 PM   #2
dcg9381
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Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Texarkana, TX
Posts: 1,052
Hard to do internet diagnosis.
Onan 5500s have a decent track record of having fuel pump issues (vapor lock) when they get hot.

Is there any sort of hot-start protection against priming? If not, I think the fuel pump is a prime candidate... I'd probably (carefully) drop the bowl drain and confirm that the pump is able to work when hot...
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Old 07-11-2016, 05:00 PM   #3
flybynight
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Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: East Coast
Posts: 15
Unfortunately, I can't drop the bowl, the KY series are soldered/permanent (EPA pollution control). I would have to remove the entire carb (already did that when I first got the trailer - I bought it used in 2013)

I was thinking about disconnecting the fuel filter and see if I get gas out it, but even then it's a job just to get to that. Replacing the fuel pump is about 10x effort. If I have to "go in", I'm going in to replace it. I don't like dealing with things more than once - at least not right away
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Old 07-13-2016, 04:15 AM   #4
frankyb01
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Location: Dover, Delaware
Posts: 60
ck the coil

My suggestion would be to check the ignition coil. Immediately after it quits, before anything has a chance to cool down, check to see if you have spark. If not I would suspect the coil being bad. Doesn't happen very often but occationally one will form a crack somewhere around the windings. Too microscopic to see but as the coil heats up the crack starts to expand and develops a short to ground which effectively turns off the ignition. After everyting has had a chance to cool down it closes back up until the next heat cycle. Just something else to consider
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