Generator dies after 2-3 minutes?

[OutCole'd]

Anyone run into this? Generator worked fine yesterday, ran it for 3-4 hours. Last night I go to start it and it starts fine, but dies after just a few minutes.

2017 Alante Onan

I tried to look at my owners manual only to find, all they give you is a CD rom. Not much I can do with that when all I have with me is an ipad and phone.

Fuel level is at 3/4 tank.

Thanks

[Ruth]

Sounds like the float is stuck closed. If you can get to the carburetor, tap the bowl at the bottom of the carb to attempt to unstick the float.

[RogerR]

Check if you have a fuel filter, if it is nearly fully plugged up it might let enough fuel to start but then starves itself.

If you have a filter and take it off run a little fuel into a glass or plastic bottle and look for debris and water in the gas or diesel.

We had an old genset outside a cabin that got condensation in it from time to time and we put in a sight glass that would show us when to service it.

[etex211]

Make sure the oil level is not low. It may have an oil safety shutoff switch.

[Farris7]

If your tank is separate from the couch try running some sea foam in it- it will clean out any varnish from the system. Also fill it with non ethanol fuel if you can- the fuel in generator tanks tend to sit longer than they should- fuel with ethanol is not you friend.

[PonyExpress]

check fuel cap vent. Ive seen it happen

[Grumpy]

is the red light flashing, that will give you code.

[MikeThompson]

I have a 2018 Precept. My gen ran great for about 4 hours, then stopped. I could prime it and it would run for a minute or 2. I checked the fuel line and found that Jayco had connected it to the fuel tank with a zip tie. The zip tie came loose, line twisted and got a kink in it, so no fuel flow. Easy fix. Check that.

[klspahr]

In the past I had an Onan that would stop when it was real hot outside. One time it stopped, I removed the fuel line, pointed it into a bucket and hit the start button - not a drop of fuel came out. I replaced the electric fuel pump and never had another problem with that generator.

It's an easy thing to check.

Good luck.

[Ela1948]

Originally Posted by OutCole'd

Anyone run into this? Generator worked fine yesterday, ran it for 3-4 hours. Last night I go to start it and it starts fine, but dies after just a few minutes.

2017 Alante Onan

I tried to look at my owners manual only to find, all they give you is a CD rom. Not much I can do with that when all I have with me is an ipad and phone.

Fuel level is at 3/4 tank.

Thanks

Put in a new spark plug! Had that happen exactly the same way. Turned out that the plug shorted as soon as it got hot!

[OutCole'd]

Thanks fot all the responses. I'm not sure what was up with it, it's a new unit and about 11 hours on the gennie. I ended up trying it one more time Saturday afternoon, and all was fine from then on. No idea but i'm good now.

[bdreinv]

Was out last week had a tank of gas I had for got the fuel stabilizer and it was a month old.The 2000 would barely run, dumped out old gas filled with new ran normal!

[jhall]

take your RV to the Cummins dealerin North Las Vegas as a generator should be under warranty just got mine back from there mine would only run five or 10 min. it was flashing a code 58. Cummins replace the carburetor under warranty so far so good

[OutCole'd]

Originally Posted by jhall

take your RV to the Cummins dealerin North Las Vegas as a generator should be under warranty just got mine back from there mine would only run five or 10 min. it was flashing a code 58. Cummins replace the carburetor under warranty so far so good

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind if/when it happens again.

[Hazman65]

X2 on the oil level. I had exactly the same issue. The oil was low but would allow it to start. Once it got warmed up the level dropped enough for the switch to kill it. Took me a while but have never had the issue since then.