A/C power from generator.

[Kevin Dullea]

I just bought this 83 Brougham rv and the gen charges the battery, but no A/C to the camper. There is a 30A outlet mounted right inside of where the power cord is stored. The power cord was cut. and I am adding a male 30A plug. it did come with a 30A extension cord.  The A/C does work when plugged to shore power. Could the Gen be powering that box? Plugging the RV cord into that box be how I get A/C to the camper? I do not see any power center. just the A/C-D/C power bow with CB and Fuses. 

Thanks for the help.

[david craft]

All the original settings govenor wise should be good then. Most of these old sets never got used. Thanks for the sea foam trick. It should be stated that the main fuel tank needs to be a 1/4 full for the gens to get fuel. Other issues...cracked fuel Lines from tank, Clogged fuel filter, low oil level switch.

[Jim Stoltz]

I put the sea foam in a gallon of gas and had the generator suck it out of a windshield washer fluid bottle. It worked well.

Last time I went to "exercise" the generator it wouldn't stay running. My fuel gauge doesn't work so I keep a log. There was no way it could be below 1/4 tank...but it was. The fuel economy on this thing is not right - sub-5 MPG if my calculations are correct. I have some carb work to do.

[John "T" Nordhoff]

If its a 6500 there may be two breakers, however I think they are toggled together so if one trips the other does also

 John T

[david craft]

I dont think they bridge John because the loads are independant. They usually bridge the 220 or I imagine 440

[John "T" Nordhoff]

"I dont think they bridge John because the loads are independant. They usually bridge the 220 or I imagine 440"

 David, you may be correct, I just don't recall its been too long. Sure in AC power distribution the code often requires ties for safety but that's a different thing then when running two 120 VAC circuits out of a genset?????

 John T

[Jim Stoltz]

Mine appears to be wired up like the top diagram. One circuit goes to the rear A/C and the other to the breaker box. 27.4 amps each according to the manual.

[Kevin Dullea]

I just plugged in to he box it works great. I need to service the gen. Plug, fuel filter, air filter, oil change. Anything ekse? I posted pictures.

[Jim Stoltz]

I did all those things to mine when I first fired it up after a 6-year nap. It seems to be happy. I had some surging that was cured by running some Sea Foam through it.

[John "T" Nordhoff]

The older Onans used mechanical breaker points which are located up on top under a small rectangular metal box cover, if it has points Id change and gap them, new plugs, oil and air filter good to go......

 John T

[david craft]

I mentioned the carbon scraping of the cylinder head at 200 hours I believe. I did one once and did notice a difference. When it first fired, it came to speed fast. Before the cleaning it came up to RPM slowly. So maybe that could be used as a guage as well as to whether the carbon really needs to scraped or not.

[Lakota Wolf]

I read an article about maintenance on the older Onans. After so many run time hours ( i can't be sure how. many hours). But removal of the cylinder head and using wire brush to clean. top of the head and valves.I have done it to 2 Onans and it did seem to make a.positive difference. I just refered the old briggs and stratton engines that would gum up.

[Jim Stoltz]

I hope to never have to remove mine - not sure how I'd do it. That would be the only way to get the heads off of it.