Onan Parts - Matt Schurman

[Rich Biebel]

Jeff with 1000hrs there is a good chance the brushes are worn.
If I was working on it I would remove the control board....it is below the starter solenoid........pull the connector out and ohm test across the 2 pins that are from the brushes.....9 and 10 IIRC......A good number there is probably 20-30 ohms......I would also rotate the engine by hand at the blower wheel and watch the ohmmeter.....

If you have a high reading or an open, that's your problem...

The brushes are under the blower wheel.....Not accessible without pulling it apart.....

If that's not what you find than it is very possible the control board is bad or even something worse....

Onans are good but they do have failures like any machine can...

[Jeff Niceswanger]

Originally Posted by Rich Biebel

Jeff with 1000hrs there is a good chance the brushes are worn.
If I was working on it I would remove the control board....it is below the starter solenoid........pull the connector out and ohm test across the 2 pins that are from the brushes.....9 and 10 IIRC......A good number there is probably 20-30 ohms......I would also rotate the engine by hand at the blower wheel and watch the ohmmeter.....

If you have a high reading or an open, that's your problem...

The brushes are under the blower wheel.....Not accessible without pulling it apart.....

If that's not what you find than it is very possible the control board is bad or even something worse....

Onans are good but they do have failures like any machine can...

Ok . Thanks .. I'll ohm test it .. If it ohms good, I'll buy a board ..

[Ernie Neal]

Jeff, I had an issue with mine, whereas it would not stay running and was the commutator dirty. I had to have another person start it while I cleaned it with this 7" long 1/2" wide .110" stick with a piece of scratch cloth taped to it. Once I had it shining for both brushes, worked fine. I did mine from the bottom side through flywheel vent slots.

Ernie Neal
SS 354

[Jeff Niceswanger]

Originally Posted by Ernie Neal

Jeff, I had an issue with mine, whereas it would not stay running and was the commutator dirty. I had to have another person start it while I cleaned it with this 7" long 1/2" wide .110" stick with a piece of scratch cloth taped to it. Once I had it shining for both brushes, worked fine. I did mine from the bottom side through flywheel vent slots.

Ernie Neal
SS 354

Thanks Ernie
I have one or 2 of those brushes in my tools at work .. If it ohms funky, Ill give that a try .. was you able to do that while it was still in the motorhome

[Rich Biebel]

Jeff there is no way to access the brushes on a 4KY Onan without disassembling it. Ernie is likely talking about an older Onan like a BGE. Completely different. 2000-2001 Onan redesigned all their RV generators. The older 4-6.5 models had easy access to the brushes and slip rings. The new style 4's do not have the same easy access.

[Ernie Neal]

Rich, you are correct, it is a 6.5 BGE.

Ernie