Onan Generator starter seems to be locked out

[Alaska JD]

I have an 8K Onan generator on a 1989 OA 42. The water separator bowl on the fuel filter started to leak. I shut off the fuel and replaced the fuel filter but forgot to open the fuel line when restarting the generator. The generator attempted to start immediately but also quit due to lack of fuel. Not remembering I’d such the fuel off, I made two more attempts to start it before remembering the fuel valve. I opened the fuel valve, refilled the filter and attempted to restart. The fuel throttle solenoid clicked and the control switch went to off. Fearing a hydrolock, I disconnected the exhaust hose to drain any accumulated water, expecting at least a gallon or two. All that came out was about a cup. Does anyone have ideas about what the problem might be and where to go from here. Is the Control switch actually a circuit breaker? TIA!!!

 

[Alaska JD]

Verified no hydrolock by turning engine by hand. Now looking for starter circuit fuse. Still confused by the fact that the Control switch pops to the off position when attempting to start.

 

[Portage_Bay]

Those older Onan control systems can be challenging to diagnose if you're unfamiliar with them. There are some true Onan experts on smokstak.com.

 

[TowLou]

Push your safety switch. May have a overcrank fault due to not starting if it is not cranking. Got any pictures of it?

 

[twistedtree]

What "control switch" are we talking about? Is this the fuel shutoff/turn-on solenoid? Is it possible it's an energize-to-run solenoid, and is supposed to activate when you turn on the key or however you start it?


What I would expect in this situation is that yo need to bleed the air out of the fuel system. If the engine has an electric lift pump it might be self bleeding. I know some Onans or, but that might be for models newer than yours.

 

[Alaska JD]

I really appreciate all the input. About 30 minutes ago I used a fuse system to bypass the control switch which I learned is actually a 15 amp circuit breaker designed to protect the electrical circuits from a short or over charge. The generator started right up. Apparently the breaker is bad. Now to find one that fits in that hole. Thanks again for all the input. Apparently my cranking the engine for 15 or 20 seconds had nothing to do with the breaker failure. The failure was a coincidence. I learned a lot digging around the gen set though