Gen died, slides are out. Now what?

[Allthatcangowrong]

Hey gang! First post here. I'm the accidental owner of a 2002 Kountry Star class A "recreational" vehicle. Seems I just chase one problem after another, sound familiar? I'll skip over what preceded my current predicament, in favor of saying my generator was running rough the other day, I have the vehicle in a protected lot and was doing some (more) repair work on the interior when I noticed the generator gasping and smoking a fair bit. (It has 750+ hours on it, that's another story).

Problem is that today it wheezed itself into a flatline, before I could retract my slides. I can run an extension cord from the patient and generous fella who owns the auto repair shop within reach of my rig, question is - will that be enough to get the slides powered and retracted so I can take my ailing amigo to a medic to see about the generator? I've had the vehicle for a year, believe it or not, this would be the first time connecting it to shore power since buying it. No idea if slides need more juice than an extension cord can provide.

thanks is advance for any insight!

 

[Ilovemaui]

I see no reason why not.

 

[Old Bubblehead]

You have nothing to lose in trying. Other option is to get some advice on how to manually crank them back in. Depends on what system it is.

 

[Allthatcangowrong]

Ok, this is what I needed to hear, thanks guys!

 

[NWIP]

You can try but I doubt it will work if you are plugging into a 15 or 20a plug. As for the generator sounds as if it could be fuel filter. If you are mechanically inclined, I would change oil, oil filter and fuel filter. Onan generators can give you codes usually via the on/off switch light flashes.

 

[mbutts4901]

Hilarious write-up (humor blunts the pain of RV ownership)! I look forward to more stories about your Kountry Star.

 

[Allthatcangowrong]

You can try but I doubt it will work if you are plugging into a 15 or 20a plug. As for the generator sounds as if it could be fuel filter. If you are mechanically inclined, I would change oil, oil filter and fuel filter. Onan generators can give you codes usually via the on/off switch light flashes.

I wouldn't mind learning how to do this but the lot I keep my RV in doesn't allow maintenance work so I'd need to either park it on a side street to do the work or be sly. But thank you for these tips l, I'll look into getting the parts. It's a 20 year old generac, one guy I talked to refused to work on it because he said they don't make the seal kits anymore. (To his credit the generator does leak a bit of oil.) Anyhow yeah I'll need to solve the generator problem next, gonna see if I can get these slides retracted tomorrow. Thanks again for your suggestions.

 

[Voyageurs]

I wouldn't mind learning how to do this but the lot I keep my RV in doesn't allow maintenance work so I'd need to either park it on a side street to do the work or be sly. But thank you for these tips l, I'll look into getting the parts. It's a 20 year old generac, one guy I talked to refused to work on it because he said they don't make the seal kits anymore. (To his credit the generator does leak a bit of oil.) Anyhow yeah I'll need to solve the generator problem next, gonna see if I can get these slides retracted tomorrow. Thanks again for your suggestions.

Use decent gauge extension cords. The converter charging the batteries will only draw about 6 amps. Make sure fridge and water heater are off and when I say water heater I mean the electric side. Assuming you have less than a 100 foot run it will be fine. Plug it in and let the converter bring the battery voltage up for about 15 minutes before trying the slides.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[Allthatcangowrong]

Gang, you know how usually with an RV one problem turns into a rabbithole of many more problems? Well I am glad to say that today was the first time that what could have been an expensive, cascading problem turned out to be... a clogged air filter on my generator! I'm in Long Island NY, and called the local RV repair shop who was kind enough to put me in touch with a freelancer who has ten years experience wrenching on RVs, and this guy came out and diagnosed the problem within about two minutes. If I got his explanation correctly, the more an air filter gets clogged, the more starved for air the carburator is going to get, which means it will draw oil out from the engine and into the carb, combusting the oil along with the gas. And of course, the more oil it draws, the more the air filter gets clogged so it'll become a worse and worse problem, eventually choking the engine. As soon as he pulled the air filter out of its housing, the generator churned right up to its regular pace, sounding absolutely perfect. And with that jaw droppingly easy repair, the slides had no problem retracting. So for once, this turned out to be an easy fix, and I get to take my money pit out for its first trip tomorrow after owning it for a year and learning firsthand that all that can go wrong, will. Hope the above helps someone else in their diagnosis of a sputtering generator pitching dark smoke, and thanks again to the many insightful souls who pitched in on this thread. I am certain I'll be back when something else goes wrong. Until then, I salute thee, my fellow cash pyromaniacs ???

 

[Orrin]

You're correct on "money pit"!

 

[NWIP]

Well don’t wait till something else goes to visit us again. Glad this one was a simple fix

 

[Rolandj]

And you thought boats were expensive ?