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Simple ONAN GEN oil change, right?

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Neal

Staff member
RVF Administrator
Joined
Jul 27, 2019
Messages
11,586
Location
Midlothian, VA
RV Year
2017
RV Make
Newmar
RV Model
Ventana 4037
RV Length
40' 10"
Chassis
Freightliner XCR
Engine
Cummins 400 HP
TOW/TOAD
2017 Chevy Colorado
Fulltimer
No
Of course not, it's me doing it!!! It's time for an eauuurrrlll change so simple enough, done'did'it before. The hardest part is that dang panel blocked by the exhaust, thank you Newmar. After finding the right screw to remove those two screws to drop the panel off I go. Easy peezy. Of course not. Old filter off, new filter on, after eaurrrrrll was drained of course. Oil in and test run. Shut down to check eaurllll and it's near empty, blinking light, Neal fail light illuminated! Long story short is when you remove the old filter make sure the o-ring comes with it. It obviously stayed on and when putting the new filter on that has an o-ring on it you get double o-ring'd and hence a disaster that I'll address another day. Hopefully I can re-use the same filter but I have another coming tomorrow.
 
Kitty litter time.

Once cleaned up, gasoline will remove stains from concrete.
 
It’s all good, Neal. My superpower is transforming 15 min jobs into 8 hr jobs. It’s another of my many unmarketable talents.

BTW, the proper pronunciation is “awl”.
 
Kitty litter time.

Once cleaned up, gasoline will remove stains from concrete.

Fortunately it's on gravel. I'll have to do some raking to cover the evidence. It's not that bad, I put my oil catcher below as soon as I saw it.
 
Did mine in Quartzite following the Newmar gathering this past January after a fellow Newmar Owner suggested I do it. Used a sheet of plastic which in the end wasn't needed. Also had a crossmember issue and made an "oil diverter" out of folded aluminum foil to reduce the mess. Glad I did it myself.
 
Back this morning to remove the filter and I decided to not be cheap or at risk and put another new filter on. Much better light this time and I recommend shining a flashlight in the area to inspect but the old O-Ring was just dangling. Live and learn.

I put kitty litter down on the oil spill even on the gravel per @redbaron. I expect a litter of kittens for sale mid October.
 
Let me open a can of worms. The question is what oil did you put back in. I just did mine yesterday. After much, reading I went with Mobil 1 synthetic 10W-30. I exercise the generator down to 25 degrees or so. I noticed Onan is shipping new gas generators with 10W-40 instead of 15W-40 as of this year. I think they still use 15W40 in the diesel generators. I know most of you guys are diesel, so this question is more directed towards the gasser owners.

New units beware! They now suggest the first oil change at 20 hrs. Then 150 for gas. My older one, I believe the first was suggested at 150 hrs.

One has to keep reading and studying with these things. The only thing that is constant is change. Even Klingons, apparently. At least I belong to the most handsome generation of Klingons. :ROFLMAO:

just changed mine Mobil 1 10W30. It gets cold here.
 
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I also used synthetic oil in my Onan diesel generator. That little bugger works awfully hard when it's running so I thought it could use it. I went with the 15W40 weight. I live in the South. It rarely gets below 20 degrees around here at the worst!
 

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