live truck genny

[rebelfotog]

OK I have a small problem, the generator on the live truck likes to overheat and shut down, when the temperature hits around 80 degrees. We have made some modifications to the generator intake system. We have made a snorkel to take air straight from the out side. We thought the problem might have been the genny was choking itself out. But today I hade the same problem. The only solution is to take the air cleaner off and run the genny with the door ipen and run only the essential load items, which only draws about 6 amps. The engineers and I are running out of ideas. How do you guys in the desert keep your gennys running in the heat?


The truck is a BAF truck with a kawasaki water cooled genny, not sure of the model #.


Thanks in advance

[BluesDaddy]

One of our generators has a "winter/summer" lever. In the "winter" position, intake air is preheated on the exhaust manifold to prevent carburetor icing. Check to see if you have a similar setup. (ours is an air-cooled Onan generator)

[Dedline]

I take it, you can't have a mechanic check it out?
Basics first, is there a temp gauge that shows it overheating? how old is it? check fluid levels, etc?
Same thing once happened to us, but we discovered the cooling fans were'nt getting any power. we used jumper cables to run them continuously for the rest of the night, then someone ran new wiring to them the next day cause the old wiring was all shivelled up from being unprotected in the hot compartment.

[rebelfotog]

A mechanic has looked at it, he came up with the snorkel system. The fluid levels are OK, there is no temp guage, just a temp sensor that will shutdown the generator. All the wiring checks out, when it gets to hot the generator just starts choking for air and stalls out.

[sierra-zulu]

Has this been a problem since it was new, is it a recent problem? How is your fuel line routed thru the hot compartment? Have you checked your filter?

[satop]

at my former station, we had a sat truck that had the same types of problems. turned out it was a bad fuel pump. there were actually 2 fuel pumps, one at the genny, one on the tank.

[Irisdown]

when fuel begins to boil and creates a gas vapor seal to the engine. Easily explained something like the exhaust is probably got a hole in it blowing hot exhaust gas on the carburetor or it has some blockage not allowing for proper flow and is boiling the gas and starving the engine....putt putt putt boom. Ways to solve this? Have a service tech check exhaust for holes and blackage and probably replace the exhaust. Its just speculation but I would bet a interns salary I'm right. :D

[mi3ke]

It could also be your altitude setting. Here in the 505, we have to make sure the right fuel mix is going in or it will stall out. just a thought.

Cheers, Mi3ke
KOB

[ih8newz]

the gen hates to work when the truck engine is running. next time it stalls, take note to the flashing lights at the start switch and write them down. that is the troubleshoot code. these gens are extremely sensitive to oil levels and heat from the exhaust pipe. good luck, you'll need it.

[Dedline]

Hey we just had a similar problem with our newish Onan generator. Would stall kind of intermittently depending on how hot the weather was... we found the problem when the water pump belt shredded. It must have been damaged and slipping. Hence, with your water cooled genny, check the water pump to see if it's working hard enough to keep your genny cool during hot times.... could be the belt or the pump itself. let us know how it turned out.

[rebelfotog]

Well, the problem turned out to be a collapsing fuel hose. The way it was explained to me was its like when you get a thick milkshake and you suck on the straw and it collapses. So they moved the fuel pump so that there is positive pressure in the line since it was to difficult to drop the tank and repace it with a solid line. It has not missed a beat since the new pump was put on.

[Dedline]

hey, thanks for the update, good to know. Usually seems like on here you hear about all the problems, but never hear the solution.

good job rf