Unruly Generator!

[sfedeli3]

Hi Johnny,

Sounds to me like you could have a broken spring in your genset's
starter solenoid (smaller cylinder mounted on top of the starter
housing) If this spring breaks, the bendix arm can randomly close
and initiate a start sequence. Either that, or one of your genny
start switches sticks in the start position and someone bumped it
when you were parked. What happened is very unusual, but after 20+
years... who knows. There are three ways to get power to the starter
on the genset. If you disconnect both sets of batteries, voltage
will still flow to the starter from the 12V inverter that charges
your batteries while parked and gives your flourescent lights power.
I would check the switches on the dinette panel and dash to see if
they are sticking first. Removing amd checking the starter solenoid
is a little more involved- just be sure to assign numbers to the
studs, label all wires and disconnect all power first. Getting a new
starter is pretty easy if you have a farm equpiment dealer nearby.
Many of the small bobcat loaders have similar Delco starters. If you
have one of the gold Kohler gensets, let me know the part # off the
old starter. I just replaced mine with a rebuilt unit from Columbus,
OH for about $140.

Shane Fedeli
85PT40
Hershey, PA



--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Johnny M Slone"
wrote:
> Hello to all,
> On a recent outing with some fellow RVers we traveled to
campground
> during a heavy rainstorm. I arrived at the campground with no
problem
> that I could tell. Did all the things that we do when planning on
> staying a couple of days. We enjoyed the evening with other BB
owners
> that were there. At about midnight I went to the bus for a nap. At
> about 2AM I felt something shake the bus and then I hear this
awful
> noise of a diesel engine starting up. I think to myself, why would
> someone start a noisy engine at this hour of the night. I get up
to
> see who has done such a thing and find out that it is my generator
> that is running. I run to the front to push the stop button. The
> engine stops running but the starter begins cranking trying to
> restart it. The engine will not restart but the starter just
> continues to try. I go outside and remove the cables from the gen
> start battery. This has no effect, so I go back and remove the
cables
> from the house batterys. Still the starter is trying to restart
the
> engine. Finally I go around and throw the circut breaker off on
the
> AC power. All is silent now so I go back to bed.
>
> The next morning I try turning the AC back on but the starter
begins
> cranking again. My friend and I finally managed to get the
generator
> to run out and removed the leads to the starter to disable it. A
> couple of days later I put everything back and all is well. I have
> looked the control circut over and can see no problems.
>
> I have two questions, what could have caused this to happen and is
it
> normal for the house batterys to crank the engine after the
generator
> battery has been disconnected.
>
> I did wire a relay in the control circut power lead so if this
> happens again I can disable the crank and run circut with a toggle
> switch.
>
> Thanks,
> Johnny M Slone
> Pikeville, KY
> 84 PT34