A real head scratcher and a 260 mile detour

On our way out to Lubbock, the temps kept getting warmer and warmer climbing into the 90's.  Now on most motorhomes with the substantially larger interior size as compared to a car, the dash air will only keep up if the temps outside are moderate, and you start cooling early so as to stay ahead of it.  It's no big deal because as it gets warmer, we merely start our generator and run our 3 roof air conditioners that will easily cool the interior at most any temperature.  Now some folks don't like to run their generator unless absolutely necessary, I guess to save the 3/4 gal/hour they burn at full load:)  We try to stay ahead of the cooling as much as we can, but in these temps, and as the day goes on, and the dash air can't keep up, we just start it up and remain comfortable.

The first wrench in the plan happened about a week ago.  We had stopped into a Flying J truck stop for fuel, and to eat lunch, and since we were sitting there with the engine off, we started the genny up to keep cool and run the toaster oven, well, it wouldn't come on line, it ran fine but our meter showed good voltage on one leg and about half voltage on the other leg.  We have a 10KW diesel generator that produces 2 legs of 120V AC power capable of almost 45 amps on each leg.  We had one leg showing a normal 120V, but the other leg showed 65V, so the generator would not come on line, that is power up the motorhome, so no roof AC's.  We didn't have time to worry about it then, so off we went to our campground for the night.  I figured it was our transfer switch, that is a device that incorporates surge and power protection with a transfer switch to either connect shore or generator power to the coach.  I figured the generator wires had become loose and weren't conducting the full 120V to the coach.  I pulled the cover off, checked the connections, all good, then went in with my meter to see what was reading there, sure enough, the same thing Leg 1-120V, Leg 2-65V.  So I buttoned that back up and went to the generator, pulled off an access panel where the power comes out so I could get to the output terminal block and read the power coming directly from the generator, I figured maybe the wiring had a problem back to the transfer switch, not the case as the power directly from the genny was the same, Leg 1-120V, Leg 2-65V.  Well the next thing I thought about was the 2 pole circuit breaker that the power goes through on the way out of the genny.  

I was able to pull off a panel and get to the back of the breaker and check for continuity, and found that one side or pole was good and the other was bad.  Problem solved or so I thought.  Now of course this was Friday afternoon.  So I went on the internet after getting all the info I could off the breaker and had trouble finding the generic breaker, so I started trying to find the Onan part number, and found 2 different numbers that it might be?  Too late to call Onan to confirm.

So we had a warm ride on to Llano and San Angelo, so first thing Monday morning I call Onan to confirm the part number, tried to find one locally in Lubbock with no luck so ordered a new circuit breaker to meet us in Lubbock.  By this time we were reading Leg 1-120V, and Leg 2-0V, so I was sure it was the breaker.

It came and yesterday morning I went out and installed the new one.

On the way into the generator

The offending circuit breaker

All done!  I started it up and WHAT, the same bad reading!!  Now what?  I went in and called the Onan generator repair place here in Lubbock, and though they were very nice, they told me they couldn't get us in until Tuesday, no good, we'll be in Albuquerque by then.  She did ask if we happened to be going by Amarillo as she knew a good shop there, I said no, but thanks.  Well, now what do we do?  We need this generator for more than the AC's, we plan to boondock this summer, we use it to cook lunch now and then, etc, we need this generator.  The only Onan dealer in Albuquerque is the Cummins dealer and we don't care for them.  Well Jan and I brainstorm and say why don't we call Amarillo and see what they say.  We call the Lubbock shop back and get the info for the shop in Amarillo, Cummins Southern Plains.  I called them and they could not have been nicer, I asked about getting it worked on today, and she said that's fine, but if you need parts, that will keep you over the holiday weekend, can't you come today?  We looked at each other and said, Let's GO!

So we drove 130 miles up to Amarillo, got there at 12:45, were told they were at lunch until 1, but someone would be with us after that.  At 1:15, a nice tech came out and directed us into a bay.  I explained the whole situation to him, and he tore into it.  He tested it every which way from Sunday, had wires and meters all over the place and said, "I can't find anything wrong with it".  What??  He says let's run it, load it up, and see what it does.  So we do and it is perfect.  We let it run for 20 minutes or so, shut it down and restart it about 10 times, and it's fine?!?!?!?  He had worked on it for 1 hour and 15 minutes, to say we are puzzled is an understatement.  

Well, it's working, so I go in to pay the bill, and what do they say, but No Charge.  Wow, incredible, nobody does stuff like that anymore.  We were really impressed.  So if you need a Cummins, Onan, or other service or repair, we would highly recommend Cummins Southern Plains in Amarillo, very friendly, and well run shop.

So we drove back the 130 miles to Lubbock in cool, cool, comfortable temps with the genny just purring along, but are we fixed, was it just a fluke, or is Murphy just waiting until the absolute "right" time to strike?  We'll see.