Onan 4000 generator hard starting?

[Jdhargis]

Our 2018 Vista LX generator has always been a little hard to get started since the day we bought the RV new. You have to prime it, crank, prime again, crank, prime again and crank. Usually on the third time it starts. I crank it for 10 to 15 seconds. That seems like it would be hard on the starter. I was just wondering if this usual for these generators. I you run it again within the day it starts right off. And yes I asked the dealer when I bought it and they said it wasn't unusual.

[powercat_ras]

My experience with my 2015 Vista is similar. However, now that I have 200 hours run time on it, it seems to be broken in and I don't have to do 3 tries to get it started anymore.

[Ted Fyden]

We only started having issue after it was serviced. 3 times to get it going. Runs rough for a few minutes. Gonna try some seafoam I think or other additive to try and clean out the carb and fuel lines to it. Maybe we don’t use it enough for long enough.

[Oneilkeys]

Had similar problems with my 4000 until I took the automatic choke apart. Once I got that working it fired up on the first or second try every time. My 2800 also fires right up even after it hasn’t been run in a month. Sales and maintenance guys will tell you anything to get you to go away.

[Eagle5]

HI Jdhargis,
I have the same model, and I hold the <Hours> button down for about 15 second to really prime the carburetor well, then I toggle over to <Start> until it really takes off. There is a natural tendency to let go of the <Start> button when it seems the generator is just starting to take off, but resist letting go until it is really running. It is perfectly fine to crank for up to 30 seconds at a time.
Eagle5

[Bobn1957]

Originally Posted by Jdhargis

Our 2018 Vista LX generator has always been a little hard to get started since the day we bought the RV new. You have to prime it, crank, prime again, crank, prime again and crank. Usually on the third time it starts. I crank it for 10 to 15 seconds. That seems like it would be hard on the starter. I was just wondering if this usual for these generators. I you run it again within the day it starts right off. And yes I asked the dealer when I bought it and they said it wasn't unusual.

There should be a knob on the carburetor to adjust for altitude, if not set correctly it will cause problems running rich or lean depending on the setting!

[Morich]

Point to keep ion mind is that motors like the starter work far better and last longer if we make sure they have good power to crank. Low voltage makes the starter turn slower and heat more and that makes it fail sooner!
One of the ways to make sure the starter has the best chance of having full 12VDC to start best is to have the RV engine running when we try to use any high power users like genset or jacks. When the RV engine is running we get coach tied to chassis and alternator to make sure it can get all it needs!

[dkoldman]

I a curious to know if your coach has a AGS, and if so does it start automatically by itself?

Also, when you do get it running after manual start and you try later ( maybe few hours later after being off) does it start up easier? If so you may wish to try to slowly keep increasing the delay to see how long it takes for yours to having trouble with manual start.

To answer your question, i have not seen that issue on my 2019, but I read about it a lot so I assume it is common. I don't know why. Our genny runs 2 or 3 times a month for some reason when just sitting, on a trip it it is in constant use all controlled by the AGS. When I do start manually, I never have to prime going on 5 years now.