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Gen set issues
Picked up the bus from service. It had not been plugged in for a few days. Used gen set to get things started again but gen ran maybe 1/2 hr. and stopped. I tried to restart without success. Then I noted that the plastic overflow was full of coolant and also it was running out from the overflow tube. I assume it overheated due to a coolant issue and this prevented it from a restart.
What could explain this? Leaving for Santa Fe Skies today without a generator.
Wave
2002 Liberty with 1000 hrs. on the gen set
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13 Replies
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Check that the big fan behind gen radiator is running. Feel/hear air flow through radiator. Could be broken belt. Also belt on front of gen engine.
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Noticed fluid level in radiator is full. Also fluid at the gen was also full. Could see no belts on the unit. Yanmar diesel.
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There should be a steel shield on the front of the generator, and behind it will be a belt that drives the alternator and water pump.
If the belt is broke or off the generator will only run until it overheats and then it will shut down.
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Does the Liberty have a remote radiator set up? Cooled by electric fan?
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Wave,
I agree with Jon and David. if you have coolant and oil the first place to check is the belt on the front of the generator. It is not visible without getting behind the cover. If you get to Santa Fe Skies without a fix they know all the best local places for help and parts.
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Well after removing the cover the belt looks like new. A-38 in case someone with a similar unit needs one.
i could not restart it from inside the coach but that is probably an issue for Liberty. I did restart on the gen switch on the unit. The Kohler has a fan at the front of it and it was pushing air. I could not see the fan behind the radiator and could not feel or hear any air movement there but it may not activate until a higher temp is reached. I did not leave it on to see it overheat but I assume that would happen again.
Thanks much for all the suggestions. Sill looking.
Wave
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Check the squirrel cage cooling fan and it’s breaker.
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The fan behind the radiator is large and pulls a lot of air thru the radiator and exhaust out of a hole in the bottom of the bay. You should be able to feel the air coming out of the bottom if it is working.
If it is not working check all the breakers on the gen set. I believe in most cases the fan is wired directly to the gen set and starts running as soon as the gen set starts. I also had a start capacitor fail on on radiator fan and that prevented the fan from running.
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Wave,
On my 96 Liberty there is a tiny reset button on the bottom of the generator watchdog module. It has a ribbon cable plugged into it and has a couple small LED indicator lights on it. After a shutdown the reset button will have to be pushed to reset it before the inside generator start switches will work again.
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When starting the generator at the generator the cooling fan will not come on with the 120v model fans, with out flipping the red toggled switch in the second bay for the fan…
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- OJeff
Thanks for that bit of information!
I cannot get the Crestron to start it from inside so the fan will come on. It sound like the problem is of my own making. Without the fan it would always overheat in 30 min approximately. Who knew that but you?
Now if I can get control of the gen function by Crestron all should or could be fine?
wave
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I had the same issue on my trip out west. My Gen Set, would run for 15 minutes and die. They I would have to resent the break and again 15 min and die. It was a pain. After a couple dozen starts I decided to leave it alone until I got back to Indiana. Got back and discovered that belt on my Gen Set was broken. Try there 1st.
Good luck.
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Well here is the “final” answer. First , thanks to all who tried to help. Having a forum like this is so valuable when you have this bus disease. Since this might happen to someone else here was the solution:
2002 Liberty Elegant Lady Gen set stopping due to overheating.
1. Bus was not plugged in for 4 day while at service facility. I did turn off almost all power consuming items prior to that time.
2. Invertors All invertors were off and no electrical life was noted inside the bus when I returned to pick it up.
3. I started the generator since I thought it would help charge the start batteries. Actually, I should have tried to start the motor first because it would have started without any help from the generator.
4. Since I had no ability to start the gen set from inside, I knew I could start it by going directly to the start button on the generator.
5. So I was able to start it and I started one front ac to start cooling it off inside. Then it stopped about 30 minutes.
6. I noted that the radiator overflow was full and coolant was coming out of the vent hose. I assumed that it was overheating so I started this thread.
7. I called Troy Moody at Liberty at 6:30pm on Saturday evening and he answered! Imagine that. He told me to just try starting the coach because that would charge the house batteries and allow invertors to come back online. Apparently starting the engine will charge house batteries but not the generator in this situation.
8. The coach started and the invertors came back quickly but I could no longer control the generator from the Crestron inside the coach.
9. So I went through all of your suggestions starting with coolant and oil levels, then the belt. All were fine. Another suggestion was to see if there air movement through the radiator. There was no air moving here.
10. Jeff Rowe indicated that the fan would not come on with the generator when started from the generator itself. I have no idea why not but I will leave that to others. He suggested checking the fan breaker in the second drivers side bay. I could not find the breaker but I did find that the generator watchdog in the first bay driver side had tripped and there was a red light indicating “overheat”.
10.5 Actually Rocky had the solution to my issue but I did not see his post until later.
11. So I got a flashlight and some glasses and did some reading on the watchdog and found a reset. When I reset the watchdog the Crestron could again control the gen set. I started it again from the Crestron and this time the fan air movement was obvious in front of the radiator. Case closed. There was really nothing wrong. I have not tested it yet but I am sure when the fan fails or is not turned on the gen set runs until it overheats and fails. Now the fan runs and I bet all is fine.
12. So in a Liberty mid 90’s to at least 2002 (and probably other coaches with watchdogs) reset the watchdog if the gen overheats or also if overvoltage. Reset is the little red button on the bottom of the unit on far right. Also the reason for the overheat on my vintage of coach was that the fan is not activated when you turn on the generator from the switch on the gen itself.
Thanks again to all.
Wave
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