Odyssey 4x4 Posted June 28, 2013 Share Posted June 28, 2013 I was working on my Toyota till the last minute putting it back together for a first test trip to Georgia. I am near Tampa, FL and drove the Toyota for my first trip to Stone Mountain, Ga (about 900 mile round trip) to visit family at the park for a weekend visit. I was working on it till 9 pm the night before putting the rear of the transmission back on after replacing a tail housing bushing. Everything went pretty awesome. It drove beautifully but was pulling right leading me to believe I had an alignment issue (which I did not recall it having when I purchased it), or a tire/steering issue. On the trip home it started pulling harder and harder and finally the front right tire went flat. I assume the belt came apart in the tire. I had a spare on within ten minutes and was on the road again and happy to see that it drove nice and straight with the new tire. On the way home I stopped at a Walmart somewhere near the Fl/Ga border and setup camp (closed all my blinds and set my bed up). I ended up running the generator with a/c running all night to test the generator. I ran it from about 11 pm till 11 am the next day and was surprised to see that it did not use as much gas as I though it would. I was also happy to see that it ran all night long without a problem as well. The only problem I am having with the generator is some type of a fuel problem while the vehicle is running. If the vehicle is off, the generator will run as long as I leave it on. As soon as I try to run the generator and vehicle at the same time, the generator stalls. If the generator is running while I start the truck, the truck has a rough time idling/starting. I wanted to get some ideas of what to look for when I go to hunt this problem down. Wrong type of fuel cap possibly? I assume the fuel line connects to the tank on its own because it has the 1/4 tank shut off feature on the generator. Other than that, I had a great time. I showered in the rv the whole weekend. Traveling with me were my Father and my girlfriend. We all had a good time but I think my Dad was getting tired of the tiny RV by the time we got home I can't wait to get back on the road again soon. Taking all back roads and avoiding tolls/interstates the drive was beautiful, about 55 the whole time, sometimes cruising at 60-65. We drove through almost all farmlands with barely any other cars on the road. People were very nice everywhere and it was some neat scenery. Here are a few pics! Cool reflection! Stone Mountain was interesting. Here is looking towards Atlanta from the top of the mountain. Spoiled with hookups at the camp site in Stone Mountain park! We found this neat little town on the way home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiter Posted June 28, 2013 Share Posted June 28, 2013 Nice report on the trip. :-)Please update us on the tranny with photos (I was following your thread on this, I may be doing it on mine as a preventative maintenance.John Mc 88 Dolphin 4 Auto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred heath Posted June 28, 2013 Share Posted June 28, 2013 On your generator issue. It sounds to me that your Gen. supply line is maybe teed into your engine supply line. Most lines are only 5/16 inch. The generator by itself will siphon fuel through the fuel pump inlet. However when you start the engine it also wants fuel. It could be there's not sufficient volume for both. This would apply to carburetor equipped engines. If yours is FI, I'm not sure what the problem could be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WME Posted June 28, 2013 Share Posted June 28, 2013 On my Escape the generator fuel is t'ed in to the engine fuel RETURN line, to me it sounds like yours is set up like Fred said. Need to change it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiter Posted June 28, 2013 Share Posted June 28, 2013 Doesn't make sense??? Might be worth throwing a mat on the ground and climbing under there and see what the fuel source is, where it connects to the tank.It should not be drawing off the main fuel line. The main problem with that, the genny could run you out of fuel. Usually the genny has its own pickup in the tank, and its located a couple inches above the bottom of the tank, that way when the tank gets low, the genny is out of gas, but there still a few gallons in the tank to run the truck. The genny is carb, if its "T" in with the main line, the truck is EFI. The fuel pressure from the EFI (40 lbs I think) could be pushing fuel thru the carb float needle valve, flooding the genny and making it run rough.NOPE - This doesn't make sense (I think I just talked myself out of that scenero) If this were true, it wouldn't make any difference if the genny was running or not, the EFI pump would push fuel thru the carb, and dump i on the ground. (unless the genny has a electric fuel cutoff valve in line) Perhaps our genny experts will chime in! John Mc 88 Dolphin 4 Auto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred heath Posted June 28, 2013 Share Posted June 28, 2013 It should not be drawing off the main fuel line. The main problem with that, the genny could run you out of fuel. Usually the genny has its own pickup in the tank, and its located a couple inches above the bottom of the tank, that way when the tank gets low, the genny is out of gas, but there still a few gallons in the tank to run the truck. John, Your right on the money. My toy had the generator added after the mfg date. The installer (an Onan franchise) teed into my supply line from the pump running to the engine. you would like to think a factory installed unit would have a separate tank feed above the primary intake. I ended up fabricating a new tank line using the filler tube. Again, my toy has a carb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odyssey 4x4 Posted June 28, 2013 Author Share Posted June 28, 2013 Let me add that my truck is fuel injected. As I said, I believe it has its own fuel supply from the tank because the owner told me when I bought it that the generator would shut off if tank reached 1/4 tank. I tested this and found it to be true while running the generator while doing the floor install. I will be crawling under it this weekend to take a look at how exactly the fuel supply for the generator is setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiter Posted June 28, 2013 Share Posted June 28, 2013 Tony, if it is a separate pickup (and it should be) I can't think of why you would have the roughness in the truck engine. (scratch head).I'm not that familiar with how the genny connects electrically or fuel wise., so I can't offer any experience, You should be able to run both simultaneously, i.e. people run the coach A/C unit while traveling down the road. JOhn Mc 88 Dolphin 4 Auto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odyssey 4x4 Posted June 28, 2013 Author Share Posted June 28, 2013 Indeed. Like I said I will be hunting it down hopefully this weekend and will post my findings. I know for a fact it is some type of fuel delivery issue because when truck is started without generator running it runs and idles perfect. If I have generator running and then start truck, the truck with have a hard time starting and idle rough until generator stalls out once I start driving. We shall find out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WME Posted June 29, 2013 Share Posted June 29, 2013 On my Escaper the return line ended about 1.5"; above the bottom of the tank. Depending on how much fuel the engine (efi) was using the genset eather ran off the returned fuel or drew fuel up through the line. The Onan has an electric fuel pump, I don,t know how much pressure it would take to overpower the pump valves if it was shut down Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maineah Posted June 29, 2013 Share Posted June 29, 2013 If it is "T"ed into the truck fuel system (supply side) that can cause some pretty serious problems the FI pump pressure is around 35 PSI. The generator will pull fuel through a submerged FI fuel pump that is off but once the truck is started you’re going to have some pretty high pressure going the generator and the truck fuel pressure will drop to the point that it will not run worth a hoot. The generator fuel lines will not stand that kind of pressure and run a real risk of blowing out (not a good thing) Have fun under your MH! I believe the FI return line is at the top of the mounting plate and does not go into the tank to any depth so that may not work out for you usually a separate line is installed for the generators. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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