[Richard]

If it were me, I would reinstall the control box. Put my voltmeter on the leads to the fuel solenoid and see what the voltage is when cranking.

I would then reattach the leads to the solenoid with it removed from the engine and see how it moves. The reason I suggest this is it is very easy to adjust the solenoid so it will not hold. Adjusting the slack in the rod is counterintuitive. If it’s not pulling in, my thought was to adjust it to pull even more, when in fact I need to put some slack into the setup to allow the magnets to engage the slug in the solenoid.

[BusNit]

I had checked voltage early on and the solenoid was not getting any power. Of course I had replaced the solenoid before doing so. Having said that the control box does have burnt electronics smell to it with no place for air to enter as it is a gasket sealed box. Took some prying to free the lid once I removed the hold down screws. In talking to Gordon a while back we determined mine didn't have a way of adjusting slack.

[Jack Houpe]

Before I sent it off I would trouble shoot it, the silver metal relay is a double pole single throw relay the other small black ones I would just replace any auto parts store will have them. The other two big relays I would pry the cover off and look for damage on the coils, if you smell something burn you should be able to see it under the covers of the relays. I also would check the reverse polarity diodes. I see a 1000 uf capacitor in the circuit thats to lessen the arc on the contacts of the relay from the inductive load of the solenoid, that might be blow up which will cause a smell.

[BusNit]

Thanks Jack. I was persuaded by enough people to just fix this myself. All the relays are on their way as well as the capacitor although it is not blown up. The larger relays are NOS and no longer manufactured. Those were the pricier ones at $100. In this whole process I was thinking of moving the control box to the generator blower bay. Wiring is long enough but cutting through two separate steel walls, one wood lined wall and insulation makes it a challenge due to space limitations for drilling. I really do not want to pull the generator out completely nor does my bobcat have the capacity to hold the weight. Figure if I move the box, it will be less prone to vibrations and I can service it a bit better since the two amp connectors feel loose.

[BusNit]

Making headway. I relocated the wiring for the generator relay control box to the blower compartment. Now it can easily be serviced and away from vibrations. New relays came in and I replaced them all. Of course curiosity came over me to find out which one failed. I thought it was the run/solenoid one but it was the larger relay on the right which is the shut down. Since the coil would not close when energized, I can assume it would not allow power to the fuel solenoid relay. I put 14volts to it and it was pulling some current but would not close unless I pushed the contacts. It would release upon disconnection of power. The second large relay had a weak coil but still closed on its own. Smaller relays all had a loud positive click. Circuit breaker was broken from vibration wear but still kept the contacts closed. I replaced all but one which is to arrive today (Small metal cased relay)

The fuel lines coming off the generator to the pump had decent hoses but I wanted to replace them since I was in there. What I discovered was the use of hose barbs which in my experience do not have the proper diameter to seal against the hose without crunching down on the clamp. This is what they had done. You can see in the pic the space between the hose and barb. I found the proper fuel line hose connectors locally and installed them with the new fuel hose.

[Jack Houpe]

Way to go brother! First class job as always, great idea of moving it to a better place.

[folivier]

On my Foretravel with the little Isuzu diesel "shaker" I moved the control box to another basement compartment and solved shutdown problems. Had to extend the wires but with the help of Mr. Magown it wasn't a bad job.
Nice job BTW.

[HoosierDaddy]

Good job , Simon. That box is generally reliable. My Newell had an extra box in the bay so when the primary went bad I just switched them out and took the other one in to Martin Diesel for rebuild... They are about an hour from my home and great people. I like the idea of remote mounting it.

[BusNit]

Good news and bad news. Generator starts reliably. Now the issue is it will not stay running. It may continue to run or it may shut down once I let go of the start switch. Wiring in the box is exactly as it was and I verified with pics I took. I did wash down the engine before firing it up. Could a temp or oil pressure sensor be on the fritz? Haven't gone out to check anything yet.

[HoosierDaddy]

I had similar issue on my ‘78 Newell. There was a corroded connection (actually a glass fuse holder) that would not let it feed 12V to the on/off switch. That fuse holder was in the other box on the generator. It was hard to find because it was mounted on the back side of the wall of that box facing the front of the coach. That was 25 years ago so I might not remember details but I know that restoring continuity to that circuit repaired it.