| Author |
Message |
Michael 4905/MD
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 17, 2005 - 7:57 pm: | |
My friend was working on a 7KW Onan Gasoline generator (Spec 3CR/7E004J) and made the mistake of (temporarily) leaving the ignition coil and two spark plug wires on the bumper of his pickup truck. While he was in the garage getting something his wife decided she needed to get something from the store right away and drove away in the pickup. Needless to say he no longer has the parts for the generator. He's tried to find the parts, but it seems there are none listed in the parts books. He's told the genset is no longer supported by Onan.
It seems to me that any 12 volt ignition coil should do the trick as long as a mounting bracket could be fashioned, and that the make up or materials for the spark plug wires should be no different than that for any internal combustion engine. Moreover, I would think that at worst trying this substitution wouldn't likely to cause harm or damage and if it worked would probably cost a whole lot less than the same parts would with an Onan label.
What do you think? Any opinions or experience out there? Do you think this would be good advice to offer him?
Thank you
Michael 4905/MD |
John MC9
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 17, 2005 - 8:05 pm: | |
It's difficult to believe that there's no parts available:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=onan+generator+parts
I had one made in 1984 and found it easy to get anything for
it, from the local CAT dealer. |
Jack Conrad (Jackconrad)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 17, 2005 - 8:11 pm: | |
If it is like my old (almost antique) Onan, the coil has 2 towers on top, one for each plug wire. When my coil quit working, I installed two 12 volt universal automotive coils. Primary wire from points feeds both coils. Each coil has a plug wire to a spark plug. With the original system using the twin tower coil, each plug fires each time the piston comes to near top dead center. (compression & exhaust stroke). It worked fine with this set-up until the block developed a pinhole leak through the water jacket (unrelated to my ignition modification). Hope this helps, Jack |
JR
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 17, 2005 - 8:50 pm: | |
IF the Onan primary coil wire has 12V DC when the ignition is turned on (battery ignition), a pair of non-external resistor automotive coils would work if wired in parallel. A twin tower motorcycle coil could also be used and would make a much neater package. Any twin tower secondary motorcycle coil that has 12V (point type, or grounding electronic ignition system) will work fine. Some Onans used a mag style coil, and a 12V battery ignition coil would not work on that type system. Probably an early Briggs and Stratton 18HP opposed twin coil would. I would believe you could find a coil by searching the 'net.
To put this another way, if your Onan has points, you can use almost any type battery ignition coil...if it's "solid state" or pointless, you'll need to find an Onan replacement.
Good luck, JR |
tony bare
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 17, 2005 - 11:13 pm: | |
Harley davidson coil has the two towers. Both cylinders fire at the same time. Harley parts houses sell the aftermarked parts a lot cheaper. |
Fredmc
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - 1:49 am: | |
Try this site.
http://www.perr.com/
They have Onan parts and I was able to get parts for my OLD Onan Generator from them.
They also have a discussion board where you can get info about Onan and other small engines.
Like others said if it has points and two cylinders the coil fires both sparkplugs at the same time. I supect you could actually use a single coil with a splitter so you could plug two coil wires in.
Fred Mc. |