Finally I got Cummins technician (Jeremy) at Cummins Grand Junction, CO to look at my generator.
The problem:
Whenever I got up to 7,000 ft of elevation or higher (Crested Butte or Silverton, CO), my generator would run for a few minutes then stop even without me turning on any appliances on the van. Or at low elevation (below 5,000 ft), it will run with only an AC on for a few hours then stops. Getting it to start was difficult after I got to CO.
What happened:
So with my first visit to here, they were not really finding the root cause of the issue and thought that the issue was caused by the switch in my van that was not set up right for generator to be able to run.
- My generator does not have altitude adjustment, which means that it is a newer kind that should be able to work on high elevation without adjustment. Jeremy tried to look for parts that he maybe able to use to improve the performance of the generator, but he couldn’t find any.
- The Jeremy thought that Travato has the button to switch from pulling 20 AMP or 30 AMP. What Jeremy has found and suggested me is that whenever I use my generator, to make sure to have that switch to 20 AMP. So that the appliances on the van (AC, Microwave, etc.) will not pull power more than 20 AMP to cause the generator to stop. He thought that my generator only provide max of 23 AMP (not 30 AMP), so it won’t work well when I have that 30 AMP set). BUT however, when I want to plugin in my van with shore power, I can switch it back to pull 30 AMP instead.
- I left from there thought that it was that button. But no, the issue still persisted after I left.
Cost for this first fix:
$338.67
The Second Fix:
I took my van back to the again. They were really helpful and took time to diagnose the issue without extra charge. They found that from the symptoms (running rich on the high elevation and running lean in a lower elevation) it seems to be an issue with ignition coil. They cleaned my spark plug for me since they still didn’t have part on hand. They ordered parts for me and suggested me to come back to get it fixed when they got the parts (ignition coil and spark plug).
After I left this time, whenever I ran. The generator, it started at the fist try almost all of the time. Whatever they did, I think it had helped out with the issue.
I came back when they got the parts.
They had to take the generator off from my van to be able to replace the ignition coil, which made it costs a lot due to labor rate based on the amount of time to be able to do that. They also did replace the spark plug, which can be done without taking the generator off.
Cost for the second fix:
$823.41
Even it was an expensive finding, it was a good experience to come here (Cummins). They worked with me and tried their best to help me to reduce the cost for the second fix since they couldn’t fix it at the first time.
The facility has lifts to lift up your vans to look at the generator. People here (Steve, Micah, and Jeremy) were really friendly and helpful and were able to provide me the right answer than what I could have found by myself or from any forums or any RV technician guys out there. There said that I was welcome to come and park here overnight whenever I needed any service from them. They have RV electric hook up for customer parking if the customers need to stay overnight.
First Receipt:
Second Receipt:
