Las VegasRV Generator Repair
If you're looking for Motorhome Generator Repair, you have come to the right place! Our RVIA/RVDA Master Certified Techs provide the best RV Generator Service in the Las Vegas valley & surrounding areas.
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Tell us about your coach and we will get back to you. Prefer to talk now? Call 702-757-2471.
What's Included
Our comprehensive generator repair service covers these essential maintenance and repair points
Check and Clean Battery Connections
Thorough inspection and cleaning of all battery connections
Visual Inspection of Exhaust System
Complete visual inspection of the exhaust system for leaks or damage
Verify CO Detector Operations and Working Properly
Safety verification of CO detector operation and functionality
Check Air & Fuel Filter (Replace If Necessary for Additional Charge)
Inspection of air and fuel filters with replacement available
Change Oil & Filter, Perform Load Test
Oil and filter change with comprehensive load testing
Onan Generators, and Everything Else
If your coach has a built-in generator, there is a strong chance it is an Onan. Cummins Onan has been the default fitment in motorhomes for decades, which is why most RV generator repair work in practice means Onan repair. The gasoline models in the Marquis and Emerald families and the diesel units in larger diesel pushers cover a very large share of the coaches on the road.
What makes them their own discipline is that an RV generator is not a portable generator that happens to live in a bay. It is permanently installed, it draws from the coach's own fuel tank, it is wired into the transfer switch, and it is expected to start on command from a panel at the dash or in the bedroom. That integration is a large part of why they fail in ways a builder's generator never would, and why "it will not start" has considerably more possible causes here.
The other brands turn up too, and the diagnostic logic is the same even where the parts are not. What changes between makes is service intervals, the layout of the control board, and how much of the unit has to come out of the bay to reach the part that has failed.
The Four Calls We Get Most
Describing which of these matches your symptom usually saves a diagnostic hour.
It cranks but will not start
The starter turns the engine over and nothing catches. On a unit that has been sitting, suspect fuel before anything else: stale gasoline, a blocked jet, or a fuel pump that has lost its prime. If it has been running recently, the picture shifts towards ignition, the fuel solenoid, or a control board that is not energising the run circuit. Low house battery voltage will also crank the engine too slowly to fire, which reads as a fuel fault but is not one.
It will not crank at all
Nothing happens when you press start. This is very often not the generator. The start circuit runs from the panel switch, through the coach wiring, to the generator control board, and it depends on house battery voltage being adequate at the generator, not merely at the panel. A corroded ground, a tripped generator breaker, or a battery that reads fine at rest but collapses under load will all produce total silence.
It starts, runs briefly, then dies
The engine fires on whatever fuel is sitting in the bowl and stops as soon as it has to draw more. That is the signature of a blocked main jet or a starved fuel supply. A clogged fuel filter, a failing fuel pump, or a pickup tube drawing from a tank below the generator cutoff level all present the same way. Most coaches have a fuel pickup that deliberately stops the generator well before the tank is empty, so you cannot strand yourself.
It runs but sheds load or trips
The generator sounds healthy until you switch on the air conditioning, then the voltage sags, the unit bogs, or the breaker trips. This can be the generator failing to make rated output, or it can be the appliance drawing far more than it should on startup. A worn air conditioner start capacitor demands enormous inrush current and will trip a perfectly good generator. Establishing which end is at fault requires measuring under load rather than guessing.
Fuel Is the Root of Most of It
The single biggest cause of RV generator trouble is not wear. It is disuse combined with modern fuel. Gasoline containing ethanol begins to degrade in a matter of months. It absorbs moisture, it separates, and it leaves behind a varnish that coats everything it has been sitting in. In a carburetted generator that varnish settles in the float bowl and blocks the main jet, which is a passage narrow enough that a deposit you can barely see will stop the engine running.
The classic presentation is a generator that starts, runs for ten or fifteen seconds on the fuel already in the bowl, then dies as soon as it has to draw through the blocked jet. Owners often describe this as an electrical fault because it starts so willingly. It is almost always fuel.
Depending on how far it has gone, the fix ranges from draining and refreshing the fuel, through cleaning the carburettor and replacing the fuel filter, to replacing the carburettor outright when the passages have corroded rather than simply gummed. On diesel units the equivalent problem is algae growth and water in the tank, which blocks filters and, left long enough, damages injection components.
There is one habit that prevents most of this: run the generator under a real load, for a decent stretch, every month. Not a two minute idle. Long enough to get it hot with something meaningful switched on. That single practice keeps the fuel system wet, the windings dry, and the carburettor clear, and it is free.
Scheduled Maintenance, and Why Hours Matter More Than Years
RV generators are serviced on run hours, not on the calendar and not on coach mileage. The hour meter is the number that matters, and it is the first thing worth reading before booking anything. A coach that has covered very few miles can still have a generator well past due if it has been running air conditioning through desert summers.
A routine service covers the oil and oil filter, the air filter, the fuel filter, and the spark plugs on gasoline units, along with an inspection of the mounts, the exhaust and the wiring. The exhaust deserves particular attention, because a generator exhaust leak inside a bay is a carbon monoxide risk rather than an inconvenience. Checking the slide-out and bay seals around the unit is part of the same walk-around.
The load test is the part owners most often skip and most often need. Plenty of generators start beautifully and still cannot hold rated output. Putting a measured load on the unit and watching the voltage and frequency hold is the only way to know whether it will actually carry two air conditioners in August, which is the job you are relying on it for.
Related Work Worth Combining
Generator complaints and electrical complaints overlap constantly. If the generator runs but the coach still behaves as though it is short of power, the fault may be in the transfer switch, the converter, or the batteries rather than the generator. The electrical and charging system check and RV battery service cover that side. A generator that will not crank is very often a battery problem, not a generator problem.
Because the generator shares the chassis fuel supply and gets serviced on the same visit as the engine more often than not, booking the RV oil change alongside it saves a second trip. On coaches with LP-fuelled generators, the RV LP gas inspection tests the supply the unit depends on. The absorption refrigerator draws on that same LP system, so a fridge that will not light alongside a generator fault usually means the supply is at fault rather than either appliance; RV refrigerator repair covers the fridge side of that diagnosis.
The reason most owners want the generator working is the air conditioning, so if the units struggle when running off the genset it is worth reading RV air conditioner repair as well, since a unit with a failing start capacitor can look exactly like a generator that cannot carry load. If you would rather find everything before a trip, the 45 point RV inspection covers the generator alongside the rest of the coach.
A generator that has been sitting long enough to gum its fuel system is usually a sign the whole coach has been parked a while, not just the generator, and a windshield chip is one of the more common things to have started running in that same stretch of standing still. If the coach has been parked long enough for one, it is worth checking the other. The RV windshield repair page covers chip and crack diagnosis.
RV Generator Questions
Common questions about diagnosing and servicing RV generators.
My generator cranks but will not start. What is usually wrong?
The starter turns the engine over and nothing catches. On a unit that has been sitting, fuel is the first suspect: stale gasoline, a blocked jet, or a fuel pump that has lost its prime. If it has been running recently, look instead at ignition, the fuel solenoid, or a control board that is not energising the run circuit. Low house battery voltage will also crank the engine too slowly to fire, which reads like a fuel fault but is not one.
My generator will not crank at all. Is that the generator or something else?
Often it is not the generator. The start circuit runs from the panel switch, through the coach wiring, to the generator control board, and it depends on house battery voltage being adequate at the generator, not merely at the panel. A corroded ground, a tripped generator breaker, or a battery that reads fine at rest but collapses under load will all produce total silence.
Why does my generator start, run for a few seconds, then die?
That is the signature of a blocked main jet or a starved fuel supply. The engine fires on whatever fuel is sitting in the bowl and stops as soon as it has to draw more. A clogged fuel filter, a failing fuel pump, or a pickup tube drawing from a tank below the generator cutoff level all present the same way. Most coaches have a fuel pickup that deliberately stops the generator well before the tank is empty, so running low on fuel does not strand you.
Do you repair generators on travel trailers and campers, or only motorhomes?
Built-in RV generators found on travel trailers, campers, and motorhomes are almost always Onan units, and the same diagnostic logic applies across all of them: it is permanently installed, draws from the coach's own fuel tank, is wired into the transfer switch, and is expected to start on command from a panel. Other brands turn up too, and while the parts differ, the fault-finding process described on this page is the same regardless of what kind of coach the generator is mounted in.
Where can I find RV generator repair near me in Las Vegas?
This shop provides RV generator repair in Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas, and Boulder City. Onan, Cummins, and other built-in generators are diagnosed on site, from a unit that will not crank at all to one that starts but cannot hold a load.
Why does my generator trip or bog down when I turn on the air conditioning?
The generator sounds healthy until you switch on the air conditioning, then the voltage sags, the unit bogs, or the breaker trips. This can mean the generator is not making its rated output, or it can mean the appliance is drawing far more than it should on startup. A worn air conditioner start capacitor demands enormous inrush current and can trip a perfectly good generator. Working out which end is at fault requires measuring under load rather than guessing.
How often does an RV generator need to be serviced?
RV generators are serviced on run hours, not on the calendar and not on coach mileage. The hour meter is the number that matters, and it is the first thing worth checking before booking anything. A routine service covers the oil and oil filter, the air filter, the fuel filter, and the spark plugs on gasoline units, along with an inspection of the mounts, the exhaust, and the wiring. A load test, putting a measured load on the unit and watching the voltage and frequency hold, is the only way to know whether it will actually carry the load you rely on it for.
Schedule Your Generator Service
Keep your generator running reliably. Contact our RVIA/RVDA Master Certified Techs today.
Call 702-757-2471