We have always seen our share of Onan repair horror stories concerning the factory service centers, with many unhappy customers. The "too expensive to fix so better to replace" line has been all too commonly used, IMO, to sell new generators.
Now we are starting to hear more about no parts being available to fix the "older" units, which according to a recent post includes 2012 models, which aren't all that old in typical generator life we would typically expect.
We recently heard, but still not completely confirmed, that Onan is changing to a different engine soon. It does appear that Robin Subaru quit making engines and their own generators a while ago, so that makes sense as it is likely they were the engine vendor and maybe even the generator parts of the Onans. We don't know if the new engine will just make it an engine change or if Onan will wise up and go to an inverter style at the same time yet. There seems to be very little information out there right now, so perhaps Onan is keeping it quiet for now.
What certainly has to be a point of worry for owners, I think, based the fact that the "no parts" availability thing is seeming to be gaining speed, is just how long any of the current Onans in class b vans will be able to be kept functioning. Onan is still selling, it appears, generators to replace failed units or new installs that would be made with orphan engines that were from a vendor that is now out of the small engine business completely and won't be supporting them. How many of the parts in a brand new one are the same as the 2012 that can't be fixed because of no parts? There was a model change to "quieter" recently but that probably didn't change much in the guts of the unit as they are still pretty noisy. It would be interesting to compare a parts list between the two models and see, though.
It would be very good to hear from Onan just how long they will be supporting the various older years of units out there, I think, as it really would be unfortunate for a customer to have to $4K to replace a less than 10 year old generator and then find out in a couple of years the replacement is also no longer supported. I wouldn't be surprised if Onan is holding back enough units and parts to be able to maintain still in warranty ones, but after that it could go downhill fast, I think. I don't know if any of the old rules about needing to support products for 7 years still applies, but even if there are some rules, a lot of companies don't do that for their products anymore. There may be an outside chance that someone in Asia will reverse engineer some of the parts and make them available, or perhaps even a complete knock off engine to fit, but the market is just not all that big to make that likely.
I can say that if I had a 2012 that I was told was obsolete, and Onan wanted me to pay full boat for new one that is, or soon will be, obsolete also, I would certainly hesitate. We don't know for certain that this is how it all will go, but seems to be leaning that way. I think anyone who gets into such a situation should be asking some very pointed questions about support time frames, and if buying a new one try to get Onan to put the support life in writing.
I think we need the petrol and/or propane fuel cells to get finalized, and mass produced, sooner rather than later so generators could be not needed.
Are the current Onans orphans?
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