Another propane injection question

Ok, so I was down at Morris Mtn a couple weeks ago for the RBD workday, going up a steep incline (normal plain trail in 2wd) and truck goes dead like it ran out of propane. It would crank immediately but soon as I'd touch the gas, it'd go dead. Which is exactly how our forklifts do at work when they are completely out of propane. Sooo I switched the propane line over to a grill bottle I keep in the truck as a reserve tank. It fired up, ran perfect, went up the hill, later rolled the sumbitch over a couple times, and drove it back to the trailer.....all the while still running fine like normal.

So, thus meaning the big propane tank HAS to be completely empty right? Well went to fill it yesterday, unclamped it, got it out of the truck and felt like it had some left in it....which was wierd. Carried it to get it filled, it only held 7.something gallons. I have ran it completely empty before and it held 11.7 gallons being filled up from a completely empty state. So it had like 3 damn gallons left in it when it quit running on the trail before switching to the small grill bottle. At this point nothing is making sense.

I'm baffled as to why in the crap it ran fine after switching over to the little grill bottle, but wouldn't stay running on the main propane tank even though it had in excess of 3 gallons left in it, which it had been running on just fine all day long. Maybe had something to do with releasing the propane line from the main tank and that clearing out the line or something? I don't know jack **** about propane injection swaps, so this is all new to me.



Engine is a high compression 22r.

Did you have the tank laid in the right way?

Look up a cutaway of a propane tank, the dip tube for fuel faces a certain direction.

or, Dip tube may have broke off.

TBItoy said:

Did you have the tank laid in the right way?

Look up a cutaway of a propane tank, the dip tube for fuel faces a certain direction.

or, Dip tube may have broke off.

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Yep it's laid down with the alignment hole facing downward onto the alignment pin that's attached to the mounts/clamps.....same as our tanks are mounted on the back of our forklifts here at work. That would make sense, especially since it was on a pretty good incline. I wasn't for sure how the insides of those tanks were made. Guess I'll just keep it filled up after every ride

Open the valve and drain it completely, my tow motor tank was doing the same thing that seemed to fix mine.I think it has something to do with how they fill them. But sometimes the pick up does break off in the tank also

Elliott said:

Open the valve and drain it completely, my tow motor tank was doing the same thing that seemed to fix mine.I think it has something to do with how they fill them. But sometimes the pick up does break off in the tank also

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I will do that next time it runs out, it's got nearly 12 gallons in it now

Before I got it filled this last time (with the propane that was in it when it had the 3 gallons and wouldn't run), it was completely out as far as the truck running. It wouldn't even crank or try to hit a lick....so bottle was bone dry, BUT it would prolly help by opening the valve to let it completely depressurize. Definitely will try that.

If that don't work, I'll buy another damn tank and blow this one up from a distance with a deer rifle

I've had full tanks that wouldn't run because a bad o-ring, but don't know why one would stop working before it was empty

Nuts said:

I've had full tanks that wouldn't run because a bad o-ring, but don't know why one would stop working before it was empty

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Never checked into it, but a local gas company should be able to install a new complete valve on a tank shouldn't they? Or do you just have to say to hell with it and buy a new tank?

jd, you dont need a new tank, before you go out and put a 30-06 round thru it i will use it.

machen4x4 said:

jd, you dont need a new tank, before you go out and put a 30-06 round thru it i will use it.

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Haha I was mostly kidding, but it would make a pretty interesting explosion!

TacomaJD said:

Haha I was mostly kidding, but it would make a pretty interesting explosion!

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You have to use a tracer round, or build a fire near it to get it to explode.

otherwise it'll just shoot a hole in it and the propane will sprays out. laughing1


Anyway, can you just exchange it for a filled tank, like you do a welding gas bottle?

This is a cutaway of a 33 lb forklift bottle. The tube in the photo is the pickup tube that lines up with the alignment pin/slot on the upper ring. When going uphill you want that pickup tube covered all the time so you don't run out of liquid and suck in vapor which will act just like running out of fuel.

I have 23 years in propane conversions. Give me a call if you need help.

Buddy Gamel
Precision Sales & Service, Inc.
451 64th Place South
Birmingham, Ala. 35212

877-403-7827
205-591-2267, fax

[email protected]
[email protected]
www.alternatefuel.com
www.workhorseservice.com

THAT is AWESOME! Thanks for the pic, I'll rotate it to where the tube is to the back side just a little bit and see how she works at RBD next weekend!

TBItoy said:

You have to use a tracer round, or build a fire near it to get it to explode.

otherwise it'll just shoot a hole in it and the propane will sprays out. laughing1


Anyway, can you just exchange it for a filled tank, like you do a welding gas bottle?

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Yea man, that's what a pile of old cardboard beer cases and lighter fluid is for :****:

Hopefully seem to have found the problem. Valve was freezing up due to opening it all the way open (like we do our forklifts at work, but they don't freeze up like that) ....apparently that's not optimal on my rig, I ran it between 1/4 and 1/2 open on Saturday at RBD and had no issues all day long. About halfway through RBD Friday, it froze up and wouldn't run for **** and had to have at least 9+ gallons left in the main tank. So until the next problem arises, hopefully that solved the initial one this thread was started about.

There is a problem with the valve in that tank. The valve should be open all the way on any tank or all the way closed. It sounds like there is a restriction in that valve if it is freezing up or the excess flow check valve on the back side(inside the tank) of the valve is defective.

My plans are to keep running it at 1/4 to 1/2 open until something else happens and then deal with it then. "Don't fix it til it's broke"

I had one doing this. There is a plastic piece that is attached to the lower part of the valve. I removed the valve after the tank was empty, clean out whatever was in it. Its has a small hole in it anyways. Have not had a problem since. You can not miss it when you pull the valve out.

So what's the super cautious procedure for removing the valve, I mean of course letting all the propane run out by leaving the valve open over a period of time? But when installing the valve back in the tank, do you use pipe fitting tape or anything or just tighten it down? I don't want to create another problem down the road from lack of knowledge the first go round.

TacomaJD said:

So what's the super cautious procedure for removing the valve, I mean of course letting all the propane run out by leaving the valve open over a period of time? But when installing the valve back in the tank, do you use pipe fitting tape or anything or just tighten it down? I don't want to create another problem down the road from lack of knowledge the first go round.

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Use teflon tape and pipe joint compound.

I used pipe dope that they use on natural gas pipe