Farmall m propane problems.

Andrew Psencik · May 8, 2012

Got my first propane tractor the other day. Hooked it up to the chisel and got about 50 yards before it crapped out. Not sure what happened. It was running good then it sputtered, and died. When the engine shut off I could hear gas bubbling up through the air cleaner stacks. Then liquid was running out the bottom of the carb. Then everything froze up. I was running the tractor with both valves open. Any advice would be appreciated. What is the correct way to operate this tractor ? Starting, operating ?

randy hall · May 8, 2012

start on vapor run on liquid.

Andrew Psencik · May 8, 2012

I don't know how to do that. Which valves control what ?

jal-SD · May 8, 2012

Generally, its the top valve for vapor and the bottom one is liquid. (My $0.02 worth. jal-sd)

CenTex Farmall · May 8, 2012

It sounds like the regulator has a stuck valve or ruptured diaphram or something. They are simple but there shouldn't be liquid getting to the carb.

Generally you start on vapor and once you have a little water heat you switch to liquid.
Nothing is harmed by starting on liquid, but the regulator can literally freeze up due the latent heat of vaporization.

Running on vapor alone will not allow you to make full power because there's not enough volume of energy coming from the tank. Engines always run on a mixture of fuel vapor and air and starting on specifically on vapor makes operation easier in cold weather. In the hot Texas sun I can start and run on liquid with no problems.

The vapor valve has a tube that goes to the top of the tank and the liquid valve has a tube going to the bottom. Generally they are labeled. A photo could help as there's umpteen varieties of tank valve configurations.

Andrew Psencik · May 8, 2012

Do you ever run it with both valves open ?

Owen Aaland · May 9, 2012

No coolant flowing through the converter will also cause the mixer to flood with liquid propane. If you have warm/hot coolant flowing through the converter and it still floods with liquid the problem is in the converter/regulator.

CenTex Farmall · May 9, 2012

"Back in the day" the mix that made up propane was fairly lenient and running on liquid made sure you burned off heavier elements such as butane. Theoretically if you only ran on vapor you could eventually end up with a quantity of stuff in the tank that would stay liquid in atmospheric temps.

Nowadays I think pretty much all of it is "hd5" which is spec'd to be 95% propane and no more than 5% propylene. In short it's made to me a motor fuel and not gum thing up.

You won't hurt anything by running with both valves open.

Andrew Psencik · May 9, 2012

Thanks. But I think it's the regulator or the vaporizer. Went out today and cracked the vapor valve open and immiedatly heard the vapor bubbling out my air cleaner stack. I've got a gas tank and a carb off an old super h. Will this fit the m ?

CenTex Farmall · May 9, 2012

Yeah, your problem is in the vaporizer. Just giving some background on why some people flip out over the whole liquid/vapor thing.

The H parts look similar but will be too small for the M. The carb will be too small for full power and I'm not sure it will even bolt on.

You might check with your local propane dealer to see if they have a good used vaporizer. If you're handy with fabrication you can mount any reasonable sized unit on the tractor. They may even have a good used one if a new one is more than you want to spend.

Farmall m propane problems.

Andrew Psencik

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randy hall

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Andrew Psencik

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jal-SD

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CenTex Farmall

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Andrew Psencik

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Owen Aaland

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CenTex Farmall

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Andrew Psencik

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