paging Jon Hogan

Posted by grabatire on December 28, 2005 at 22:26:01 from (216.95.83.19):

Jon; In reply to your Dec. 23rd post. The mixer is a 445. The air valve moves freely and it closes as you suggested it should. Nice and smooth.

When I had the vaporizer apart to check for dirt and a broken diaphram I did note the diaphram was soft and pliable.

I let the engine sit for the past few days over Christmas, and started it late this aft. using your suggested method again. It started about the same as I mentioned in my last post, but it did start again without needing a boost. This is twice in a row so your method sure works better than the crank-till-it-starts that I was using. In fact considering that it had sat for nearly six days and started without a boost is a miracle.

In regard to the economizer valve; When I first installed the system I had the valve adjusted to the wide open position thinking it would give me maximum power. What it did do was burn so much fuel that I was considering reinstalling the gasoline system. Not only did it burn fuel like crazy, the engine heated up very quickly on even a short uphill grade. Grades that I had pulled many times before while burning gasoline, without the engine heating up. Thinking I may have a dirty radiator, I removed it and had it checked out at a rad shop. It didn't help. My late father (who just recently passed away) was a mechanic and had helpled me install the system. He instructed me to keep closing the economiser valve about 1/4 turn at a time until I noticed a drop in power, then open it 1/4 turn. It took several trips to accomplish this. At first there wasn't a noticable improvement with either the overheating or fuel consumtion, but gradually I did reach the point where there was a notiable power loss. I then opened the valve 1/4 turn and low-and-behold, I found the engine pulled almost as good as it had on gasoline. It still heated up a bit sooner than it did on gasoline but it took a lot longer or steeper grade than when I first installed the propane system. During all this fiddling around with the economizer, the engine never started any worse than it first did when the valve was wide open. It of course didn't start any better either.

I am going to open it a bit more and see if it improves things, but I'm reaching the conclusion that what I thought of as "hard starting", was probably more in the method that I was using, than a system problem. After that first start of the day, it starts instantly each time, until it sits again for a day or two. So, with a little patience, and using your recommended proceedure, I think I can live with it.

If you wouldn't mind sending me an email with your email address we could communicate more directly than you having to keep an eye out for my next post. Nonetheless, thanks for the help.

Follow Ups:

• Re: paging Jon Hogan Jon Hagen 09:04:45 12/29/05 (2)
  • Re: Re: paging Jon Hogan Jon Hagen 11:23:23 12/29/05 (1)
    • Re: Re: Re: paging Jon Hogan grabatire 15:43:23 12/29/05 (0)

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