Bobw
Diamond
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2005
- Location
- Hatch, NM Chile capital of the WORLD
I'm hoping one of you guys knows a bit about what I need to look for, how to fix it and are willing to share.
We've got this forklift at work, its a clark about 6000lbs, I think the model #is 'officially abused and never maintained'. The cyclinders all need to be redone and the valves stick, but generally it works. All the wiring is mickey moused and the ignition and starter switch are hanging out the side.
The current problem involves something I have no knowledge of, propane engines. It used to start and run good, and then it went to crap. When we mickey moused the wiring we bypassed the coil resistor, and after blowing two coils, added a resistor, this may or may not be part of the problem. Now there is no ignition bypass to put a full voltage to the coil on startup, this is just info on what has been done. Now to the problem, the forklift will start up, if its cold, but will only run for a few seconds, unless your constantly playing with the gas, then you might get a couple of minutes out of it, but once its started, its done for the day.
I haven't done any research on this yet, I've been putting in 12-14 hours a day and the EMJ driver is getting a little sick of us pulling material off his truck with a tow strap, besides, we have some heavy shipments coming in that can't be dropped on the ground. I just haven't had the spare time.
I'm guessing it is either a valve or a carb problem, the problem is, I have no background dealing with how propane goes from a liquid to a gas and through the carb. I guess I could have a tech(or whatever a forklift mechanic is called) come and look at it, but I figure, we do our own machine repairs, how hard can a forklift be.
If any of you can help me get pointed in the right direction, I'll even post a pic of this 'piece of crap' so you all can laugh at it, it might even be worth scrap value?
We've got this forklift at work, its a clark about 6000lbs, I think the model #is 'officially abused and never maintained'. The cyclinders all need to be redone and the valves stick, but generally it works. All the wiring is mickey moused and the ignition and starter switch are hanging out the side.
The current problem involves something I have no knowledge of, propane engines. It used to start and run good, and then it went to crap. When we mickey moused the wiring we bypassed the coil resistor, and after blowing two coils, added a resistor, this may or may not be part of the problem. Now there is no ignition bypass to put a full voltage to the coil on startup, this is just info on what has been done. Now to the problem, the forklift will start up, if its cold, but will only run for a few seconds, unless your constantly playing with the gas, then you might get a couple of minutes out of it, but once its started, its done for the day.
I haven't done any research on this yet, I've been putting in 12-14 hours a day and the EMJ driver is getting a little sick of us pulling material off his truck with a tow strap, besides, we have some heavy shipments coming in that can't be dropped on the ground. I just haven't had the spare time.
I'm guessing it is either a valve or a carb problem, the problem is, I have no background dealing with how propane goes from a liquid to a gas and through the carb. I guess I could have a tech(or whatever a forklift mechanic is called) come and look at it, but I figure, we do our own machine repairs, how hard can a forklift be.
If any of you can help me get pointed in the right direction, I'll even post a pic of this 'piece of crap' so you all can laugh at it, it might even be worth scrap value?