Hi everyone, I have an older forklift (15-20 years old). It's a Toyota 5FGC15, with a 4y LP engine. For the past few weeks, I have noticed that every time we turn off the motor, there is a strong propane smell. I have tried to pinpoint the leak, and it seems like its coming from the LP regulator. I'm very mechanically inclined, but just don't have a lot of experience with LP engines, so I'm not sure how to proceed. are there any seals that can be replaced, or is there some way to diagnose this another way? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Mike p.s. here is a photo of where I think the leak is coming from:
sorry, messed up the code for the pic, and don't see a way to edit my post... here is the pic
Welcome a good start would be to spray the hoses and propane parts with soapy water and look for leaks (bubbles). Those are both common Impco parts. The top one is called a lock valve, it shuts off the propane with the engine in not running (vacuum operated) It's called a VFF-30. The bottom one is called a "model J". It uses heat from the engine to convert liquid propane to a vapor. Both need rebuilding from time to time. A lot of places just buy new ones rather than rebuilding. VFF30 is about $30 the Model J is about $70. Rebuild kits are available for about $20 each.
Off, Thanks for the reply...I tried the soapy water method, and for the life of me can't seem to locate the exact leak. I know its coming from one of the two parts, because immediately after shutting the motor off, the smell is only around them. You were spot on, it is a model J. I did find the rebuild kit online, but am I better off picking up a new set and just replacing them?
The directions in the kits are very good, no should have no problem rebuilding them. We still rebuild ours most of the time. The advantage of rebuilding a model J is you can do it right on the machine. The model J has coolant running through it so to take it off you'd either have to drain the cooling system or block the heater hoses that feed the model J. But you can re-kit one without loosing any coolant. There is a spring and a pin under one of the covers that likes to take off and get lost on you.......somewhere down in the bowels of the forklift. Be ready for escaping parts if you choose the rebuild method. There's a filter in the VFF30 lock and usually a bit of stinky propane gunk built up pin there. Good stuff.
How long does the smell last after shut off? Try shutting it off and immediately soaping the low pressure (large) hose its length, especially at the abraded/shiny places visible in the pic. Could be your lock off cuts pressue off at shutdown,but the residual trapped in this hose seeps on out. New piece of hose there might solve your problem. PS.. That is the cleanest LP set I have ever seen on a forklift. Polished after steam cleaning????? out
Sorry for not updating guys! I decided to go ahead and just replace the two pieces (picked them up for ~$100 shipped). I installed them a few days ago, and so far so good. I kept the old ones, and will probably clean and rebuild them to keep as spares. But since the originals lasted so long, I don't know if I'll ever actually use them. TD24, can't really say for them being that clean....the forklift is close to 20yrs old, but doesn't get used a lot (it has less than 4000 hours on it). Other than various cooling issues from the warehouse guy putting ONLY water into the system (causing rust EVERYWHERE), its a great little machine. Thanks again for all the help guys! Mike