Propane powered pickups

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PanhandleGlocker

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Is anyone familiar with vehicles that have been ran on Propane for so long that they no longer run on gasoline?

was wondering what it takes to remove the propane system and get the engine to use gasoline again. I’ve heard propane dries a lot of stuff out over the years and didn’t know if the engine ends up needing a total rebuild or not.

this is an older pickup that would with a flip of a switch go from gasoline to propane or vice versa. I will be making another thread in a few days about this pickup. Was just thinking about it and had to ask this question tonight.
 

1911master

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I'm not sure I have much to add. My college room ran propane on his pickup (mid 70s). He told me he ran a tank of gas to every tank of propane. His thoughts were propane was hard on the valves.

My Dad ran propane for a number of years in his Chev with no problems.
 

trekrok

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Yep, valve seats and seals were what my grandad talked about too. He'd alternate between gas and propane thinking it helped. I think if I was getting one ready, I'd start with pulling the heads and doing a valve job and rebuilding the carb.
 

PanhandleGlocker

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Yep, valve seats and seals were what my grandad talked about too. He'd alternate between gas and propane thinking it helped. I think if I was getting one ready, I'd start with pulling the heads and doing a valve job and rebuilding the carb.

This truck was used mainly when propane was so cheap it was dumb to run gas cause it was expensive so it never got alternated. Strictly ran on propane for a long time.

already gotta pull the tranny on it so I think I might as well pull the motor.
 

Snattlerake

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Saw two farmers meet head-on in Kingfisher County one evening, both running propane. They had to replace asphalt.

There was also a Wichita PD officer that was killed when she was filling up. They think she lit a cigarette.
 

Okie4570

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Propane and natural gas are much cleaner burning, unless there's something wrong with that engine in general I wouldn't switch it. Carbon build up isn't an issue with valves, etc like on a gasoline engine.
 

trekrok

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A lot of the concern on valve seats and seals may have been from the days before everything had hardened seats - back in the days of regular gas.
 

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