Frosting carburator

dhermesc

Well-known Member
Yesterday it was about 18 degrees and my son fired up the Farmall 350 to move some hay around. After it had run for a few minutes the carburetor started to frost up and eventually the fuel was so restricted that even with full choke the tractor sputtered to a stop and died. Couple hours later it was above 32, the frost had melted and the tractor ran fine. I had this problem over a decade ago but hadn't for several years. Is there a fuel additive to help with this?
 
You can add some 'Heet',but that's just their nature,especially on days with high humidity.Running some kind of a cover/curtain from the radiator to the carb helps to keep the carb warm.There was a very informative article in 'Ageless Iron Almanac' last month about that very thing. How,why,remedies??.
 
this is called the venture effect. totally normal operation of the carburetor. the air is cooled down as it passes through the venture with less pressure then speeds up. that is how the gas is drawn up and mixed. all carburators do this. it can be seen in july also with a wet carb. can make a heat shield around carb. vehicles had a tube from manifold to draw warm air around carb. my thinking is run at 1/2 throttle if working till get enough engine heat.
 
That is a fact of life and how ANY carb works. That is why many of the car that had carbs had a hose coming off the manifold to the air intake to draw hot air off the manifold to heat the air as it went in so the carb frosting did not happen
 
Perfectly normal! As other suggest adding a hose to draw hot air off the manifold or muffler to the air inlet will help. Or a heat houser to direct warm air from the radiator back over the carb.

Simplest solution: Cold-start the tractor, let it run about 1/2 throttle for several minutes and shut it down. Wait about 5 minutes for manifold heat to "soak" down to the carburetor and melt the frost. Then restart and immediately put the tractor to work - don't let it slow idle! It should now run fine.
 
Made this for a Farmall B that did that in winter. No problems now.
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(quoted from post at 10:22:03 01/27/19) Perfectly normal! As other suggest adding a hose to draw hot air off the manifold or muffler to the air inlet will help. Or a heat houser to direct warm air from the radiator back over the carb.

Simplest solution: Cold-start the tractor, let it run about 1/2 throttle for several minutes and shut it down. Wait about 5 minutes for manifold heat to "soak" down to the carburetor and melt the frost. Then restart and immediately put the tractor to work - don't let it slow idle! It should now run fine.

Yes. That is the simplest solution.
 
My Super C Carter carb. used to do that, smoke and run rough as a cob until it warmed. Some where in the process of installing a new Zenith carb. and shutters it healed up, manifold gets a little frosty but runs fine.
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Maybe tape this Harley mechanic pict. to the gas line.
 
Old tractor surprised me today, was 20 below this morning, -22 yesterday morning and hasn't run in a week. I needed to push back some snow to make room for tonight's 6 to 10 inches. Don't know what the temperature was at one O clock but after a grunt she fired up.
 

I didn't see a ratchet or boots...lol


Dad used to put a feed sack over the radiator of our JD model A in the winter to haul hay and wood, never had any problems...and that was using drip gas.
 
Frosting of the manifold is a problem when living in the north country. Here are a few pictures of a hot air intake the I have made for a few Farmall tractors. This is my SMTA picture here. I started with a length of 8 inch stove pipe and plugged one end with a 8 inch cake pan with is round hole cut in one end to slip over the muffler. Stopped by the local muffler shop and had the boys bend me a piece of 2 inch pipe to slip over the air cleaner intake pipe. I then had to cut a hole in the side where the air cleaner extension pipe lines up with the 8 inch pipe. Very easy to install and when the weather warms up the piping all can be removed. Once the tractor engine is started the air cleaner is drawing in warm air that is being heated by the outside of the muffler.
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I wrapped a piece of aluminum flashing around the outside of the carburetor so that it collects heat off the engine block. Read somewhere that adjusting the valves would help, I did that as well. Don't have the problem any more.
 
(quoted from post at 19:43:18 01/28/19) I wrapped a piece of aluminum flashing around the outside of the carburetor so that it collects heat off the engine block. Read somewhere that adjusting the valves would help, I did that as well. Don't have the problem any more.

My dad did something very similar, but used a tin antifreeze can. It worked.
 
Engine side curtains direct heated air from the radiator back over the outside of the carburetor and back towards the driver. Restricting most of the grill openings slows the air flow so it is warmer.
 
Engine warms up faster with this setup and it can be below 0 and everything is warm from muffler to carb .
Tractor runs like your using it in summer time.
 

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