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LPG question for Gas owners

simonkn8574

Active Member
Joined
January 30, 2012
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City, State
Bristol, UK
Year, Model & Trim Level
2000 Northface in Green.
My Zavoli unit (Multipoint sequential) was serviced last month with two filters replaced. Now the vap. unit is mounted vertically... Avon Autogas assure me that although unorthodox, it should NOT affect the operation. So, everythings running nicely etc. even engine light has switched off! I still have the same problem that on an incline with power applied in high gear, it will misfire a little, but dropping down a gear sorts it before any dramas!

Now last week it took a long time after startup to switch over to gas. When it eventually did, the revs/power dropped and then rose again and the engine light came on. No other dramas but its stayed like this, switching over a little slower on a cold startup but working fine...

Took it for it's first long motorway journey yesterday and after about an hour of Cruise Control 75-80mph driving it started stuttering. At a certain point (and always on an incline) with power applied, the revs/power will suddenly die and you can hear a "ticking" coming from under the bonnet where the vaporiser unit is. No other misfire/backfire noises, but more power equals dropped revs....Coming off the motorway the engine dies and we coasted and took a bit of starting but did restart. Please note, it runs smoothly on petrol. Now today the same is happening all the time and it sounds like its running on 1 less cylinder... Switch over to gas- revs drop- ticking noise. select petrol, off we go...

Are we looking at new injectors or could this be a sparking issue?? (can it only affect gas and not petrol?)

Any thoughts before it goes into Avon AutoGas this week...?

Regards

Simon K
 



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Don't know a great deal about LPG an exploreres, but I have read on numerous occasions that people have similar problems due to the wrong spark plugs.
Runs fine on petrol, but crap on LPG. It is on the forums quite a bit, and tells you somewhere, the best plugs for LPG conversions.
 






Cheers Fingers,

Do you know I really think it's ignition related but couldn't see how it would be SO different on one fuel and another!
Anyone else got an angle on this or has Mr Fingers hit the nail.....

SK
 






I don't think it is plugs personally.

Explorers on LPG like standard coper plugs but even fitting exotic plugs will not effect the running to the extent you are seeing and if they were as shot as to make it run on 1 cylinder on gas you would find iy would run just as badly on petrol.

I would look at the gas filters but more likley it is a problem with the reducer. have you seen any loss of coolant? if so you might have a coolant leak in the reducer? if you are confident enought, strip one of the gas manifolds to see if there is any crap in the lines
 






I would look at the gas filters but more likley it is a problem with the reducer. have you seen any loss of coolant? if so you might have a coolant leak in the reducer?

Now that's an interesting point... I bought the truck with little coolant in it... Topped it up and it's stayed full now but that IS a possibility... can I admit stupidity and ask what the reducer does and how coolant can come into contact with it and therefore affect it? Thanks, but LPG is all smoke and mirrors to me at present.. BTW, both filters were replaced last month during the service so unless one has failed......

SK
 






the reducer in a sequencial LPG system reduces the pressure of the LPG in it's liquid form and delivers the lower pressure to the injectors.

The reducer has a water feed from the engine coolant (usually from the car heater feed as it will get warmer faster) it needs this feed to make the reducer function correctly, That is why your car does not switch over to gas until the coolant temp is at 43 DegC.

It is not impossible for a new filter to fail (unlikley!) but you could have picked up some contaminated Gas - that is what the filters are designed to catch.

You could also have a faulty cut off valve (I had this problem with mine which turned out to be a bad earth on the solenoid that controls the valve).

also check the connection to the ignition coil from the LPG system as a loose connection would have the same effect - the ignition feed from the coil is used to shut off the gas valves when the engine stalls

have fun!
 






It sounds like you car is searching for gas like it has run out?

My explorer is not on lpg but had a range rover p38 lpg about a year ago, same problems with many other it was a range rover, became a bit of an expert, i will put money that you have a coolant leak somewhere, might be easy and just be a pipe clip that needs tightening but also could be internal to the lpg system which if serviced by good people unlikely or engine internals, head gasket etc.

No one every told me this but i worked out that lpg uses a bit of water to work in some way as mine being a range rover used a bit!! does your evaporator/reducer freeze up when it does this this, water probelm if it does.

Personnally would not touch an LPG car again if i planned on keeping it more thsan a year as it destroys heads and gaskets i went through 2 head gaskets in 40k in my p38. I know people will disagree but the fuel runs much hotter than petrol and drys out everything. sorry to be so negative but i hate range rovers more i think than lpg.
cheers
Onetime
 






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