Autogas conversion fault

  • Thread starter Thread starter Andrew Dix
  • Start date Start date
A

Andrew Dix

Can anyone help with a problem my Dad has on his 3 year old Astra, it was
converted to Gas when new and has been fine up until now, when he sets off
it runs on petrol for a few seconds and then when then switches to Gas
automatically, when it is warm and is started it has no power at all, can
only just pull away(on petrol) as soon as the gas switches in it is fine,
has has had it at the Vauxhall dealer and they say its a fault with the gas,
the company who installed the gas says it's a fault the the car.
Has cost him £200 so far in garage bills and is just going from one to
another.

Any help would be very much appreciated!

TIA
 
Its not very clear (to me) what is wrong here. are you saying there is no
power on gas, or no power on petrol?
 
The Gas people said they could not find anything wrong with it and so it
must be a fault with the car, not the conversion. (Vauxhall dealer said same
other way round)
 
There is no power when setting off after starting the car when car is
already warm (in the gas "auto" mode), the system starts the car on petrol
and then switches over to gas after a few seconds, it's the short time that
the car is running on petrol that it is low on power but if you switch off
the gas and leave it off, the car runs fine all the time.
 
Thats a bit more helpfull thanks. best guess based on what you've been
saying then is that the relay controlled valve that turns the gas on and off
(when you rev the engine you should hear the click as it cuts in, probably
past 2000rpm)is coming on when the ignition is turned on. this means that
the engine is running super rich in fuel as its getting gas and petrol. if
you are old enough to remember carburettors with manual chokes, think how
they ran when warmed up if you pulled the choke out! probably getting away
with it with a cold engine. go back to the gas people and thell them you
think the gas is on all the time ignition is on. would be better if you can
take it to the people who did the conversion. you should still have a
certificate of conformity that confirms things like tank serial number and
installer (for insurance reasons) to tell you where to go.

Mike

BTW, if you know a friendly garage that will do a cheap emissions test then
get one with engine just started-the HC should be off the scale!
 
Thanks Mike,
The Gas people did suggest this as a possible reason, they suggested
switching the gas off before stopping the vehicle (a few miles before to use
up all the gas in the system) When he did this it did make a difference but
was not perfect. Could it be a fault in the Gas Ecu? When the gas switches
in (on the auto mode) you do hear the relay click and then the problem goes
away. The car is now 3 1/2 yrs old and has had the conversion since new, the
car has been perfect up until now. So it must be a problem that has
developed, the vauxhall dealer say there are no fault codes but they tried
an oxygen sensor to see if it had anything to do with it but the problem was
still there. The Gas people are the original installers it is a Landi
System.
 
There were no fault codes in either Gas or Vehicle ECU



----- Original Message -----
From: "me140" <[email protected]>
Newsgroups: free.uk.cars.vauxhall
Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2006 10:46 AM
Subject: Re: Autogas conversion fault

Did the Vauxhall people say what fault codes were in the petrol ecu?

Might be an idea to have the gas electrics temporarily unplugged from
the petrol side so you can determine which system is at fault.

-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Dix [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 12 February 2006 20:54
To: me140
Subject: Re: Autogas conversion fault

The Gas people said they could not find anything wrong with it and so it

must be a fault with the car, not the conversion. (Vauxhall dealer said
same
other way round)

----- Original Message -----
From: "me140" <[email protected]>
Newsgroups: free.uk.cars.vauxhall
Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2006 10:46 AM
Subject: Re: Autogas conversion fault
 
ok, unless you have some sort of still valid warranty, I think the time has
come to take it to a different gas service place. ask at anywhere that sells
lpg that isnt a large petrol station, ie a caravan place or a bottled gas
place. The actual knowledge of these people is very variable indeed. A lot
just know how to install and set up new systems, but when it comes to
troubleshooting them they couldnt pour piss out of a bucket if the
instructions were on the bottom!. (eg, a guy who installed my first system
on my old range rover couldnt cure blowbacks, which were destroying very
expensive air flow meters. advised me I needed a new engine!-V8s dont come
cheap-but a second opinion advised a quality set of HT leads that cured the
problem)

Anyhow

difficult to be more specific as there are some diferent systems out there.
Some of the better ones advance the ignition on changeover, as propane burns
a lot slower than petrol. maybe this has gone belly up, if its fitted.

Mike
 
Thank You for all your suggestions Mike, I think my father would take it
elsewhere if he could, the only problem is that we live on the Shetland
Isles and there is only the one place that deals with autogas. Maybe when he
goes on Holiday in the summer he will take it somewhere else, diagnostic
work is not cheap though and the further South you go the higher the labour
rate!
 
I remember driving a Corsa that had been converted and when I switched it to
petrol it did 25mph tops - was fine on gas though. Ended up getting the
petrol ecu remapped cos the block learn was going outside working parameters
when on gas - once it was remapped the owner ran it on petrol for 10 miles
every week and it kept it sweet.
what engine is in the Astra?
 
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