Volvo Owners Club Forum - View Single Post - bi-fuels and main stealers

Bigcheese1 · Nov 2nd, 2008, 01:55

Hi Mr P,

I too, have suffered the stuttering/cutting-out problem with my S60 bi-fuel. It seems this is quite a common problem. The first time it happened, I was coming to the end of a hundred odd mile journey, braked to turn left into the side road and the engine cut out with associated loss of power steering and brake assistance. As it happened this wasn’t a problem but you wouldn’t want it to happen when braking in an emergency situation!

The car will run faultlessly for hundreds of miles and then suddenly start playing up if there’s the slightest bend, change in gradient or speed (roundabouts can be a bit of a nightmare). Reluctantly I have been forced to go to the main-stealers. They have been through the usual stuff I’ve read about from other owners ie changing the throttle box, software updates and having the LPG fuel distributor cleaned.

My advice would be to avoid the main dealers if you can because:
1. Yes they will fleece you (I’ve tried 3 different Volvo garages so far and have vowed never to go to any of them ever again).
2. I don’t believe that either they or Volvo actually know what the solution to this problem is. Apparently Volvo usually recommend replacement of the LPG fuel distributor but the cost of this is astronomical and doesn’t necessarily seem to provide a long term cure.

After having the fuel distributor cleaned I was told that the problem wasn’t completely cured but was still charged royally for the privilege. Sure enough a few hundred miles down the road and the car was playing up again.

A Possible Cure?

Having sworn never to return to the main stealers I started to do some digging around. The symptoms I was getting seemed to bare some resemblance to problems experienced on petrol cars when the oxygen sensor is contaminated with high silicon levels contained in some cheap supermarket fuel. It occurred to me that just before my recent bout of problems I had filled the petrol tank up with Tescos petrol. I reasoned that, although the car runs fine on petrol, it could be contaminated petrol causing the car to fail when switching to LPG (since LPG has a lower calorific value and is more difficult to ignite than petrol this is the first place any problems are likely to show up).

To test my theory I decided to run the car on petrol to empty out the Tescos stuff and then try another brand. So I continued on petrol until most of it was used up and then switched to LPG, the car was running worse than ever giving some credence to my theory that petrol contamination was causing the problem. I then filled the petrol tank with Shell Super, of course the problem didn’t disappear immediately but it didn’t take too long for the car to start running like a dream again.

It’s too early in my experiment to know whether this is in fact a cure or just pure coincidence but I would be interested to hear what sort of petrol other bi-fuel drivers use and whether they’ve had similar problems.

Nov 2nd, 2008, 01:55	#10
Bigcheese1 Junior Member Last Online: Jun 27th, 2011 00:56 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: St Ives	Hi Mr P, I too, have suffered the stuttering/cutting-out problem with my S60 bi-fuel. It seems this is quite a common problem. The first time it happened, I was coming to the end of a hundred odd mile journey, braked to turn left into the side road and the engine cut out with associated loss of power steering and brake assistance. As it happened this wasn’t a problem but you wouldn’t want it to happen when braking in an emergency situation! The car will run faultlessly for hundreds of miles and then suddenly start playing up if there’s the slightest bend, change in gradient or speed (roundabouts can be a bit of a nightmare). Reluctantly I have been forced to go to the main-stealers. They have been through the usual stuff I’ve read about from other owners ie changing the throttle box, software updates and having the LPG fuel distributor cleaned. My advice would be to avoid the main dealers if you can because: 1. Yes they will fleece you (I’ve tried 3 different Volvo garages so far and have vowed never to go to any of them ever again). 2. I don’t believe that either they or Volvo actually know what the solution to this problem is. Apparently Volvo usually recommend replacement of the LPG fuel distributor but the cost of this is astronomical and doesn’t necessarily seem to provide a long term cure. After having the fuel distributor cleaned I was told that the problem wasn’t completely cured but was still charged royally for the privilege. Sure enough a few hundred miles down the road and the car was playing up again. A Possible Cure? Having sworn never to return to the main stealers I started to do some digging around. The symptoms I was getting seemed to bare some resemblance to problems experienced on petrol cars when the oxygen sensor is contaminated with high silicon levels contained in some cheap supermarket fuel. It occurred to me that just before my recent bout of problems I had filled the petrol tank up with Tescos petrol. I reasoned that, although the car runs fine on petrol, it could be contaminated petrol causing the car to fail when switching to LPG (since LPG has a lower calorific value and is more difficult to ignite than petrol this is the first place any problems are likely to show up). To test my theory I decided to run the car on petrol to empty out the Tescos stuff and then try another brand. So I continued on petrol until most of it was used up and then switched to LPG, the car was running worse than ever giving some credence to my theory that petrol contamination was causing the problem. I then filled the petrol tank with Shell Super, of course the problem didn’t disappear immediately but it didn’t take too long for the car to start running like a dream again. It’s too early in my experiment to know whether this is in fact a cure or just pure coincidence but I would be interested to hear what sort of petrol other bi-fuel drivers use and whether they’ve had similar problems.