bi-fuels and main stealers

[capt jack]

Very interesting story Bigcheese. Interesting too that you'd filled up with Tesco petrol

When I got my V70 converted 110,000 miles ago, I was told never to have more than a few gallons of petrol in the tank, otherwise I might get running problems. The reason I was given is that the petrol does not stay fresh for very long, and as it's only used for the first two or three miles of any journey, petrol from a complete fill up may sit in the tank for months and months - with plenty of time for it to deteriorate.

I never thought to question this advice at the time, I've always just stuck to it. In nearly 4 years now, I've never had more than 5 gallons in the tank. I buy petrol maybe once every six weeks or so.

On reflection, the advice can't have been to prevent rust in the tank (currently a big problem with my 72 1800ES) because the V70 tank is plastic.

Questions for the techies out there:

How fast does petrol 'go off'?;

Can using a premium-grade petrol address the apparent O2 sensor problem caused by cheap petrol?

On your point about main stealers, remember that they actually see relatively few bi-fuels, especially if the car is more than 3 years old, so it's hardly surprising if they perhaps give the impression that they aren't sure what they're doing! What they are really interested in is 'servicing' new cars that aren't likely to go wrong anyway and taking £80 or £90 per hour from you for the privilege.

Cheers

Jack

[Bigcheese1]

Good point about having a full tank of petrol Jack and one I must admit I hadn't considered. I have experienced this effect when storing petrol for a lawnmower and was very surprised to find the petrol does seem to go "stale". This wasn't a factor with my bi-fuel problems though, since the lpg started playing up as soon as I filled up with the Tescos petrol. I guess if you had old petrol in your tank you might experience some starting problems though.

Looking at your 110k on lpg, I'm beginning to think that maybe I should have gone for an lpg conversion rather than a factory bi-fuel. That way I would have had the benefits of that turbo power and if I needed any repairs done, they would be a lot cheaper.

[Bhowani 2]

Having had my distributor changed by John @ Autogas 2000 (Thirsk) some 3 weeks ago, can I add my 2 pennyworth ?

Firstly I think replacement of the distributor is the answer not cleaning. I had mine changed before a long trip to Norway which went off without a hitch, and in 6" - 7" snow in places. (and no I didn't have winter tyres, but find my Pirelli 6000s VERY good in fresh snow!) The report from John was that the old LPG distributor had had it, and was gunged up with oil etc, which he blamed on the various sorts of LPG sold in the UK and abroad. Here, here about keeping low amounts of petrol in the system - I usual put £10 in at a go - no point in carrying too much ballast around!)

Moving on, if anybody wants info on the only route left to Norway, pse PM me. Immingham to Brevick is slog but the only way left unless you go via Ebjerg!

Bhowani

[Bigcheese1]

Dare I ask how much your distributor replacement cost Bhowani?

[Bhowani 2]

Bigcheese1

Greetings!

The actual distributor,,,£183.11p Total cost £287.41. Well, well worth the "back to normal" performance, particularly being able to put cruise on at xxxmph, and relax!

Bhowani

[capt jack]

If John at Autogas says it needs doing - it needs doing. As far as I'm concerned John is Mr LPG! Autogas 2000 - Brilliant company, great people, excellent service.

Out of interest Bhowani, which system do you have? How long (many miles) did it go before you needed the new distributor?

When I got my V70 converted I certainly looked round for a factory-fit or ready-converted car, but didn't see anything any good.

Buying a big-engined petrol car with modest mileage and in good order was relatively easy at the time. Trying to find an LPG car, or even a half-decent diesel was just about impossible, but I reckon that the cost of the car plus the cost of the conversion added up to pretty much the cost of buying an equivalent diesel. And of course I've been saving money ever since!

Jack

[Bhowani 2]

Capt Jack

Standard factory LPG kit, on a V70 S Auto. Reg 30 12 04. 40,000 miles up and now going like a tram (yes I remember them!)

Bhowani

[Bigcheese1]

Originally Posted by Bhowani 2

Bigcheese1

Greetings!

The actual distributor,,,£183.11p Total cost £287.41. Well, well worth the "back to normal" performance, particularly being able to put cruise on at xxxmph, and relax!

Bhowani

Thanks for the info Bhowani

£287 is less than Volvo charged me for their useless distributor service kit and clean out! Just wish I'd known about Autogas a few months back. I’m sure I’ve seen reports of Volvo charging in excess of £1k for a distributor replacement. Simply outrageous way to treat your customers.

[MrP]

hi guys,

right, i had my distributor replaced a few months ago, which gave me 3 or 4 week of perfect running, however it slowly went back to being as bad as it was before.

my gut feeling is that it is some sort of fuel restriction going on somewhere in the LPG kit. on petrol the car runs faultlessly. it got a caning around a few roundabouts last night and didnt stutter, pause or fart once, on gas doing the same sort of thing would have been alot of annoying pauses, flat spots and general annoyance.

it was supposed to go into the stealers tommorow be looked over (there first thought was the pressure could be out), however, as they need to see insurance documents which are in my wifes name and shes broken her ankle, thats not going to happen

the report of volvo charging £1k for a distributor are about right, i had a quote of circa £750 for the part alone plus fitting.

[Bigcheese1]

Sorry to here about your experience with the fuel distributor replacement Mr P.

Although your car runs perfectly on petrol I still wouldn’t rule out a common problem with petrol and LPG since engine conditions seem to be more critical for LPG. For example it seems to be well recorded that you need a better ignition spark for LPG than you do for petrol. The problem with intermittent faults like this is it’s so hard to know whether it’s fuel, electrics, ignition, a sensor or engine management.

Does anyone know what’s involved in checking the gas pressure? I did read a post where someone cured similar problems by increasing the pressure themselves, but can’t seem to find the thread now.