Flashlube etc

[volvoid]

Am thinking of getting an lpg car, as ever evilbuy is full of the faulty ones with valve/head problems....where but public auction can one sell a pile of scrap....
anyway, flashlube
Do volvos need it ?
should they have it anyway ?
is it a good precaution ?
Are the other lubricant fluids any good / F is F expensive, others less so

[classicswede]

Flashlube has been around the longest and the only one I can be certain works. There are many other now available such as Dexter, JLM, Prins Valve care, Green add etc etc

Older volvo's do not need it. Anything around 2003 onwards is likely to need it (solid lifters)

In some cases petrol addition combined with lube is teh best option

[dingov70]

The best result is to throw away these additives & remove the cylinder head . find local machine shop to machine out existing valve seats and get them to replace with new seats made from nickel/chromium or vanadium/molybdenum steel . replace valve guides as well for a perfect seal on new seats . Do not let any machine shop sell you the fable you need all the seats replacing , as only the exhausts suffer the damage due to flame running over the faces , the inlets are cooled by fresh air & fuel mixture . If you search about you may even find someone selling a ready converted head . But if the engine was designed to run unleaded fuel you will have no problems running lpg as the head will already be fitted with the later type valve seat . Based on the flashlube electronic kit is £120 , i would put money into proper conversion . The seats are quite cheap about £5-8 ea , its the maching & experience you are paying for

[classicswede]

Sounds like you have very little experiance with Volvo engines.

From at least the 1960's to around 2003 depending on model Volvo engine run on unleaded or LPG with no modification to the cylinder head and no need for any additives. Some of the Renault engines used do need something doing for unleaded and/or LPG

The reason for VSR in the engines after 2003 is not to do with the material in either the valves or valve seats but down to how the valves are opened and closed

[dingov70]

Must admit , much of my lpg action has been toyota / nissan based engines , along with a number of Landrover / Rangerover lpg converted models . They do say you learn something new every day , thanks for the info . Best start reading up on these engines .

Cheers

Steve

[classicswede]

A lot of Jap engines do suffer with valve issues when running on LPG. With most of these engines it is again more down to valve opening and closing method rather than material used.

Some Honda engines are very bad with VSR for example the CRV needs the valve clearance adjusting every 10,000 miles on petrol and more than twice as often running LPG without any valve lube. Most Ford engines are the same with valves and seats made from butter.

Jeep 4.7 V8 engines are an odd one. The are perfectly fine with most LPG systems but fit a system with not such good fuel control on them and they start suffering with VSR. The only ones I have know to have issues were fitted with Prins and AG systems. There was one other fitted with a Piro system but again there were fuel control problems with that.

The Rover V8 is an odd engine, some run some don't, some leak water some don't, most misfire some don't, some suffer VSR but most don't. The newer Range rover withthe Ford/Jag engine do suffer especially the supercharged version. With this engine the situation can be improved by re-mapping the petrol ECU. The best Range Rover is the BMW engined one