Bad LPG in circulation

[A1tony]

The LPG consumption on my V6 took a nose dive this weekend (200 mainly motorway miles at 65-70 mph, 4 adults and a sports bag each to one 73 litre toroidal tank of Gas where I should have got 300 ish)

I rang the fitters (profess Autogas near Cardiff) and they said straight away that they are getting lots of calls from people with exactly the same problem at the moment. When they check the cars, they are finding the fuel filters badly contaminated with oil, which in turn can clog the injectors. They have noted in particular, a number of vehicles seem to have filled up in the midlands area. If I have the same problem, it was filled at BP in Barnstaple.
Been advised to let it run out (which it has) refill it and see if that cures it, otherwise its a trip to Cardiff

Regards and discuss...!

Tony

[flossie]

Any other LPG fitters reporting lots of calls on this ?

[wishmaster]

I usually fill up at Asda or Morrisons cause its a few pence cheaper 58p lt ( yeh i know im a tight ar$e ) but recently been filling up at Profess autogas themselves 60p lt and had NO problems with any so i'll stick to what i know

[A1tony]

Just refilled it and it took 68.5 litres so it equates to about 11.5 to the gallon !!! Not really where it should be !

[wishmaster]

Just refilled it and it took 68.5 litres so it equates to about 11.5 to the gallon !!! Not really where it should be !

Thats really PANTS Tony i get 20 mpg round town and at least 30 on a good run might need to take back to your convertors and have it looked at maybe clean out or replace the filter . Our convertors recommend a filter change every 2 years

Izzy

[A1tony]

Tell me about it !!

I reckon the best average I have had yet is 50-55 litres to 200 miles. I have only had it fitted for just under 2 months so it may need a new filter. I will have a look at it this weekend and see what state its in..!

Its always useful to know what others are getting on LPG so you know how your own system is performing. I have to say the fuel gauge is next to useless !!!

regards

Tony

[wishmaster]

After 1000 miles you'll need to take it back for a check anyway,thats what we did. Our fuel consumption was high til then,then it settled down,possibly your problem? See what they got to say as it just may need a tweak.
Good luck and keep us posted.
IZZY

[apole]

Hi there,

Not good to hear. So far so good with me but I guess any contamination could take a while to show up.

Does anyone know if the garages should have filters on the pumps to prevent this? Would have thought they had a duty and perhaps some liability if they were selling contaminated fuel. Maybe worth finding out some more info from the fitters and then writing to the head office to raise the issue?

Andy

[A1tony]

After 1000 miles you'll need to take it back for a check anyway,thats what we did. Our fuel consumption was high til then,then it settled down,possibly your problem? See what they got to say as it just may need a tweak.
Good luck and keep us posted.
IZZY

I will probably get it done next week if I can find time to get there. They have offered me the software and disc if I want to be able to adjust it myself. Since its in Polish, that could be interesting !

I will let them set it up whislt its under warranty to be on the safe side...

This still doesnt address the issue of contaminated fuels if what they say is right. Obviously if there is oil. There is only one way it can get in there...

regards

Tony

[lpgimports]

No issues experienced with any of our Romano installs, though their injectors work in a different manner than all the others and so do not require a vapour phase filter as most other systems do.

So hard to prove from a consumers perspective, would need to do a full laboratory analysis which would require a clean sample directly from the pump, which is fairly impossible with pressurised liquid LPG.

Paul

[A1tony]

Well,

I took my van back to Profess on Monday. The main man gave it a tweek on the laptop, then a mechanic road tested it, back on the laptop. We then filled it up to max and then I drove a 40 mile road test on a mixture of hills/flats fast/slow whilst he adjusted the fuelling etc. I have to say it felt much better when we got back and we were expecting to see over 20mpg and instead got 11.6 !!!

Now that said, on the way there (Surrey to Ystrad Mynach - 150 miles) it used 36 litres or about 22 quid and 21 mpg. I immediately thought that was wrong as I was sure it must have used more fuel than that. Then on the way back on the same route it used almost exactly the same amount again. Why therefore it did 11 to the gallon on the road test I have no idea. They suggested changing the injector module if it remained that low, but I reckon 21mpg on a run at 70mph is about where its at. Interesting that neither gas or petrol is injected at all on downhill and off throttle. I always thought there must be some, but it seems not. I will have to make sure I watch for trailing throttle foot !

Since most people reckon 25mpg is roughly what a V6 will do on petrol, I cannot see its far off the mark and it still means equivalent of about 35mpg in petrol terms. FYI I have the Stag 300 plus (or premium, not sure which)...

Thanks

Tony