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[Guinney1971]

hi all,

well I filled 'Morticia' up for the 3rd time yesterday with LPG, and as normal the tank took just over 35 litres to fill up (£23.90).

However, my previous fill up only lasted 163 miles, which by my calculations is a pathetic 21mpg - I get that out of our 3.0 Avantime Auto on LPG, and would have thought that a 2.0 16v Auto would have done better then that.

If I'd have known that I was only gonna get 21mpg, I would have gone for a V6!

Could there be a problem with the car, or is this the sort of MPG I should expect bearing in mind most of my driving is local stuff, doing sometimes less then 2 miles a day, my longest runs being if I go to Derby, which is a round trip of 40 miles.

Any advice would be appreciated,

cheers,

Claire

[Guinney1971]

just to update, it looks like the car has a major gas leak, as the 35 litres I put in it yesterday to fill it up has vanished, as it wont switch onto gas and keeps bleeping at me (the "I'm outta gas" noise).

Not a happy bunny!!

I could smell gas round the LPG filler, so that could be the culprit, but how P'd off am I right now - especially as I've just had to go and put some petrol in the ruddy thing        

[JamesV6CDX]

Hi Clare,

Firstly, 21mpg is about right for a 2.0 Auto Estate running around locally. The 4 pot Omega is such that, on a long run, it's economy can be reasonable (late 30's) but locally, it's notoriously dire.

As a comparison for you...

1) My 2.0 Auto saloon, used to do 26mpg combined local and some A roads - on petrol. Locally, 21 mpg on gas is fine.

2) My current 3.2 MV6 on LPG, will do around 17/18mpg locally on LPG.

Are you certain there's a leak? I know I've not seen it, but I'm not convinced, yet, based on what you've posted. Smelling some stench agent around the filler isn't uncommon at all - and, there will be non return equipment on the filler/tank valve setup. Would be v surprised if you were losing gas from the tank, this way. I'd say more likely what you're smelling is, at worst, the remainder in the pipe between filler, and tank, rather than a leak from the tank.

The beep, and the "I'm outta gas" noise, could be that the gas ECU has seen some sort of fault, rather than it's just simply out of gas.

Is there a level gage on the tank valve? If so, what is this reading?

I don't "formally" work on LPG conversions, but I'll have a look at this one FOC for you, if you like, including the relevent software / live value checks 



I wonder if it's perhaps a stuck solenod, giving the same symptom/warning as no gas..

[Guinney1971]

hiya mate, thanks for the info   

Took the car to the LPG place in Heanor today, and the guy had a quick look and said what its doing suggests theres a fault 'engine side' not in the boot, and he suspected that its got blocked filters, so we're gonna change those, as they are probably original, and go from there.  The fault is intermittent (since Monday after we filled it up on Sunday at Asda in Derby), and it'll be fine, then suddenly start playing up.  When I went out on Monday, it wouldnt switch onto gas, then Tuesday it drove fine on gas to Derby and back for my hospital appointment, a round trip of about 40 miles, but come going shopping in the afternoon, it wouldnt switch to gas, and kept acting like it was out of fuel.   This afternoon, exactly the same, but after we'd filled up with gas in Heanor (topped the tank up with 18 litres), it went back onto gas straight away and drove home absolutely fine.  I give up! lol

The guy we got it off said the LPG fuel gauge was really unreliable, and it is, it drops within 60 miles to 'reserve' on the gauge, then will spend the next 100 miles on reserve.

I really need it to behave on gas this weekend, got a 260 mile round trip to my hometown to do, and I aint doing it on petrol !

Claire

[JamesV6CDX]

Does your hometown bring you anywhere near Gloucester?

[Guinney1971]

sadly not mate, going in the other direction to Hertfordshire.

Are you going to the Vauxhall Spares Day near Coventry on 11th March?