The LPG system on a friend's car decided to pack up at the weekend. The car is an "S" reg Rover 820 Auto, with (but don't quote me on this) a LaVorta? LPG conversion. The car was driven all the way from Oxfordshire to Dover and onto the Ferry to France with no problems whatsoever. However, upon leaving the Ferry in France the car refused to run on LPG. It starts up fine on Petrol, but as soon as the LPG system switches over automatically the engine stops dead immediately. At first she thought the v.hot weather in France was the problem, but when back in the UK it still would only run on Petrol.
I've tried looking at the obvious - loose wires, etc, but to no avail. There are a couple of solenoids that click when the system changes over and I have checked the voltage they're recieving (13.75v) I guess it's a trip to an LPG Doctor, but her local man charges £75 just to plug the diagnostic equipment in, before even considering doing any repairs!
A long shot, but Can anyone suggest I try something else before handing it over to the experts?
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DD,
Give Gordon Finlay a ring on 07974 397227 (this was last year). He was on that mobile all the time he was repairing mine, giving advice.
He sorted mine when it tried to run on petrol and gas. Though I did have to visit him in Devon.
I asked him for the electrical diagram after he had fixed it and he drew it up for me, so I should be OK if there is a next time.
The origonal installers went bust 3 years ago.
BrianH
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Brian, thanks for this info, I will pass it on. Being in Devon could be quite convenient as I believe the car owners parents live in that neck of the woods somewhere. Could kill two birds with one stone - a visit to the parents and getting the car repaired at the same time. Is he expensive, do you know?
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DD,
I will dig out the bill. I think it was quite reasonable at £30ph IIRC.
The mobile number I gave is still live. Use streetmap and EX10 0DF to find it.
BrianH
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Brian,
Unfortunately my friend's impatience has stopped me contacting your recommended man for advice. Today she has taken the car along to the guy that she has used previously. In a way I can understand her impatience as the car costs an absolute fortune to run on petrol, and the sooner it's fixed, the sooner she can go back to paying 38p for a litre for gas, as opposed to 77p for a litre of petrol!!
Again, thanks for the info; it may be prove to be handy if any further problems occur.
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Car now fixed.
Friend\'s impatience paid off. A rubber pipe had fallen off an elbow and was left hanging down behind the engine. Quite how I or my friend didn\'t spot this is anyone\'s guess. Maybe we were overlooking the obvious!! Anyway, this plastic elbow had kinked and in turn somehow made the pipe simply fall off. My theory is that the long journey, coupled with not giving the engine time to cool down after parking it on the Ferry had got all fixtures and fittings in the engine bay very hot and the heat kinked the plastic elbow and loosened the rubber pipe during the journey to Calias.
The solution was to discard the plastic elbow and refit the pipe directly to the union where the elbow once was. How much I hear you cry? My friend was only charged a fiver for the repair. Not bad considering.
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Lovato would be the system manufacturer
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