Problem with LPG on Vauxhall ZAFIRA ELEGANCE. 1.8

[nitromax]

I have a 2003 Vauxhall Zafira converted by Greenfuel at millbrook in
Febuary 2005.

I am currently experiencing an intermittent fault where the system changes
from LPG to petrol for no apparent reason, if I then change the switch to
petrol and then back to LPG all is OK again.

it sometime does this when the air con is on and i feel like i am loosing
power.

i thought it was down to the hot weather but now it does it on cold or hot
days.
a few times the LPG light just stayed on and i had to restart the engine
and it went back to normal.

has anybody else experienced this
problem
and do you know the solution?

Many thanks

Nitromax

[Rick-Lancs]

I had a similar prob with my 2002 Vectra, I filled up at a petrol/lpg
station out of town, and for about a week after it would switch over to
petrol for no reason.a quick flick of the switch cured it each time.

Once on a long motorway run i was taking it easy trying to see what mpg i
could get on lpg and noticed that it had switched to petrol by its-self. I
thought 350 miles was very good, when i usualy get 250! lol

Both these probs cured themselves.

[Dave Roberts]

Post by nitromax
I have a 2003 Vauxhall Zafira converted by Greenfuel at millbrook in
Febuary 2005.
I am currently experiencing an intermittent fault where the system changes
from LPG to petrol for no apparent reason, if I then change the switch to
petrol and then back to LPG all is OK again.

I had a similar problem with a TEC97 system fitted to my Volvo 850 a
few years ago. The car would start OK and switch straight over to LPG,
but after a while it switched back to petrol. Most of the time the LEDs
on the fuel switch would still read LPG even when it had switched back
to petrol.

Turned out to be a fault inside the gas ECU, the relay that switches
power to the LPG solenoid valves and provides the signal that switches
the injector emulator in and out was dropping out. A replacement ECU
fixed the problem, but being an electronics engineer I ended up tracing
the fault in the original unit back to a diode that provides the power
to the relay coil, it was going open circuit when it got hot. Switching
the engine off for two minutes gave it enough time to cool down and the
car would run on gas for another 10-15 minutes.

Cheers,
Dave.

[mvecd]

Hi, Cant help with your problem I'm afraid, but I also have a zafira
elegance dual fuel and was wondering how you rate it?
What MPG do you get? Do you have any problem filling it? mine is very
picky on some filling stations, to such a degree that at one it wont
fill at all, even when empty, but other people fill theres fine.

I had a new shape dual fuel vectra before this and it was fine,
however, just before I sold it it started switching back to petrol.
First thing in a morning it would start on petrol,then swtich to LPG
(as it should) then it would slow down, almost to a stop (like it was
out of fuel) then switch back to petrol. Sold the car before I had
chance to sort it.

I will be interested to hear how you fix this. I'm going to Spain
shortly towing a caravan for 7 weeks, and dont wont any problems!!

Have you got cruise control fitted to yours?

Cheers
Mark

[nitromax]

by "mvecd" <mark-***@lycos.co.uk> Jul 1, 2005 at 12:26 PM

Hi, Cant help with your problem I'm afraid, but I also have a zafira
elegance dual fuel and was wondering how you rate it?
What MPG do you get? Do you have any problem filling it? mine is very
picky on some filling stations, to such a degree that at one it wont
fill at all, even when empty, but other people fill theres fine.

Hi ya mark

i am quiet please with the Zafira, until now when this problem started, it
was running perfect until the very hot weather when this problem started.

i get around 200 miles on a full tank in town but i have not made a long
journey on it yet. i will be doing this in the end of July and then i will
see what it does on the motorways.

i filled it up with petrol in febuary when i done the conversion and when
i looked today i still have 3/4 of a tank left.

i have not had a problem filling up i have used a lot of station in london
BP, Morrisons, Total, Jet. i have never had a probelem, i have found it the
connector is on on properly it will not disperece the fuel.

can you tell me what revs you get at when you are doing 60mph as mine is
on 3000rpm and when i had a pergeot 406 it was 2500rpm doing 75mph.

thanks

nitro

[mvecd]

Hi

Yes they do rev high, I find if I do over 60mph it gobbles Gas, My
vectra rev'd alot slower and was very economical at 70 on a run (35mpg)
but very thirsty at 80, so I guess thats why the zaffy drinks more fuel
at 70!
I actually find it does less mpg on a run! (local roads/town driving I
get 28-30mpg but on a run I only get 25-27mpg) I have trouble
understanding why this is so, as it goes against the norm. I think its
because on a motorway I travel at the 70 mark and the engine is reving
so high. Have you sorted your porblem?

Mark

[Tim..]

Post by mvecd
Hi
Yes they do rev high, I find if I do over 60mph it gobbles Gas, My
vectra rev'd alot slower and was very economical at 70 on a run (35mpg)
but very thirsty at 80, so I guess thats why the zaffy drinks more fuel
at 70!
I actually find it does less mpg on a run! (local roads/town driving I
get 28-30mpg but on a run I only get 25-27mpg) I have trouble
understanding why this is so, as it goes against the norm. I think its
because on a motorway I travel at the 70 mark and the engine is reving
so high. Have you sorted your porblem?

Thats simply a result of what is a big heavy un-aerodynamic box with a
comparitivly small engine.- Low gearing so it can cope.

Tim..

[Philip]

Post by nitromax
I have a 2003 Vauxhall Zafira converted by Greenfuel at millbrook in
Febuary 2005.
I am currently experiencing an intermittent fault where the system changes
from LPG to petrol for no apparent reason, if I then change the switch to
petrol and then back to LPG all is OK again.
it sometime does this when the air con is on and i feel like i am loosing
power.
i thought it was down to the hot weather but now it does it on cold or hot
days.
a few times the LPG light just stayed on and i had to restart the engine
and it went back to normal.
has anybody else experienced this
problem
and do you know the solution?
Many thanks
Nitromax

Hi

Just to say I experience almost the same problem (Astra 2002) and also put
it down to having the aircon on as it only seemed to happen then, I thought
perhaps some sensor when the engine was idle and it "struggles" a little
more to keep tick over thinks the LPG is going and so switches it over to
petrol, however it has happened once or twice when I hadn't been using
aircon so blew that idea out the window.

I never notice when it has happened, I feel nothing and the car drives
exactly the same and I tend to notice only due to looking at the fuel gauge
suddenly reading low due to not much petrol in the tank normally. (The car
will struggle more on aircon as it is driven off the engine and uses energy,
I find most cars like this petrol or LPG.)

It has happened about once every few months, maybe gone 5 or 6 months
without doing it, and when it drops to petrol switching back to petrol and
then to LPG again I can here the clunk of the valve and it goes back to LPG.
It happened twice in the space of 12 hours just recently which made me think
I was going to start getting it happening more often, but that was a month
or so a go and it has been fine.

Regards

Phil

[nitromax]

hi all
i contacted millbrook. who have asked me to take the car to a Vauxhall
dealer as it is under warranty.

he said that their can be 2 faults that can cause this,

1st was the live feed or something like that which is covered under the
warranty.

2nd could be bad fuel????, how do you know you are putting in bad fuel, he
said they will not know untill they check it out. which is on the 22nd Aug
2005. which is not coverd by the warranty. i have been using morrisons to
fill up at 34p they was cheap, but lately been using BP and Jet and now i
noticed that i some time have this problem when i do fill up. may be i
might be wrong. but will know when the car is fixed.

will keep you all to date.

[hugh]

In message

Post by nitromax
hi all
i contacted millbrook. who have asked me to take the car to a Vauxhall
dealer as it is under warranty.
he said that their can be 2 faults that can cause this,
1st was the live feed or something like that which is covered under the
warranty.
2nd could be bad fuel????, how do you know you are putting in bad fuel, he
said they will not know untill they check it out. which is on the 22nd Aug
2005. which is not coverd by the warranty. i have been using morrisons to
fill up at 34p they was cheap, but lately been using BP and Jet and now i
noticed that i some time have this problem when i do fill up. may be i
might be wrong. but will know when the car is fixed.
will keep you all to date.

YO have no way of knowing anything about he quality of the fuel and it
is not related to any one retailer. Problem is there is no BSI or ISO
standard for Autogas, so they can sell you virtually anything. Now, why
don't the LPGA do something about that?

[Austin Shackles]

Post by hugh
YO have no way of knowing anything about he quality of the fuel and it
is not related to any one retailer. Problem is there is no BSI or ISO
standard for Autogas, so they can sell you virtually anything. Now, why
don't the LPGA do something about that?

'cos they're too busy trying to corner the market and upsetting the
insurance companies and generally making life difficult for the rest of us.

[hugh]

Post by Austin Shackles

Post by hugh
YO have no way of knowing anything about he quality of the fuel and it
is not related to any one retailer. Problem is there is no BSI or ISO
standard for Autogas, so they can sell you virtually anything. Now, why
don't the LPGA do something about that?

'cos they're too busy trying to corner the market and upsetting the
insurance companies and generally making life difficult for the rest of us.

Oh what a cynical person you are Austin. How could you possibly think
such as thing. You'll be suggesting next it's so that they can dump on
us all the stuff that doesn't come up to the BSI spec for commercial
propane.

[Rick-Lancs]

My Vectra ran out of Gas on the motorway at 80mph and didnt change over to
petrol, I had to go from the outside lane to the hard shoulder with me
hazards on :( then as i slowed down i flicked the switch to petrol and
jumped started it, that worked, phew.

Since then it was very eratic and would not run on gas for long before
switching back to petrol, so I booked it in under warranty, they changed the
"regulater" and something about the "gas pressures"?
Anyway it sorted it out. wonder if thats your prob?