Stephen Pettet-Smith
New Member
Hi, I bought a '94 V8 a few weeks ago, with LPG conversion put in in '96.
The wagon seems to have been at the dealers for a couple of months - so I was expecting some teething problems. First up was the water works. At the first tow of our caravan the gauge went up to 'hot' like a rocket, after not going beyond half way on local trips. Inspected the area around the thermostat and could find no obvious leak. Got a new unit in any case plus gasket. Sure enough on dismantling found the gasket used was a thin tin thing beefed up with instant gasket the unit itself was stuck open. Put it all back together and decided to give the system a good clean and flush. Over heating solved. Next up came misfiring as this had not happened before the water dept work, thought this could be an air lock. On the advice of the chaps at Gas Power, who safety checked the gas system a few months back got rid of a few bubbles in the system using a funnel and tube extension to the expansion tank.
Out on a test run -yep more misfires, and bang went the air box, which had a flap vent fitted to the top - not a lot of good with the bonnet closed. Fitted another box -installed the flap on the side. Took the wagon to Gas Power near Exeter. Steve found a valve 'US' and air coming in from a gash hose and clip. A proper tune up on gas and I thought I was home & dry. Nope,better but still a misfire within first couple of miles. I 've now put in new plugs, old ones had two differing gaps -one too tight the other too wide. The distributor cap was also burnt and worn so a new Lucus unit is now in place with new rota arm, as is a new set of plug leads. The HT lead on the wagon seemed a tad long....it was not a HT lead but a 'spare' plug lead. So another trip to the 4x4 store for a proper one. All sorted took the beastie for an hours trip up and down some of the steepest hills in the area. Ran well, temp' stayed mid way up the gauge and now misfires at all. got home feeling pleased. Latter needed to go across town and dismayed to have the ignition simply cut out when pooterling along. As the wagon is auto had to coast to a bus stop. Engine fired up first time and was ok for the trip home. So the next thing is to check out the coil and have the rest of the electrics tested.....any ideas greatly apprieciated and thanks for reading a long intro rant !
Steve
The wagon seems to have been at the dealers for a couple of months - so I was expecting some teething problems. First up was the water works. At the first tow of our caravan the gauge went up to 'hot' like a rocket, after not going beyond half way on local trips. Inspected the area around the thermostat and could find no obvious leak. Got a new unit in any case plus gasket. Sure enough on dismantling found the gasket used was a thin tin thing beefed up with instant gasket the unit itself was stuck open. Put it all back together and decided to give the system a good clean and flush. Over heating solved. Next up came misfiring as this had not happened before the water dept work, thought this could be an air lock. On the advice of the chaps at Gas Power, who safety checked the gas system a few months back got rid of a few bubbles in the system using a funnel and tube extension to the expansion tank.
Out on a test run -yep more misfires, and bang went the air box, which had a flap vent fitted to the top - not a lot of good with the bonnet closed. Fitted another box -installed the flap on the side. Took the wagon to Gas Power near Exeter. Steve found a valve 'US' and air coming in from a gash hose and clip. A proper tune up on gas and I thought I was home & dry. Nope,better but still a misfire within first couple of miles. I 've now put in new plugs, old ones had two differing gaps -one too tight the other too wide. The distributor cap was also burnt and worn so a new Lucus unit is now in place with new rota arm, as is a new set of plug leads. The HT lead on the wagon seemed a tad long....it was not a HT lead but a 'spare' plug lead. So another trip to the 4x4 store for a proper one. All sorted took the beastie for an hours trip up and down some of the steepest hills in the area. Ran well, temp' stayed mid way up the gauge and now misfires at all. got home feeling pleased. Latter needed to go across town and dismayed to have the ignition simply cut out when pooterling along. As the wagon is auto had to coast to a bus stop. Engine fired up first time and was ok for the trip home. So the next thing is to check out the coil and have the rest of the electrics tested.....any ideas greatly apprieciated and thanks for reading a long intro rant !
Steve
