One for Gav I think - rough idle

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sandyt

Well-Known Member
Posts
1,615
Location
Wraysbury Nr Heathrow
I have a p38 with sequential lpg what happens is it starts on petrol and runs like silk (engine has only done 30k) transfers over to lpg same like silk. Stop and start again about 40 mins later enough for the coolant to cool down runs on petrol but rough once warm switches to gas back to silk.
It is not a problem to live with but I am more concerned that something is on the way out and well better prpared than not
Any help appreciated
 
sounds like the petrol ecu is adjusting whilst on gas, this it will do its normal, the problem is when the gas and petrol trims are out of sync.

for example (and this is only to explain a situation, not actual data)

if the cars running rich on gas and lean on petrol there will be quite a difference in the lambda readings, the car will adjust the petrol trims to suit the gas, i.e lean it out. this will have no effect on the lambda reading so then it will try some more until it is way out!

you need to get the gas set up correctly. deteriation of air filter can make a huge difference on single point systems, i would imagine it will make a difference on multi's but prolly not as much. also any of the ignition system thats a bit suspect is worth sorting first

if the car is due a service do that first, run it on petrol for a few miles and the trims will drop to around 12% i think.


now you need to set up the fuelling on the gas. this is done in many different ways depending on the system but on multi's you need to press whatever button calibrates it in the software


you can test the theory by switching over to petrol whilst warm see if it runs crap or picks up after a short while.

incidently if your car has the correct 50/50 antifreeze water mix you can run most of the time on gas, even start from gas. the way to do it is (there a few different methods but these two are the most common i think) if you have a switch in the dash for the lpg, flick it to gas then petrol a few times ending on gas, start car.

if its a button, with ign onpress and hold button for 5 secs then proceed to crank engine. in both cases the lpg light should be solid!

oh and after much thought i suppose i am rough and idle!
 
Thanks Gav
excellent info I shall get on it the air filter could do with replacing to be honest last time I ended up with the wrong one so did a hoover job and it became one of those things that didnt get done. The ignition system is ok new leads etc 3000 miles ago. With mine the gas ecu takes its reading from from the petrol one (which is prob same as all of them) and I think it is set by laptop, also it has seperate injectors for the gas and petrol in the manifold so 8 of each and if I restart and on petrol and it runs rough after about 5 mins it sorts itself out so I dont think it is injector think you are right with set up it hasnt been looked at since I had it new engine 30k ago.Will let you know how I go - interestingly I drive it quite hard - heavy right foot and it still averages 14 to the gal over 15k miles which on gas is cheap motoring considering the comfort.
Oh and can def say you are not idle now however about the rough bit well
 
if its piggy backing the petrol maps then it should sort itself as you go along, it is worth getting the cable for it and periodically checking all is running as it should.

companies sometimes release new firmware for the ecu's. its a good idea to update as there may have been issues that have been corrected.

the air filter may have been the cause of your trouble, keep an eye on it for now!
 
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