Airbox Explosion

[dr_pack]

Hi all,

I have a 2001 VX sedan its nearly at the 100,000 km factory warranty end point. The car features ABS, electric driver's seat, dual fuel (LPG & Unleaded), cruise control, blah, blah, blah...

Whilst in Adelaide I got the Adealide City Holden Dealer to perform a 100,000km service at 97,000km as I thought that they knew what they were doing. (Bad assumption by me)

Any way, on driving back from Adelaide to my house in Stanhope (Country Victoria) there was a loud sound similar to running over a fox or rabbit and a sudden pull on the steering wheel at about 100km from home. The same thing happened 10km from home on the same trip. No splatter road kill mess. Puzzling.

A few days later I poped the hood and inspected the engine bay. The airbox had a huge hole in it and it was cracked to buggery. The local Holden dealer has ordered a spare as a warranty repair. however the car is getting worse. I believe that the LPG fuel and air box don't like each other.

What solutions are there so I can run the car on LPG without having a store room of replacement airboxes?

Does Holden know of the problem and alerted its mecahnics and dealers?

BTW: I could run the car exclusively on unleaded, but then I have a ruddy great waste on space in the boot with the LPG bottle, and living in the country I do lots of km's, dual fuel gives me a longer travelling range.

 

[jules]

sounds like your LPG is backfiring, you need to get the LPG retuned to fix whatever it sounds like your dealer has made bad

 

[OSL-060]

Ditch the Airbox and fit a pod because your right LPG and airboxes don't get along. I think it also may be legal to fit a pod to a LPG car in some states.

Cheers

Jake

 

[death-from-above]

As ive stated before its very common for dual fuel cars to damage both the AFM and airbox, I have been told by the RACV that there is a device described to be as a "sock" like item that goes in the air inlet after the AFM and blows the sock off instead of the airbox and AFM. My VL used to do it and when it hit the bonnet making a huge thud i **** myself. If i was you and it is causing major problems look into devices that are a go between. Hope that helps?

 

[jules]

you see those ribs on the top of the box? i was told by holden spares guy that they were added specifically to stop the box splitting when it backfires. my original VN box was flat-topped and did indeed split.

jake with a pod, do you know what happens when it backfires? pods aren't cheap and i'd hate for it to be blown off, or torn open.

 

[tricky160]

A friend of mine had the same problem , he was told the spark plugs and H.T. leads need to be in perfect condition for L.P.G. If you leave the inlet air-hose a
little loose, it will blow the hose off insted of blowing up the air-box.

 

[DJ Majah]

Hrmmm, that looks like an excuse for a supercharger to me!

 

[VooDoo]

Very common problem with cars on Gas. Check they used the right plugs. I had a dealer put stock plugs in (as per the manual) but the Gas kit requires a different one. Tuning is VERY important on gas cars. I ended up cutting a hole in the air box and covering it with a piece of rubber to allow air to escape if it backfired. Before this i went through 4 Air boxes.

 

[OSL-060]

Has anyone with LPG considered fitting a release valve of sorts in the upper section of the airbox? Something similar to a BOV that vents back into the bottom half for emission reasons.

Just a thought

Jake

 

[Bax]

I still fail to see how it can create that much pressure.