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Ve on lpg

ed_wilson

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Ive had my VE on LPG for 18 months. "SPRINT GAS" brand. Its pretty high tech - the kit includes gas injectors and computer.

On LPG I get about 7 (yes 7) L/100km on highway with family on baord and ~12around nthrn Sydney inc peak hour. Not fazed by scaremongering about soft valves, hot running fuel as most of this is BS. Valves havnt been soft since pre 86. LPG bruns cleaner & cooler than petrol. Get over the scaremongering. Back to the point.

For the record it runs every bit as well on petrol. Now and excpet;

Now, now that one of the initial gas injectors was weak and was failling, causing a miss fire. That combined with common VE issues delayed the initial diagnosis (injector). Issue was an ECU issue which triggered the 'check engine' and "ESP off" warnings. Software upgrades Im told by Holden fixed those. Then my spannas tech 2 tool needed a couple upgrades before it would communicate with the VE. In the end Sprint replaced all 6 injectors as a warranty issue.

Except. Except that since the new lpg injectors were put in it intermittantly STALLS when off throttle. This usually means just after youve cruised upto a corner to turn or pulled upto a red light. So yes, loose pwr steering/brakes just when you need them. Happens maybe 1 or 2 times in a short round town trip, then not for a week or 2.... Then again, next trip can happen 4 times around town 20k trip.

Any one else have simialr experiences??? The spanna, has hooked up exhaust sensors (perfect) the tech 2 tool, his laptop - all several times - all show perfect results, do test drives - perfect.... Take it home, 3 days later then it will stall again.. Sh!t! Having trouble trouble shooting such an intermittant problem and in the workshop the results we get on the various electronic testing equipment all read A-OK.

I do notice that the tacho nedle is a bit more eratic on LPG than petrol once cruising and you take your foor off the pedal, on petrol is may glide from say 1800 rpm to 1000, settle, then 800. The same speed and braking on LPG could result in 1800-800 - dip to 600 rpm jump back to 1000+ and settle finally at 700rpm
 
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CSP

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Sounds so reliable and so safe. I wish I had the same setup...
 

poweredbycng

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LPG has a higher ignition temperature and also a limited range of flammability when compared to petrol and while these properties makes it a safer fuel to use in a motor vehicle, they mean that a stronger ignition system is required in order to ignite the fuel. This means that the actual combustion (and subsequently exhaust) temperatures are considerably higher when your engine is running on LPG as opposed to petrol. Not helping is the fact that LPG does not have any lubricating properties, with reports of valve seat recession (VSR) and exhaust wear issues showing up every now and then. The good news is that engines that are E10-compatible have valve seats that are hard enough to cope with these higher temperatures and therefore VSR is less of an issue.

On a side note, the Alloytec V6 engines are excellent performers on LPG. With a good SVI system (e.g. Sprintgas/OMVL), economy figures of 14L/100km or lower around the suburbs are possible. So far, our VZ SV6 with Sprintgas SVI LPG has never missed a beat (with the exception of a water pump failure at 69,500km which was not LPG system-related). Stalling has never been an issue, but a recent "auto-calibrate" fixed a slightly lumpy idle.

Regards,
Dave
 

Astranomical

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Aren't you only supposed to use the genuine Holden LPG setup with the Alloytecs?
 

andyman

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Aren't you only supposed to use the genuine Holden LPG setup with the Alloytecs?


do you think holden make the gas setups? i think you will find one of these common aftermarket setups will be what holden use.

and dont forget, lpg is installed AFTER the car is built, not during production line as you would think
 

poweredbycng

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If you have an E10-compatible engine, you have hardened valve seats suitable for use with LPG.

The Holden-approved LPG system (sold through Holden) is only available on new vehicles. Vehicles that are to be fitted with LPG are built at GMH as petrol cars and are fitted with LPG at HSVi. The LPG system used is the IMPCO-BRC Sequent 56 system which is an SVI setup. The IMPCO-BRC Sequent 56 system is also available via various LPG fitters and can fitted to any vehicle at any time as per any other SVI setup.

Regards,
Dave
 

ed_wilson

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Dave

Yep, agree with most everything you have to say but Im underthe impression that LPG burns cooler than petrol, and Andyman, exactly. Holden dont make these things, Italians do..

Now, Im confused which brand LPG system I have... Have been shopping for them often enough that I may have mixed up my brand names. Id better check for the record. The only sticker I can see on the computer box says "Dream-XXI"

Will post confirmation when I find out.
 

poweredbycng

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The only sticker I can see on the computer box says "Dream-XXI"

OMVL Dream XXI-N SVI LPG, distributed in Australia by Sprint Gas.

Regards,
Dave
 

ed_wilson

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Closing this issue for any readers reference.

Has finally been sorted. I drove up to the Central Coast where the Sprint Gas distributor is. He did some repairs and since then (10,000ks) it has not missed a beat.
Repairs. The LPG computer was mounted close to the exhaust heat, hoses to injectors re positioned closer/shorter. +10,000km is a dream.
 
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