Thinking outside the box... The original throttle heater uses a seperate fitting on the manifold, which went to the throttle then back to the expansion tank. Thats now blanked off on my engine. I wonder if i could use that instead of T-ing the heater hoses at all?
Or maybe use that as the feed, and return to the heater return as normal.
Need to have a look at the bay.
yeh i dont think i want to do it in series given the tiny size of the connections on the vaporiser. I planned to measure today but its snowing so it can wait.
i think the vapouriser is smaller, maybe 12mm? i'll need to measure i think!
I was looking on LPG shop, they have a 19-10-19 and a 19-16-19 but nothing in between :(
http://www.bigas.it/en/products/lpg-reducer/ri-21-double
That suggests 10mm, but i'm not sure thats exactly the same as mine, but maybe the 19-10-19 will be fine after all!
So since fixing the radiator, a few times when i've done a short journey i've noticed steam coming from under the bonnet when i stopped. Initially i just marked it down to it being frosty, and the engine melting frost/condesnation away. Its used a small amount of coolant since fixing the rad, but i wasnt entirely sure if the topping up was simply down to small airbubbles or whatever working their way out.. However this afternoon i went to the nursery to pick up the wee man (about a mile away) and when i reversed into the bay noticed steam coming out the sides of the wheel arches and grille, and when i stopped it was whisping out the sides of the bonnet. Clearly not condesation!!
So i popped the hood, and had a look. Offside rocker cover was wet with a puddle of coolant and there was steam pouring off the exhaust manifold. No obvious leak, but the T pieces for the LPG system are directly above where the coolant seemed to be, and the T Pieces looked damp. I fired it back up, and no visible leak. Drove it to the dump, sat in a queue for 10 minutes waiting to get in, parked, drove to Greggs then home, and no more steam appeared.
So i'm presuming the T pieces are the source. They're configured somewhat peculiarly and i'd like to check before i order some new bits.
So whats there just now, is two plastic equal Tees in the heater hoses, right beside the brake modulator. They've then used some VERY stiff hose, to go from those equal tees, round the back of the engine and across towards the LPG vaporiser. About 10-12" before the vaporiser, there is a straight reducer in each pipe, and it drops down to a smaller size which goes to the fittings on the vaporiser. This smaller hose is still too large, and has been crushed a bit where it attaches to the vaporiser. I'm thinking, at a guess, the very stiff hose isnt sealing properly until it warms up and softens a bit.
What i would like to do, is buy two new metal T pieces, which go from whatever size the factory heater hoses are, down to the correct size hose that fits the vapouriser. Then run two new lengths of hose to the vaporiser.
Before i do this, i want to confirm the current odd layout hasnt been done for some reason i've not considered. I'm assuming its just been lashed up by the same moron that installed the rest of the system.
I'd also like to confirm what size the factory hose is? and also if anyone might know where i can find what size pipe my Bigas vapouriser actually needs (short of taking the pipes off and measuring)
Cheers
Kev
An hour on the bench PSU and sure enough CODE IN appeared.
Entered the code, and the powered it off and put it back in the car. CODE IN appeared immediately and now its working again :)
I'll need to have a think and decide wether i want to go down the aftermarket/attenuator route, or just leave it be. I might have a fiddle with my spare head unit and some resistors and see what we can achieve.
Sub makes sense :)
I stuck a meter across the pins, and it was just saying open circuit on all of the channels, so i imagine theres some sort of amplifier in between. If it was direct to a speaker driver, it should register a low resistance.
More digging required i guess. I have a spare Pioneer head unit with bluetooth i could fit. In the mean time, i think i'll whip the stock unit out and put it on the bench PSU for a few hours and see if that gets it unlocked!
maybe the continuous power up is whats required then.
I did two trips of 40-50minutes yesterday which i presumed would be enough, but clearly not!
Maybe i should just rip it out and fit a modern head unit, but having had a quick look behind it, the speaker connector isnt the usual 8pin one, its a wider 10 pin job. Need to find out whats going on there!
Folks, i'm a bit stumped with getting the P38 to accept my radio code.
The radios been showing code in for weeks since i had the battery off. Last week i tried to input the code, but I had misrememberd the code and entered it incorrectly. The radio then ended up stuck with the incorrect code on the screen. Tried everything and it wouldnt clear, so eventually read somewhere that removing fuse 1 and reinserting would clear the code. Did that and it changed to ----, which the internet suggests is wait mode. I faffed about a bit pressing buttons (the internet says press band and man together, which didnt seem to work, but eventually, it popped up CODEIN again. So i punched in what i thaught was the right code, and again, it was incorrect, and the wrong code was stuck on the screen again.
So i drove home got the right code, and yesterday morning i tried to reset it again. Pulled fuse 1, reinserted and now its back showing ----. Tried everything, no joy, just stuck on ----. Did 80odd miles yesterday in it, easily an hour and a half or more, with it sat showing ---- the whole time. Got in this morning, still showing ---- and still wont change back to CodeIn.
Any ideas? Driving it an hour to the mother in laws tomorrow and dont really fancy zero music the whole way!
Well after my radiator nonsense i finally managed to get it into a state where i was happy to really floor it and had a play this evening.
Full throttle in 2nd gear, it revved up to about 5k before getting the usual jolt. It was fairly mild this time and it continued pulling just fine after the jolt so i kept my foot in. Glanced over at the LPG guage and sure enough, red light (petrol) was on solid, and the gas light was flashing. It shifted into 3rd just fine and continued in the same manner. When i lifted off another slight jolt and the gas light went solid again.
So that would suggest as you've assumed that the gas injectors are running out of duty cycle.
As discussed, the gas nozzles i drilled out to 2.5mm, the original bigas units were 3mm i believe (3.0 stamped into the rail) I dont know wether these are the 2.5 or 3mm internal versions, how can i find out which they are to see if theres any scope to go larger before upping the reducer pressure?
Not got the computer on it yet to check the map settings.
I've used Jurid (on a BMW) and found them pretty good. I've got EBC yellowstuff on my A4 and dont rate them at all.
Ferodo Premier are decent too.
i've also at one point used the cheapest Apex pads in my A4 and they were also perfectly fine. But the cheap stuff can be hit or miss.
what had actually failed on the old one?
This is what i found when i removed my brand new leaking nissens rad:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/grvnywnm024kzm8/2017-12-13%2015.53.54.jpg?dl=0
I was trying to figure out how they worked as the rearmost pipe didnt seem to have anywhere to go. Then after doing the rad i'd disturbed the front most pipe and popped it out one of its clips. Tried to push it back in and the clip exploded leaving a plastic stump, which is presumable what happened to the other side at some point in the past!
They're only a couple quid so i'll just get some new ones ordered. I need a rear caliper too so i'll get that at the same time.
Did 80miles in it today and it all seems fine on the radiator front. Just need to reinstall the viscous fan and top cowling now :)
New new radiator in yesterday afternoon, filled up with coolant and gave it a short drive and it seems ok. Need to give it a longer run at the weekend to be 100% sure its all healthy, but its no longer pissing out coolant :) The level seemed to keep creeping down a small amount after it had been sitting, so it might need some extra topping up, its taken a good 9 Litres of coolant though, plus whatever was left in the block/pipes, so it cant be far away.
One thing i did notice that i'd like to fix, is the two PAS lines that run along the bottom of the radiator are sort of dangling loose as the plastic clips that support them have snapped. The lines themselves are quite rusty too, but i suspect those will be very expensive, so at the very least i'd like new plastic clips.
Oh its not the expansion tank, its the actual end tank on the new radiator thats cracked!!
Its obviously been a return or something. Box was all bashed up, and the radiator itself had been spraypainted black?!
Another new one arrived today, fingers crossed this time!
If you dont use it off road, then theres no point buying AT's IMO.
Mines on Goodyear Eagle F1's. A Rated wet grip. I wouldnt personally go any lower than B.
Well, fitted the new radiator today (from the above link).
And the fkn thing is leaking from a crack in the lower end tank.
The world is clearly out to get me!
what did it fail the MOT on?
I should add, i recently bought an A6 V8 for a project, with the same idea as you. use the engine, and break the rest to over the costs. Instead of just trailering it home, did exactly what i suggested above. Cost me a months tax, it was already MOT'd, and i insured it and cancelled the policy after 14days for minimal charge.
I then drove it 300miles home, which let me test out everything, and also highlighted an overheating issue which i now need to investigate before fitting the engine to the new car. And also showed up a gearbox issue which means i wont now end up selling the gearbox to someone and ending up with a case against me when they realise it doesnt work!
In my case the engines have a known issue with the water pump impeller cracking and falling off the shaft, so the first step is going to be to get the pump off and inspect it. If its busted i've found the issue and i'm happy. If its not broken i need to do more investigations.
