That would be great.

Kind of off subject - I just sent this email [below] to Damian (for benefit of others Damian is the LPGforum owner). Long shot but Richard would certainly be worth getting involved with this if LPG users are to give it a go.

Hi Damian,

Before LPGforum closes (if it does close), would it be possible to send a PM to all users to inform them about a petition to fuel retailers that will hopefully steer them to sell LPG at more sites than currently? Someone suggested this to me on another forum and I have just started an email address lpgpetition@yahoo.com for this purpose. I haven't yet come up with a format that people should use when sending an email but on the other forum I suggested the format should include name, town, wording to the effect they want to join the petition, something about having to drive X miles to buy fuel, if they are aware of others in the same situation.

Due to this https://forum.elgrandoc.uk/threads/lpg-forum.9598/#post-98324 (see last few posts).

Just to let everyone know...

It's doubtful I'll be taking over LPGForum. Damian has said he's had a few offers besides my offer and would rather not let it go to someone with commercial interests... which I can fully understand and agree with.

I'd rather not be involved really because involvement would come with claims of biasing the forum to favour myself, so I'd be shooting myself in at least one foot by taking it on even if I was only paying bills and letting others do all the moderation etc. But rather that than see it and all it's content disappear... I have a vested interest in LPGforum continuing due to the content I and my customers have put on, if nobody else is going to save it and I have a chance to but don't I'd be shooting myself in both feet!

It may end up going to nobody because Damian has concerns about his responsibilities with new data laws and hints at thinking he could get in trouble for passing it on as it is, he's hardly likely to get involved with making changes himself before passing it on. If I were involved (and part of my reasoning for my offer to Damian) I would get my son involved to sort the forum out, he's well placed to do that.

The best outcome from my point of view (and perhaps from most LPG users point of view) would be if someone else took it on who doesn't have any commercial interests (other than perhaps advertising none LPG stuff), someone who allows as much free speech as Damian would be good..

Years ago one of my mates did a carpentry course, the teacher was using a circular or band saw to cut sheets of wood whilst giving a bit of a talk on it. Must have been distracted because whilst talking he fed the wood in a bit far and cut about an inch into the bit between his thumb and finger but didn't even notice until the youths said 'Errr your thumb mate', then he nearly fainted. Apparently that was a good lesson lol.

Had a look at the link in your PM, yeh I might register with the scrap vehicle auction site and bid on the Elgrand you linked to.

I had another crack at this before I went away, still failed but nearly got there!

Cut the concentric pipes at the same point, tapped the inner pipe, made a grub screw to fit and screwed it in until it's head was about 7mm inside, filled the inner pipe above the grub with braze, cut open a piece of aluminium pipe, knocked it flat, cut a circular disk from it to fit not quite to the edges of the outer pipe, held the pipe with cut end up and placed the disk in the middle before brazing it on.

If I hadn't overheated and slightly melted the top of the outer pipe in the process I reckon this would have worked. But it's not gonna work now because with a blown engine there's nothing to turn the compressor lol.

I once hired the biggest trailer Swillington Trailer Hire had and pulled a BMW750 back from Paignton Devon using a Volvo V70... I'd expect the ML with same trailer and Elgrand on top (Elgrand about 2000kg) to be a far better match than that even though the ML is a ML320 7 seater and likely to have towing capacity at the lower end of those mentioned. Pretty sure the trailer hire boss would let me take it for this purpose and I'd manage it OK. Was a bit of an adventure collecting the BMW750 from Paignton, I blindly followed satnav which took me down single track roads with double hairpins and even a little river ford in the early hours... Had to get out the car, socks and shoes off, wade into the water to check depth and grip, then at the other side of the ford a long wet steep hill with the V70 front wheels scrabbling for grip all the way up... and this was before I'd got the 750 on the trailer. For the return trip I made sure I came back on major roads and still stopped at Exeter services to shift the 750 on the trailer for better weight balance.

I get RAC through my bank but as said above RAC won't cover the caravan.. and even if they did they'd know I haven't shifted the car since my last dealings with them. Haven't asked around to see who has personal AA cover yet, son might have but he's just started his new job and probably wouldn't want to nip down to Cornwall. Don't mind waiting a couple of weeks before collecting the car and/or caravan, if there's a scheme like AA or Green Flag that becomes valid within a couple of weeks (of signing up) and covers the caravan I might as well just make myself a member? Might leave the caravan in Newquay longer than the car even if cover would get it back but would still want that sort of cover in case similar happens again.

If I use a recovery service then whatever else I decide I need to get back down in another car with another driver, or if recovery man knows I have 2 cars there he'll know I couldn't have driven both cars down, son and stepson aren't insured to drive the ML or Elgrand and don't really look old enough to be. So I should go back down with one of them in one of their cars.. but then if I get down there and a recovery firm refuse to shift anything I won't even be able to pull the caravan back. Wonder what questions might be asked and if RAC / Greenflag / AA share info?

Didn't get chance to get online yesterday, came home in the hire car and had all the packing to do before setting off.

Thanks for replies and for even contemplating this, especially to Gilbert for 'If I get stuck'.

Been suggested that I join Green Flag, go back to Newquay in another car (maybe the ML), tell them my Elgrand just broke and I'd like the Elgrand and caravan shifting to South Elmsall please! Thoughts on this or the same with AA? Bit naughty though....

Not a P38 but there may be P38 owners who could profit out of this at my expense!

While using my Nissan Elgrand to tow my large caravan from near Doncaster Yorkshire to Newquay Cornwall I felt a drop in engine power coming up a hill on the A30 20 miles from Newquay. I immediately suspected the very common (to Elgrand) blocked cat problem - there are 4 cats in total, two at each side of the V6, the front cats break up and clog the entrance to the rear cats, the usual preventative measure is to decore the rear cats which I've done for plenty of customers but not on my own Elgrand!. I pulled into a layby and checked things over... oil clean, had a few codes pointing to cam sensors, pulled the cam sensors and cleaned them up, phoned the 'Elgrand guru' who still reckoned it'd only be a cam sensor (which I doubted). Connected LPG software and found bank 1 was running with 30% less fuelling than bank 2 so I suspected the problem would mostly be affecting bank 1 (since both lambda's flicked and since bank 1 therefore was pulling 30% less air than bank 2). Tried driving again but the problem remained. Stopped in another layby and called the RAC out, like the guru the RAC man also doubted it'd be blocked cats, he also advised me that only my car was covered so if I wanted recovering they'd have to call in one of their subcontractors who would shift the caravan to Newquay for me for £500! I insisted we did something about the cats so he loaned me a hammer and chissel and I knocked a hole in the downpipe on bank 1 before the rear cats... found it full of cat debris. Knocked another large hole further up the exhaust. Set off again and the car pulled much better, RAC man (who had been following) left me to it but another 2 miles down the road and the problem recurred only this time with overheating and the oil was black. Called RAC man again, another bloke came out, this bloke gave me the number to his mates garage who recovered the car and caravan to Newquay for £150+VAT and got me onto the camp site. Next day I borrowed step son-in-laws car to go into town and buy some tools and oil from Halfrauds, I disconnected bank 2's second cat and tried driving the car very noisily up a steep hill away from the campsite. Made it 100 yards and the engine seized! Reverse rolled all the way back to the camp site.

Hired a Zafira which I can drop off in Doncaster so this will get us home but not the caravan (no towbar) and not the Elgrand. Plan now is that I'll have to hire a car trailer to come back for the Elgrand with my Merc ML and then come back again in the ML for the caravan. I can store both the caravan and car here for £20 per week and may try to arrange things so we get a few days 'holiday' each trip, but that's 2 x 700 mile round trips and potential time out from work I haven't arranged things around.

I wonder if any capable vehicle (i.e. P38) owners would like to make a few bob by shifting my Elgrand from Newquay to South Elmsall W.Yorks? Timescale - Well, plan A is that I come back for the Elgrand first leaving the caravan here the longest so I can get 2 extra 'holidays' out of it rather than just the 1 if I pick the caravan up first. This may change if I arrange for someone else to shift the Elgrand (could maybe get both at the same time). I can leave both here until November but don't want to leave either here that long and would suit me better if I get the Elgrand back first so I can drop another engine in it if only I wasn't so busy at work. I'm fairly tied up at work until September and it may take me that long to source another engine anyway.

While on the subject, if you need to drill through deeply lacquered wood it pays to be careful, the lacquer can crack.

Varnish = lacquer?

I wouldn't want LPGforum's continued existence to be a negative for this forum but don't see how it would.
A wide range of vehicles and LPG systems are discussed on LPGforum, it's probably unlikely that someone with a different make vehicle would Google 'LPG problem' and click on a link that contained 'RangeRover / P38' wording. It would be good to bring LPGforum clicks/posts back up to old levels - before it became very difficult for people to become members.

Only kidding mate... The moment you realise the 'engine problem' sound is coming from the speakers lol.

I'll be up for getting involved and taking it on if possible, I'm in Cornwall on holiday at the moment but will look into it on my return. If I did, who'd be up for being a moderator?

Hello Police I just heard gunshots. Ahh no it's OK my mate said it was just on the telly lol...

Watched the vid but speakers on this laptop are crap and my hearing isn't great these days (DJing ear abuse now taking it's toll!).. Couldn't hear much at all so nothing to add except does it still do it running on petrol? I think I mentioned LPG reducers can hum earlier on thread.

Enjoyed reading this, it almost puts a James Bond slant on diagnostics! Always been interested in radio but never been into it at anything like your level. I usually expect to see spectrum analysers in cars right next to the graphic equaliser ;-)

I believe that boilers that use a wireless link to thermostat usually have a wired thermostat option too. But then whether you chose to fit a wired stat or work on the car instead would depend on whether a wired stat would disable the bursts, necessary wiring route, cost of stat and wiring, whether you'd rather work on the car or boiler, if you think it better to upgrade the car's electronics so the same won't happen outside other houses.

Wireless stat here too but never had a problem with P38s in the yard - different frequency?

Good result in the end and an interesting thread.
This thread is on subject.

MOT emissions procedures give LPG users extra leeway which is to our advantage but, as Morat implied, we still want DVSA to expect vehicles running on LPG to have cleaner emissions than petrol vehicles because if DVSA strongly enough suspects LPG emissions to be dirtier than petrol we may eventually not only lose that advantage but also have to jump through more hoops than unconverted vehicle users and/or duty on LPG may be increased.

If DVSA ran emissions tests on a number of LPG vehicles selected at random it's likely that a fair proportion of them wouldn't pass a petrol spec test. They might then think up a number of ways of addressing the fact that for so long they had presumed LPG emissions to be better than petrol emissions but had now found this not to be so for a fair proportion of LPG vehicles. Out of all ways they could think up the best outcome for us would be if they evened the playing field between MOT petrol and LPG emissions tests and considered this all that they had to do. Most of us would find this preferable to DVSA and government saying 'This is what we've found, this is where we're at, you can keep the carb MOT test limits but we found LPG isn't as clean as we thought and therefore we will increase duty by 15p per litre gradually over the next 3 years'.

I'm watching this thread but nothing to add so far, I think Gilbert knows more about MOTs than I do.

Whenever I read the words 'Summer camp' it reminds me of 'Summercamp' walky-talkies my dad bought from Exhchange & Mart when I was a kid before CB radios were around.

super4 wrote:

Yes - very smart - P38 isn't bad either............

They call me the wanderer, yeah the wanderer... lol ;-)

Sloth wrote:

If you replace any fuel line, get some decent Codan R9 stuff or something, not the generic crap available on eBay/Halfords etc...

Or LPG stuff suppliers whom I've warned many times about supplying 'fuel injection spec petrol hose' that bellows like a balloon if subjected to more than about 1 bar pressure. Which they've done nothing about.