If the camshaft is worn then the engine won't make as much power when you put your foot down... with a worn cam the lower power is due to the engine not breathing so well, i.e. not getting through as much air.

The MAF measures airflow, so maybe compare your peak MAF readings to those of other owners on forum and the results should give a lot of insight into whether your valve train and cam see as much airflow as others, i.e. whether or not your cam seems worn ;-)

Gilbertd wrote:

Presume you told him the simple test for that is to run on petrol and see if it still pressurises?

I did.

Sorry the late reply, back from holiday now.

Hugh phoned me last night, I'm on holiday in Wales at the moment but we had a chat.

I think he's suspecting the problem may be the LPG pressure reducer allowing gas to enter the cooling system, so may just need to replace the MJ pressure reducer.

Perhaps the valve in the port you connected to leaks - If so it wouldn't leak with the pressure tester connected.

No wish to add fuel to any fire (there's a pun in there somewhere heh!) but the subject is interesting...

Didn't BMW use propane as refrigerant in AC systems at one time? More efficient than the usual refrigerant gasses and isn't carcinogenic in the event of a leak (or leak in the presence of a flame)? While of course the risks of propane entering the cabin and setting on fire in e.g. a crash situation wouldn't make up for it not being carcinogenic, on balance plenty of us carry a lot more propane around inside vehicles and some older cars like Jags had the petrol tank inside the vehicle body behind the back seats.

Do these Halfords AC kits contain R134, propane, or something compatible with R134 (and if so what and how does it compare to R134)?

Not had any beer yet but will be having some in about half an hour ;-)

Is it R134 in Halfords AC charge bottles or something else that is compatible with R134 but not regulated (regulated as in should only be supplied to AC pros?

And if it's something else is it as good (efficient etc) as R134?

IIrc Sloth or someone else once said it wasn't R134 in Halfords bottles? At the time I thought there was R134 in them (thought I'd read it on the side of the bottles) but now it's been said it's technically illegal to supply R134 to none pros I wonder again if it is R134 or something else.

Like Sloth I too have never known an AC machine pressure test, only vacuum test, and have known pinprick holes seal under vacuum only for refrigerant to leak out when the system is pressurised. But then again I won't have seen as many AC machines as an AC pro.

What I have done is pressurised an AC system myself just using compressed air to check for leaks (see if the system holds pressure), I know it shouldn't be done and moisture in the air could mess up the dryer (and/or other parts?) but rather than waste an hour at Kwik Fit for an AC system to pass a vac test then leak refrigerant when I drive away (so I have to return for money back - they give a 2 week guarantee even if the system leaks) I've done this when I've suspected a pinprick hole that might seal under vacuum.

I have a few Halfords AC recharge kits, at least one intact, at least one I've cut up so I can connect an air compressor to the LP port. I wouldn't gas up an AC system from flat using a DIY kit (partly because it's cheaper to let Kwik Fit do it and the Kwik Fit guarantee) but when I have a car that takes 0.995 kg of refrigerant and I see the Kwik Fit machine only wants to put in 0.85kg of gas when my reg is entered I have to wonder if the AC system would benefit from having a bit more gas than the Kwik Fit machine puts it (even though I tell the operator to manual over-ride and set the machine to 0.995kg) because I wonder if the vehicle manufacturer knows it should really have more than 1kg of gas in it but there might be some sort of environmental threshold at 1kg - Indeed Kwik Fit charge a lot more (iIrc double their usual fee) to charge an AC system that takes more than 1kg of refrigerant. The Halfords kits come with a pressure gauge that you set according to ambient temperature, the instructions say charge with gas until the LP port is at a certain pressure when the clutch is in... but machines don't do this kind of operational test (or operators don't do the operational test) ? On a few makes/models after having an AC machine fill I've found that the AC system gets colder with the engine at idle if I put just a but more gas in it from a DIY kit... Got to wonder if the machines short-change on the weight of gas they measure they're putting in?

Years ago before AC became as popular in the UK and systems were mostly R12 if you spoke to an AC guy they'd be reluctant to regas a system without changing the dryer. Most of them didn't have machines and couldn't do a vacuum purge/test, you just parked on the street outside their house and they'd come out with a camping gaz size green bottle and connect it to the LP port... with enough pressure the AC clutch would kick in and pull the gas into the system while they watched the sight glass and filled it til there were no bubbles.

Unlikely to be brakes if it's a braked trailer but worth a mention if they haven't been mentioned already.

The thing about wheel bearings on trailers is you don't hear them when they've gone wrong like you do on a car.

Which reminds me, I need to change wheel bearings on a trailer (not a car trailer) before I can use it and I need to use it at the end of next week.

Out of my area of expertise but there's a guy on another forum I go on who's an audio/visual specialist (his day job) and a whiz at doing stuff like getting/ incompatible signal feeds to appear on factory or aftermarket displays. If there seems to be a problem getting a reversing cam picture to appear on an existing screen I could invite him to come on this forum if anyone likes? For problems like that he's usually able to advise/sell an inexpensive gizmo that gets it working and is happy to chat.

Is the reducer mounted high in the engine bay? More chance of it drying out when the engine is off if it is and that can lead to crystallisation and other problems. To keep it full of water when the engine is off it shouldn't be higher than water in the expansion tank.

I deleted 2 spam threads the other day from a user called games_bebra. I tried to ban the user but got an error message reading something like 'method not allowed'.

Still the same problems j-rov ?

If petrol and LPG are stopped, while-ever there's still piped gas to houses in the UK we could have home CNG compressors and run our vehicles on that... Unless it's banned. Or maybe still get bottled LPG.

Thanks Gilbert, I passed that info on to the owner. I recently advised this owner to join the pub forum.

Gilbert or others on LPG, please remind me what plugs you find are best in P38's? I've just been asked the same question in an email, he has Champion plugs in at the moment.

When you think it's warm enough to change over have a feel of the reducer to see if it feels warm, if it's mounted high up there could be an airlock in it.

Could be a problem with the reducer temp sensor or it's wiring.

Prins ignition (RPM sensing) modules often fail, the Prins VSI ECU's could be damaged by voltage spikes on the rpm wire, so if the system gets it's RPM feed from an ignition coil or from a cam sensor an RPM module is probably fitted. If the ECU doesn't see an RPM signal it will never change-over to LPG, and if it loses the RPM signal while running on LPG it may switch back to petrol without the driver knowing (no beeps from the switch etc). There are various types of Prins RPM module, something around matchbox size with a few wires coming out of it or something that looks very much like a relay.

When I was 18 I carried 2 complete P6 V8's (no ancillaries) across the yard and into the back of a Transit van, I felt like Clint Eastwood in Any Which Way But Loose lol.

PC38 wrote:

Dear All,
Thanks, thats what i was thinking, 350 kg = 70 Tesla battery packs, should be enough range.........

I'm watching this thread!

How much will the conversion cost?

Do areas of interference keep the electronics awake and flatten the battery?

Not for a P38 but the other day I bought a Yuasa 334 battery and Ring RCB320 charger from Halfords.

Seems these days makers of battery chargers quote peak amps instead of RMS amps, the RCB320 is supposedly a 20amp charger but is only around 12amps RMS. Expected that when I bought it though and just wanted a dumb oldskool charger rather than a modern umpteem stage computer controlled one.

Thanks Bri, our posts crossed around the time of your link so I've only seen it following your further prompt.

The discussion on Subaru forums was years ago, they were talking about the merits of buying a pre/post 2006 H6 Legacy, post cost more for road tax.

Are there any other aftermarket looking electronics boxes in the engine bay or engine sensors?