280 / 06 / LPG/ Problem.

[CROSSFIREROB]

Hi , im new to this site and have had a good read , and what a hive of imfomation this place is , i recently bought a Transit 280 panel van on a 2006 plate , it has the factory fitted LPG system fitted, whilst the van runs fine on petrol, its nt so good on LPG , can i explain what happens to you , and maybe you can shed some light on the subject .

The van will transfer over to gas very happily , but once on the gas the van finds itself unable to idle and cuts out at junctions, also when driving under load gathering speed the van seems to quit the gas and revert back to petrol, what actually happens is the green gas bottle on the fuel gage flashes for a while then the fuel gage its self drops away to empty , and i hear the solenoid click beneath me ,so im asuming that it has now reverted back to petrol,and then after a while i hear a click from the solanoid and were back on gas again , then the cycle goes on back and forth, i have rung an LPG man who said as its a FORD forget it i dont want to know ,he says you cant get the parts for them , my thinking is it must be filters , but i didnt wnat to get into that untill i had run it buy you guys , any help would be great , even where i can buy a workshop manual would be great , i can find diesal manuals but not petrol , good old Ford.

Im very happy to run it in to a LPG garage i live in Hampshire but dont know any good names that could help me out, do you .

Thanks for your time , Rob.

[mealic]

Hi , im new to this site and have had a good read , and what a hive of imfomation this place is , i recently bought a Transit 280 panel van on a 2006 plate , it has the factory fitted LPG system fitted, whilst the van runs fine on petrol, its nt so good on LPG , can i explain what happens to you , and maybe you can shed some light on the subject .

The van will transfer over to gas very happily , but once on the gas the van finds itself unable to idle and cuts out at junctions, also when driving under load gathering speed the van seems to quit the gas and revert back to petrol, what actually happens is the green gas bottle on the fuel gage flashes for a while then the fuel gage its self drops away to empty , and i hear the solenoid click beneath me ,so im asuming that it has now reverted back to petrol,and then after a while i hear a click from the solanoid and were back on gas again , then the cycle goes on back and forth, i have rung an LPG man who said as its a FORD forget it i dont want to know ,he says you cant get the parts for them , my thinking is it must be filters , but i didnt wnat to get into that untill i had run it buy you guys , any help would be great , even where i can buy a workshop manual would be great , i can find diesal manuals but not petrol , good old Ford.

Im very happy to run it in to a LPG garage i live in Hampshire but dont know any good names that could help me out, do you .

Thanks for your time , Rob.

Phone these people now Powertorque in Coventry 02476 635757 speak to Kami and tell her you need an RPM filter(electronic unit that fits up under the right side of the dash on top of the five relays.)If it`s a Mk6 the number is N801684 £46 plus carriage.Phone this morning as they close at Midday

[CROSSFIREROB]

Thanks for your quick reply , and i dont want to doubt your word , but the van idles perfect with the petrol , its only on gas it messes about , and even then mainly when slowing down at a junction it stops,it then will start again and were off, the engine on petrol idles at about 900rpm , i dont know if thats about right , and there is a little movement in the engine while ticking over , so it could have a very very slight miss i guess, but if you think its an rpm related i will have a good look into it , thanks for the lead , i will ring them up .

[CROSSFIREROB]

I just rang them and missed them to, they shut as you said early on Friday at 12 , alright for some , mind you i cant grumble as ive only just got out of the sea after surfing , i will try them again on Monday. Thanks.

[mealic]

What you have said is what everyone has said "It runs perfect on petrol".Well you don`t want to run on petrol do you so you have to look at the LPG side of it.The RPM filter is part of the LPG system,but so is the vaporiser,the distributor,the filters,the relays etc.I suggested the RPM electronic filter as that is what I now know the most likely cause of failing to run correctly on gas and probably the cheapest option.I have spent lots of time trying to find out about this system and now feel that I am getting somewhere.If you find out any more please post it on here as there are quite a few out there with niggly LPG problems.

Good luck.

[CROSSFIREROB]

Thanks Mealic, i will most definately take your advice ,and get some LPG spark plugs, in between now and monday though i would like to find the lpg filters and check them, i got under the van today started from the tanks but could see nothing looking like a filter ,i see also that this is a common problem , ive read lots of closely related threads regarding LPG and transits,driving us nuts.I can build my drag cars engine to run 8 second quaters miles , and my Pontiac to cruise for miles,but this Transit has tripped me up with its modern electronics.

WHERE THE HECK CAN I BUY A WORKSHOP MANUAL

[mealic]

Thanks Mealic, i will most definately take your advice ,and get some LPG spark plugs, in between now and monday though i would like to find the lpg filters and check them, i got under the van today started from the tanks but could see nothing looking like a filter ,i see also that this is a common problem , ive read lots of closely related threads regarding LPG and transits,driving us nuts.I can build my drag cars engine to run 8 second quaters miles , and my Pontiac to cruise for miles,but this Transit has tripped me up with its modern electronics.

WHERE THE HECK CAN I BUY A WORKSHOP MANUAL

If there was any sort of problem with the plugs don`t you think it might run a little lumpy on petrol? Same with coil packs.Best to get iridium plugs as they run hotter with gas.
The engine is basically a galaxy 2.3 apparently with a slightly modified cyl head.Haynes only produce one for the Galaxy and its the wrong one.Used to be able to get a TIS from e.bay but I missed them.Anybody got a download they can send me a.christie@btinternet.com

[CROSSFIREROB]

Reference the plugs , im only going on what other posts have pointed out on different threads, but to be honest i have a 1978 Dodge V8 camper on LPG which ive had no trouble with in 9 years of owning it and towing the race car with it , and i never bought any fancy plugs for it either , but with all this modern gear im new and learning as i go ,its the same with my modern motorcycles electric everything,i cant belive Ford would bring out a van and then not bother to release a workshop manual to aid the new owners, seems out right daft to me .Oh well its going to have be a gamble on the rpm gadget and the money with it , if it works i will be amazed,because ive found in the past , problems are never that easy, and its never what you think it is , and it usualy turns out to be something stupid and small like a frayed wire from the distributer or something like that.

[mealic]

I`ve received my RPM filter today and I will try to find the time to fit it over the weekend and let you know.

[Rowdey]

Power Torque also advise to change the earth strap at rear of cylinder head.

Mine was just a bit green, and a Senior Engineer/Technician at a Ford LPG/Backbone dealership said 'wont make any difference mate' but it has.

I didn't even buy a genuine Ford one, just a new bit of 10mm CPC

[CROSSFIREROB]

I have taken off the eath strap which looked in good condition, gave it a soak in wd40 then put it back on making sure its making a good earth.

I now have a much better idea of my running problems, i took the van out and clocked up 100 miles, and what happens is the van will actually run fine on LPG (except for tick over it just wont ),but for some reason the green light flashes fast after a few miles mainly under load as the speed picks up as i get onto main roads from back roads,then the gauge drops down to zero, the light continues to flash but the van carries on driving on LPG, very odd, i get the impression that maybe there is fuel starvation , but i cant understand why the va carries on regardless.

[M4tty]

Ive got the same sort of problem you have mate. It runs ok on petrol (very slight misfire) which ive changed the plugs & coil pack. On petrol it runs ok but switch to gas at low revs and it runs rubbish but once its reached 3500rpm the gas runs ok (slight misfire) and doesnt like being put under heavy load (steep hill). Ive plugged mine into a fault reader and its reading P0135 so ive tested the lambda sensor and the heater coil circuit is open circuit so im going to replace that tomorrow hopefully. Could this be anything to do with the rough running on LPG as i unplugged the sensor and it ran better on petrol but when i tried gas on the motorway. The gas light flashed fast constantly so i flicked back to petrol. Does the LPG system require the lambda sensor (oxygen sensor bank 1) to be plugged in more so than petrol?

Ill change the earth strap for some 10mm cpc (that i have in the back of the van lol - spark) as suggested by Rowdey (cheers mate) mine looks dirty green too.

Have you plugged yours in to read any faults mate?

Cheers

[CROSSFIREROB]

No i havnt plugged into a machine yet , ive only had the van a few days , its the first transit ive owned , and i must say im not impressed at the moment , i have an LDV 400 di ,no probs in 3 years , and a Vauxhall astravan di same again, i have this piece of .... 4 days and all sorts seem to be wrong with it , its only done 57000 to !, oh well mustnt grumble just fix.

Judgeing by the replies ive had , yours and mine may be the rpm filter, but at £60 a go its a bit of an expensive gamble , so im just checking everything before i buy , i must say yours seems a definate for the rpm, mine at least runs fine ,it just wont idle basicly,i wish i knew why the light flashes its obviously some kind of warning , but what i wonder ..

The fact Ford never made a manual for petrol engine is unbelievable, how the hell are we meant to work on these , being made to ask questions every five miuntes , is annoying to say the least .

[CROSSFIREROB]

copied from another thread which fixed his problem, wish i had found this earlier .

" when i got it first the petrol run fine but once lpg clicked in it run crap stalling back firing. i changed plugs coil packs leads gas service spent a fortune could not fix it. then met this man who does lpg told me rpm filter ford told me don't know what im talking about. then i found it under the dash board. cost me 64.99 for replace meant and now runs like a dream.
small box size of a match box with 2 plugs on it one has 3 wires and other has 4. purpose is to take signal of the rev counter and send it to the lpg computer for the lpg rev range.

[CROSSFIREROB]

I have just learnt that my thermostat isnt closing up tight , i wonder if the low running temperature would upset the Transits LPG brain enough to mess its running LPG up, i will be buying a new stat tommorow , i dont think it will make an once of difference , but i will post herer if it does. Ifeel an RPM filter coming on to tommorow to.