Not a bad weekend in all.

In news: snipped-for-privacy@news.individual.net, Elder wittered on forthwith;

LPG fuel gauges are nearly always hopeless anyway. I always used the trip meter along with keeping an eye on the LEDs. The trip was more accurate most of the time.

Well done with the rest though, I should have mine in the next few days. Will have to pay a visit to Rik and get the turbo balance pipe welded up.

The LPG LEDs are as accurate in mine as the trip meter. Neither work. Neither of the tanks have the flylead from the tanks wired, so I should be able to add a gauge easily, something a tad more readable than looking at my knee when driving.

You are going to have so much fun with that car.

At a guess, the most accurate method you're going to get for the LPG is the temp gradient on the tank... If you're halfway competent with electronics it should be doable to have at the very least a warning light.

It is just a resistance feed, so I just need to see what full is, get a gauge with that as the full measure. Normally they tend to follow several standards, 0-90 Ohm, 80-240 Ohm etc. Just need to get a decent multimeter that can measure below 100 Ohms (just in case) and I will be sorted.

It's all starting to come together nicely now isn't it?

I don't normally get this kind of luck.

Just need to sort out a fuel gauge for the LPG now. I could hookup the LEDs on the switch, but then it is out of line of site.

I might as well find the resistance of the tank gauge feeds and then raid the scrappies for something old with a similar resistance or buy a cheap gauge and pod mount it. That way I get a proper needle gauge at eye line. It doesn't need to be particulary accurate, just to give me an idea so I switch to petrol as little as possible.

Aye, but if they're as bad as Pete reckons, measuring temp gradient is a fairly decent way of working out when it's low - same as a gas bottle used to run owt, the bottom half with the liquid gas in gets cold due to yer basic thermodynamics / gas laws. When the cold bit's a long way down the tank it's pretty safe to assume it's nearly empty.

Got a stable idle for it? Every Rangie I have seen on LPG hunts from 800-1k when on gas.

Oh yes. I still don't know if I'll keep it, but it will be more affordable to keep while I decide.

Ah, but I have two smaller tanks. But you only need to feed a gauge from one, as they are supposed to feed=20 roughly equally, and at the same time, hence why it is so innacurate.

Even though the tanks are T-d for feed to the engine, and for the=20 filler, you can feel the difference when filling. There is a clunk when=20 one tank fills at about =A310-12, but then the second tank carries on=20 taking gas upto another =A36 (when running part-time gas. On full time,=20 both tanks will empty almost fully but I'll switch over as they do).=20 Normally the clunk/judder is the safety valve saying "no more, enough".=20 Of course with 2 tanks, it will happen twice.

--=20 Carl Robson Audio stream:

Playing at home:Front Line Assembly-A Decade

It will be something or nothing. Usually is, throw some garlic and a baquette under the bonnet, make it feel loved.

Don't suppose you have a spare glow plug or two to test do you?

This is spot on, arround 6-700. When in drive, it sits at a clean 500, even more controllable than on petrol. luckily petrol is just going to be for starting when cold these days. I'll maybe stick a couple of quid in every now and again to stop it going stale.

Not going to mess with much now, just sort out a gauge as and when, no rush. Nothing is broken, so I'm not going to break it.

Took the two easy ones out - one was 1.7 ohms (knackered) the other 0.9 ohms (ok). I know they're getting ona bit, but they've worked ok for the last few weeks. If I can get a lift to GSF tomorrow I'll get 4 new plugs and the relay box and will just hope that cures it.

Why do you have to do that? Them pick-ups I drove in Canada were propane only. Started first time no matter what.

some LPG vehicles will start on gas alone, but most need to be started on petrol then they'll flick over automatically at around 1500 rpm. It's a good idea to use petrol for the first 5-10 mins from cold just because it helps to lubricate valve guides etc. LPG doesn't.

There isn't actually a temp difference under stable conditions, but it feels like there is 'cos you have a volatile liquid which convects/boils/whatever when you put your hand on the tank at theat point. This extracts heat from your hand and makes it feel cold. If you measured it with a thermometer you should find no difference*.

*there might be a slight difference whilst you are sucking LPG out, 'cos what's left boils to fill the gap and extracts heat from the tank whilst it does that. However, the difference will depend on how quickly you suck the stuff out, rather than just on the level in the tank, so it's not very deterministic.

That was what I was thinking of - the difference you actually get and can be seen by condensation / ice when the tank's being used. Depends on the rate you use it at I suppose - I can get a decent amount of condensation on a gas tank that's running my heater, but that's probably using rather more than the average car.

Tried getting it to fire on gas, and couldn't get it to, even when warm. No worries switching to petrol for the first 5 minutes though.

Nooo, Makro are doing the Sony BT-2500 at the moment for £99+VAT and similar prices on the 'net