Minheim AU

I have an AU classic fitted with a tickford dual fuel system. It has just done 62000 km and I have owned it from new. About 2 months ago I had it in having the gas checked as I thought it was switching itself to petrol and then back to LPG. It had stalled a few times at the lights and the fuel guage and distance to empty readings would switch to petrol readings and stay there. This led me to conclude that it was switching fuel of its own accord as a change from petrol to gas will often bring about a stall unless revs are up. Also fuel readfings were always changing.

Anyway the dealer had a look at it and found the fuel sender/sensor for the gas readings was out and they also drained and cleaned the gas regulator. All seemed well after that.

Last month the car had its 60,000 service which included a gas service. Since then it has stalled once at the lights (i didn't take much notice and just put it down to one of those things). Mrs M said she thought it had done a fuel switch the other day. Anyway tonite while driving back from Geelong the car was cruising on 100kph on cruise control when it staggered and seemed to do an auto kickback. As it seemed to have righted itself I kept driving. A short distance later it did the same and I noticed a short time later the fuel guage had dropped as had the distance to empty reading. A flick of the lpg petrol switch to the petrol position made no change to the readings confirming we had switched to petrol earlier. Another switch push to lpg and behold we are back to the earlier higher readings. Consequently I can now be certain that the car is switching back and forth not just one way as there were two staggers.

Anyone got any ideas what the problem might be b4 I see the dealer. I have found the dealer excellent and think the world of their night time service team so I am not bagging them. Indeed I switched to it a very short time after buying (about 2 months mths) as the selling dealer was both rude and incompetent.

I should say the car has had a major gas problem from day one and I had to await numerous flash upgrades etc from Tickford) The current dealer I now go to was great; they pushed hard to solve the initial gas problem (and to push Tickford). Ford customer service was happy for me to go to the current dealer as I had found it excellent with a previous car purchase; also I think they were sick of my complaints re a dual fuel car that could not start on gas and were hopeful another dealer could do what they and the selkling dealer couldn't do). Guess I should have bought from the current dealer, but the selling dealer could get tickford gas on an AU classic.

Anyway any help would be a bonus as I expect the randomness of the problem will make it difficult to be certain what is the problem. Lucky I am still under warranty. I should say that apart from this and the first few months the gas has been very good and the car itself great. I would certainly buy another ford (a ba xr6t would be nice maybe in 2 years time; and might fit the budget then on a salary sacrifice) but then again would I be here (fordforums) if i was going to switch brands.

regards Min

tonyk

Your temp sensor may be troubling the gas system.
I dont have first hand knowledge of the TF system but if its like most it needs either x number of seconds after starting before it switches to LPG or x number of degrees of coolant temp.

If either of those sensors are bad it may cause changing back to fuel to occur without actuallt recording a "fault code"?
ie if the gas system sensor lost its coolant temp info it may resort to petrol.

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Well done SA pollies (for once). Hoon laws are long overdue to protect car enthusiasts against idiot drivers.

PHoeNiX_EB

Sounds like it could b somthing a simple as a wire shorting out or the switch being stuffed!

TUFESP

my old man had the same problem on his au turned out to be a safety switch for the gas cost like 50 bucks from ford i forget where its located wil check but when u start the car there should be an led lit up if u start the car and watch the led it will go out this means ur safety switch is stuffed and u should hear a click which is the gas lock off it is located on the convertor and is a small solenoid with two wires running to it if u put ur hand there when u start the car when its on gas it will click meaning the gas is engaged then if it clicks again it will go back to petrol another thing i can think of is the gas processor is stuffed happend to my brother on his el tickford lpg hope this helps.

Minheim AU

Thanks Guys for the suggestions. She is booked in for Thursday so I'll see what they find and post afterwards.

regards Min

Minheim AU

Well they decided it was the switch and replaced it. Hopefully that will fix the matter.

regards min