Strange Coughing Problems, Advice Needed Urgently
Posted: 14 May 2015, 16:35
Hi All!
Myself and my girlfriend bought our '89 T25 July last year in Corwall. We had an LPG conversion done in Devon, and after working hard all summer we took a few months off to travel from the start of this year. At Chirstmas we took the van to yorkshire and then back to east sussex, before leaving for France at the send of December. Since then we've driven down to the south of spain, through France and Portugal. In the south of France we had some engine troubles; we ran low on LPG as we were avoiding toll motorways and outside of those the gas stations were few and far between.
When we ran low on gas we switched to petrol, and after 20km or so the van started slowing down, coughed, and died. It then started again, drove a few kilometers and stopped, same again, and then wouldn't start. After a tow truck and lots of drama I won't go into, it seemed the van wouldn't run (or start) on petrol when the engine got hot. Fortunately however, we were able to get gas and continue on our journey; we tried to get a mechanic to look at the van but we couldn't find one with the time or inclination, and our french is not good! One suggested it may be what I now know is the ignition module ( I didn't know what it was when he pointed to it, and I didn't understand the name in french!), but he didn't have time to look in detail, simply said a friend had had the same problem with a VW t25, and that was the problem. My girlfiend does on the other hand speak spanish, so we decided to carry on and sort it out when we arrived in Spain. The van ran perfectly on LPG, and through some carefully planning of lpg stations, we made sure to never run low on gas, and all was well.
After arriving at our destination (Seville, where my girlfirend's sister is living at the moment), we had the same problem, on gas. The van coughed and then stopped, going down a hill, and wouldn't start again. Once the engine was cold again it started, but soon stopped. Thus began a very lengthy saga of trying to fix the problem. First the ignition module was changed; the mechanic in SPain agreed with the French guy, and when he took off the ignition module and took it apart he said the wires were fried and when the engine got hot, it stopped functioning. I had also changed the ignition coil myself as I had read of VW's with the identical problem coming from the ignition coil, and bought a replacement. Once that was changed we drove 3km, the van stopped again. It wouldn't start, even with the engine cold. Starter problem was the starter motor which, to the mechanic's surprise, was still the original, and once that was changed it was still stopping, but started ok afterwards. The distributor (also original) was knackered, and we managed to get hold of a second hand one (couldn't find a new one anywhere) from another '89 van but that had only 30,000 miles on it. Mechanic said the distributor was old but in good nick. The problem seemed to disappear. Then began starter problems again, and it wouldn't drive on petrol. It seems the fuel pump was now malfunctioning, so a new fuel pump was put in, and the van ran perfectly. The mechanic assured us all was well. We then drove from Seville to Malaga (2 weeks ago). 60km into the journey, going down hill, driving on LPG, the van started to slow, then cough. Changing down a gear seemed to help briefly, then it started to cough even more, and we switched to petrol. Another cough as we switched, and then the engine stopped losing revs, as we started to climb the other side of the hill. The remaining 80km we drove with petrol, without issue.
We were hoping to drive back to cornwall now to work the summer , but I don't know if the van will stop after 10, 100 or 1000 miles! So, it is with that in mind I'm exploring any possibility I can, and would be very grateful if anyone has any ideas what the problem could be. I've heard of similar problems due to partially blocked fuel lines, although we've experienced the same problem with both petrol and LPG so it seems unlikely to be a fuel problem...
We're in email contact with a mechanic near Seville at a place called Karvans, who works solely on VW T25 vans, but he says he's never seen a van with an LPG conversion, and doesn't really know anything about an LPG system so he's not sure he could find the problem...
Anyway, as I said, any advice would be extremely appreciated as we are rather demoralised by the whole situation!
Myself and my girlfriend bought our '89 T25 July last year in Corwall. We had an LPG conversion done in Devon, and after working hard all summer we took a few months off to travel from the start of this year. At Chirstmas we took the van to yorkshire and then back to east sussex, before leaving for France at the send of December. Since then we've driven down to the south of spain, through France and Portugal. In the south of France we had some engine troubles; we ran low on LPG as we were avoiding toll motorways and outside of those the gas stations were few and far between.
When we ran low on gas we switched to petrol, and after 20km or so the van started slowing down, coughed, and died. It then started again, drove a few kilometers and stopped, same again, and then wouldn't start. After a tow truck and lots of drama I won't go into, it seemed the van wouldn't run (or start) on petrol when the engine got hot. Fortunately however, we were able to get gas and continue on our journey; we tried to get a mechanic to look at the van but we couldn't find one with the time or inclination, and our french is not good! One suggested it may be what I now know is the ignition module ( I didn't know what it was when he pointed to it, and I didn't understand the name in french!), but he didn't have time to look in detail, simply said a friend had had the same problem with a VW t25, and that was the problem. My girlfiend does on the other hand speak spanish, so we decided to carry on and sort it out when we arrived in Spain. The van ran perfectly on LPG, and through some carefully planning of lpg stations, we made sure to never run low on gas, and all was well.
After arriving at our destination (Seville, where my girlfirend's sister is living at the moment), we had the same problem, on gas. The van coughed and then stopped, going down a hill, and wouldn't start again. Once the engine was cold again it started, but soon stopped. Thus began a very lengthy saga of trying to fix the problem. First the ignition module was changed; the mechanic in SPain agreed with the French guy, and when he took off the ignition module and took it apart he said the wires were fried and when the engine got hot, it stopped functioning. I had also changed the ignition coil myself as I had read of VW's with the identical problem coming from the ignition coil, and bought a replacement. Once that was changed we drove 3km, the van stopped again. It wouldn't start, even with the engine cold. Starter problem was the starter motor which, to the mechanic's surprise, was still the original, and once that was changed it was still stopping, but started ok afterwards. The distributor (also original) was knackered, and we managed to get hold of a second hand one (couldn't find a new one anywhere) from another '89 van but that had only 30,000 miles on it. Mechanic said the distributor was old but in good nick. The problem seemed to disappear. Then began starter problems again, and it wouldn't drive on petrol. It seems the fuel pump was now malfunctioning, so a new fuel pump was put in, and the van ran perfectly. The mechanic assured us all was well. We then drove from Seville to Malaga (2 weeks ago). 60km into the journey, going down hill, driving on LPG, the van started to slow, then cough. Changing down a gear seemed to help briefly, then it started to cough even more, and we switched to petrol. Another cough as we switched, and then the engine stopped losing revs, as we started to climb the other side of the hill. The remaining 80km we drove with petrol, without issue.
We were hoping to drive back to cornwall now to work the summer , but I don't know if the van will stop after 10, 100 or 1000 miles! So, it is with that in mind I'm exploring any possibility I can, and would be very grateful if anyone has any ideas what the problem could be. I've heard of similar problems due to partially blocked fuel lines, although we've experienced the same problem with both petrol and LPG so it seems unlikely to be a fuel problem...
We're in email contact with a mechanic near Seville at a place called Karvans, who works solely on VW T25 vans, but he says he's never seen a van with an LPG conversion, and doesn't really know anything about an LPG system so he's not sure he could find the problem...
Anyway, as I said, any advice would be extremely appreciated as we are rather demoralised by the whole situation!
, so I dunno when they'd last changed the oil or done any other maintenance on the engine!!!