Bad day, problem number 2, coolant leaking

[apole]

Hi again.

Earlier one of my boys noticed that there was a pool of water under my car. Checked it and it was clear and didn't have any smell to it, checked the coolant level and that was fine. Assumed as it's been raining it was just one of those puddles you get.

Later in the day went out, parked up, water dripping underneath from bottom of the engine, tepid not warm (been quite a way), wondered if it was the AC.

Got home later, drove back with AC off, still dripping.

On further investigation found out that I have a coolant pipe leaking, under drivers seat, where the LPG vaporiser takes off. What a pest. Can't quite get to it properly to repair, looks like a garage job. It seems tight but I suspect that the pipe may have a slight hole or split in it by the jubilee clip.



Any tips on how to get to it, I don't think removing the metal plate at the rear of the centre console will help as the air intake is in the way.

Does anyone have an idea if it's safe to keep driving it, pipe seems to be on tight enough and leak is at present slight, however I'm concerned if it gets worse suddenly, or causes and air lock it could do damage.

Must have started today as I would have noticed it.

My guess is to use it not to use it at all until it's repaired, just in case.

Thanks for your help.

Andy

[nfn]

That jubilee clip looks extremely tight (i.e., clamped on too tight). It's also not original -- suggesting that there may have been a leak in this area before. Can you back the jubilee clip off a few turns and see what happens? I noticed that overtightened jubilee clips on my hot tub pipes warp the pipes and leak.

[apole]

Thanks for that, I'll give it a go in the morning.

It's not original, pipes have been added as part of the LPG conversion, you have a vaporiser which basically heats the liquid gas to a vapour before it's injected into the manifold. Interestingly they used the proper clips everywhere else.

Also been reading up and the clips in the photo don't look very good quality, checking flippas hoses on Ebay and he specifically mentions not using low quality clips. I will try and get hold of some better ones and replace if I can get at the existing ones. Hoping the pipe isn't damaged.

Will keep you posted.

Thanks again.

Andy

[mikeonb4c]

Andy

Delicate one here but the hose and clip look new and your post suggests they might be, as part of the (recently done) LPG conversion. Is the work not still under warranty, as it looks as though it is their work that may be at fault?

[flippa]

Its difficult to see andy but id say that was a decent jubilee clip.....you had me confused about the id of that pipe but as you say its an add on......that clip btw is far too big and is probably not having the desired effect .....get yourself (by the look of that pipe ) a 22mm-30mm jubilee ...that pipe may well be fine and you only need to replace the clip fingers crossed

[apole]

Hi,

The photo I took later on after attempting to adjust the clip for some time. It is actually the best view I have had of the leaking area, I cant' get such a good view by looking at it as the camera is much smaller than my head

Should have taken it sooner.

By the look of it the clip is way too big as you say, and it is most likely not gripping properly all round, it looks a bit flat on one side. Hope that's the problem, I will get a smaller one tomorrow and have a go. Fingers crossed as I'd really like to get it fixed.

I guess I'll be getting 2 as there is an identical one just behind it.

Thanks again for all your help, much appreciated.

Andy

[Ralph]

Could be totally wrong but it looks to me that the hose
and or the clip are not pushed far enough on to the
metal pipe ie the clip is clamping the hose right at
the end of or just off the end of it.

[apole]

Hi there,

Made it to local Halfords, bought a smaller clip.

Long story short I've pushed the pipe further on and put a new clip on. Seems to have made it better but still weeping slightly.

Reason for problem is they have pushed a bigger pipe over a smaller one, if I remove the smaller one the bigger pipe would be too big to fit. I think the smaller pipe has flexed where it's exposed due to the weight of the new pipe and split. I cannot get the bigger pipe totally over it as there is a clip that I cannot get off holding onto the metal pipe.

It will do for now until I can get someone to look at it and it's stacks better, no more dripping, only slightly wet and that could be residue left over.

Thanks for all of your help, it is much appreciated as I was quite fed up about it yesterday and wondering what to do.

Andy

[apole]

Hi there,

Went to see Discount Trucks yesterday. As always Fred did a fantastic job and got to the root of the problem.

The LPG installer (if you can call them an installer ) made a bodge job of the vaporiser take off.

The vaporiser for LPG comes with 15mm hoses, instead of plumbing them into the heating circuit, they decided to take it off a smaller pipe that heats the throttle body.

To make matters worse they inserted a very small copper pipe inside that, so the effective diameter of the pipe was about the size of a drinking straw.

Fred spent a while and redid the whole thing, it's now so much better and I know it will last.

All credit to his work, every time I watch him work I'm impressed.

If anyone needs a good bongo garage this would be a good choice.

Anyway here's a pic of the pipe that was taken off, it's on the left. The pipe on the right is how big it should be (and now is).





So in a way I'm glad it failed when it did, best to find out sooner, and also close to home.

Andy

[mikeonb4c]

Good news indeed. Always seem to receive top reports about Discount Trucks - long may they prosper. I'd find it hard to resist writing a polite but ever so slightly pointed letter to the LPG installer. They ought to taake notice as the next thing is they don't get recommendations, and that ought to bother them.

Glad all is well again.

[bigdaddycain]

Hi Andy, glad it's sorted, i guess fred will be having words with the installer eh? It really should be highlighted to them, as they will think that it's good practice to pass of the bodge if it saved them some time to install.... The next customer may live 200 miles away,and have a busted cylinder head before he gets his new bongo home!

[The Great Pretender]

Andy they must be CORGI registered, so report them, are you shure that is their only bodge.

[apole]

Hi,

With LPG on cars (remember this is for autogas so it's cheaper to run that on petrol, not the cooker) they have to be LPGA registered. I did a lot of research before deciding and still ended up with this problem.

When I first had the job done I didn't think much of some of the wiring they did, some of it I did myself, some of it Fred at Discount trucks did when he replaced the Lambda sensor.

Since I had the conversion I had the Lambda sensor changed as the LPG installer said it was faulty. I then found out and spoke directly to the director of the UK distributer for my LPG system who told me it wasn't actually needed anyway. He did point me in the direction of a more local LPG installer, who it turns out I know through a friend. I got him to look it over and he spent some time checking things for me (this failed pipe was not so easy to see as it was covered up by the large pipe itself).

He said apart from the duff wiring and not using an RPM sendor/filter unit the install was okay. The specs of all the parts such as the injectors etc have all been checked and they are the correct type/size etc for my car.

So apart from some teenager wiring and the ridiculous plumbing of the vaporiser I'm as happy as I can be with the installation. It does run very well on LPG.

Fred summed it up well (he's also looked at the install (tank, etc) and said he thought it was a friday afternoon job, they did the guts of it okay and then rushed the last bits.

I will be taking the matter up directly with the LPGA as they have violated their own code of practice and will be writing to the installer.

The good news for me (although it's a shame it happened this way at all) is that I now have contact directly with the tech director for the LPG system, and have a good local LPG installer too, plus I know things should be okay now as it's been checked by different people. I guess it's better if you have to have a problem that you find out sooner, and locally when you don't need the car. Overall I've learnt a few lessons and made some new contacts so looking on the bright side it's turned out okay. I have also learned a ton of things about how LPG works and about my car.

Plus I now know the discount trucks are really a great and reputable business, which is really good as the bongo is a long term thing and it gives me great confidence that I can keep it well looked after locally. Fred obviously really knows his stuff with cars, pretty much all of the work he has done for me has been out of the ordinary and he's done it so well.

So it's all good, the dodgy LPG installer will no doubt get some comeback for his sloppy work via the distributer and the LPGA, plus of course he wont' be getting any further servicing or repair work from me (Prins will look after that directly if needed) and I certainly won't be recommending him.

Bigdaddy, maybe we could use your tank and make the next snickers advert at a garage I know in London