Hallo everyone,

I bought a Jaguar 2004 s-type 2,5L v6 in April 2012 but not long after my purchase I got an error: low coolant. I brought the car to a so called jaguar specialist (who managed to mount the bottom part of the leaper upside down on my car -_-'' ).I told him I wanted him to CHECK EVERYTHING because I didn't want any unforseen problems seeing that I just bought the car and didnt know what else could be wrong. They did some stuff including the brakes and changing the water pump.

They told me the problem with the coolant could be due to a problem with the pump or the head gasket. They concluded it was the waterpump and replaced it. I've driven more than 2000 km (1200 miles) after that (even to Germany and back from the Netherlands) without any problems.

The fun started when a company named Agin installed a BRC LPG G3 on 08-08-2012.The lpg installation didnt work and they changed the spark plugs and ignition coils for like €500 (=$650).

The car drove fine on LPG but after I stopped at a gasstation to fill the car up and started it again I got the yellow motor indicator and not long after that the coolant problem was back again.
Agin told me that the problem could go away which did not happen. After that I went back and they made some software changes and the same thing happend again. It drove fine until I turned it off and turned it on again.

When I went back they installed a computer which is designed to fool my computer into thinking that it's driving on petrol when its driving on the LPG fuel. They explained to me that the car has sensors and the values its getting when driving on gas are different than the ones its supposed to be getting.

I found this really strange because even when I drove on petrol I still had the same indicator on and it didnt go away.

Eventually they let an expert install it and they installed 2 systems designed to reset some of the cars data when its driving on LPG and after that I didnt get the error again. But the coolant problem never went away and they always said all of the errors were due to the jaguar computer who's ''confused'' because its driving on LPG and that the coolant problem should go away after the reset computer install.

The hooked a Laptop to my car and drove it around (but first made sure there was no air in the system) and it turned out the water never reach 40 degrees and when driving on gas it slowly decreased. ( causing my lpg vaporizer to freeze.) I believe the water reached a proper temp when driving on petrol.
The problem was that they took coolant of a hose that doenst get hot after driving for a while it's for a different circuit to get the engine warm quick. (at least that's what they said.)

Every since the gas install I had to put 1L of coolant in the car every week or so.


They wanted me to leave the car there which I did and now they're telling my I have a small rupture in my head gasket. (they tested it with a liqued or something which turned yellow.)

Agin said that I had to call the the first garage to see if he might have made a mistake with the installation of the water pump. Which I highly doubt because he said it was either the waterpump or the HG and he concluded it was the water pump changed it and all my problems went away. It wasnt until I installed the LPG G3 that I started having coolant problems again.


Agin is now telling me I'll have to put the car in the shop for a week or 2 and pay around 2-3 thousand euro's (2500 - 4000 dollar) to repair the head gasket.



Could this work?

Head Gasket Repair Kit

I would like to know what guys who actually know something about (jag) cars
and whom I can trust would advise me to do.

I've lost my faith in those mechanics, and it feels like they're trying to take advantage of me.

P.s. They told me that they havent made any changes on the car after having it for all those days so basically I have huge petrol cost from driving there constantly and a car who still isnt driving on lpg. I assume once I fix the HG the car still wont drive on LPG seeing that they didnt make any modifications ons the coolant circuit.

 

The product in your link does not work but you can always give it a try and maybe a miracle happens.

You did not mention the mileage but cars with over a certain mileage and age are prone to give hassle when you put them on LPG.

Especially headgaskets as the combustion temperature is higher.

So, get the HG fixed, hoses to the lpg system connected up correctly.
And in the future, do not drive it too fast or put too much stress on the engine.
That is general for all older cars on lpg by the way

 

Thanks for your reply.

The mileage is 125000 or 200.000 km.

The website is Repair without disassembly or parts removal It is the same as steel leak or stop leak or those other products I've seen on the internet. Do I need to be concerned about it clogging my radiator or damaging some other part?

And about the price for the HG repair. Is that reasonable? Looks real steep to me.

Thank you

 

It would be pretty dificult to fit the water pump wrongly! It would seem that system wasn't bled properly afterwards. I have been fitting lpg systems for about 12 years now, mostly Romano. The first thing is the Ign system needs to be tip top or the lpg with find it out! Throw away these modern plugs and fit 'NGK COPPER CORE' and close the gap down. The modern lpg systems take their signals from the petrol injector pulse. The ecu hasn't a clue what fuel its running on because the lpg ecu is telling it the petrol injector are firing ok. It could be running on carrot juice for all it knows. When your lpg was fitted it seems that the hot water to the reducer has not been from a suitable place and once again not been bled properly. I am about to convert my 99 3lt S type to lpg. I will be putting a bleed off on the top of the inlet manifold on the small flat surface where the two 'hot' pipes are. As the coolant tester went yellow, your HG or HGs are probably leaking, although 1lt a week or so isn't much! 2-3 thousand Euro seem over the top so I would try the sealant if I where you, we have something called Steel Seal over there, but I imagine the one you have mentioned is much the same. So you would have nothing to loose apart from the cost of the treatment. As for driving it more gently, I have an 89 CRX track on gas, No petrol at all and I give it hell. Hope this helps.

 

thanks for your reply!

What do you mean with bleeding? Do you mean letting the air out of the coolant circuit?
Indeed it's like steel seal.

They said the car didnt run fine because certain sensors got different values when its driving on LPG as opose to petrol. They never have those problems with any car only with certain american jaguar. Most cars dont have those sensors.. But I have no clue if its true. But the problem with starting and it falling out did go away after the reset computer install.

As for the car. So i just put in some steel seal /stop leak or whatever. (wont it clog up the radiator or anything?) If this works then the car should be driving on lpg right?

To be honest I dont understand why it isnt driving on LPG right now. The fact that theres a small leak in the HG and im losing coolant every couple of days is no reason why I cant drive on gas at all right? Shouldnt they just connect the LPG in the proper way anyway?

 

Yes, by bleeding I mean letting the air out of the system. As I said the modern lpg systems take their settings from the petrol injector pulse duration and therefore it uses the same readings as for petrol. The lpg ecu will want to know the temp of the reducer as it requires heat to turn the liquid propane into gas. My son and I are working on devoloping liquid injection for performance a one moment, but thats another story. When a system is fitted it is usualy goes through a configeration set up on a laptop. I am not familiar with the one fitted to your car, but on the Romano, we can see all the settings and can do our own trimming. A leaking HG will not stop it running on lpg, so if its not switching to gas there must be a seperate problem. The first thing to do is get hot water to the reducer so that its getting hot as soon as poss. Then put in your sealant, if that the way you want to go. It won't clog the radiator. Then get the air out. Even if it won't switch to gas and run. And you stop the HG leak then thats got those two probs out of the way. You can then go from there. You might be able to get your own software and a lead for the laptop if your lucky and try to set it up your self. Don't be scared of it, its not rocket science.

 

Ist thing is, your jag had a new water pump fitted and you drove 1200miles without any problems so there can't be any bleeding needed.

Then the lpg was fitted the coolant was drained and refilled, maybe some air in the system from then but then its topped back up it should be fine!

You need to find out where the leak is, if you can't find one get the coolant system tested. Don't use rad weld etc it will be more harm that good (mine had the heater valve blocked with it).

I do not understand the problems you are haveing with the lpg.
Sounds like your lpg company have messed it up.
Once its fitted and set up right it should be fine, i have just fitted a 2nd hand lpg system to my 3.0 V6 s type and the only problem i had was that some jags don't have a petrol return pipe so then running on lpg the ecu can see the petrol pressure riseing so it slows the fuel pump down. Then you restart on petrol theres no pressure for it to start and the ecu can't see the problem/low pressure because it not running. To sort this i fitted a petrol return to the tank.

 

yep as per poster above, one problem which is reasonably uniqiue to jags is that they have no petrol return line. instead they regulate the fuel pressure at the engine by monitoring the fuel pressure at the injectors with a sensor and adjusting the speed of the pump to get it right. When you switch to LPG the LPG ecu shuts off the injectors and the petrol pressure spikes since its not being let out. There are two solutions. you fit a little electronic.box which sits in line with the fuel pressure sensor and sends fake readings back to the ECU when running on LPG. This has variable success as it has to be set up exactly right. Or you fit a.petrol return line with a solenoid that opens when the car switches to LPG. It's the petrol pressure spiking which can cause a check engine.light to come on.

 

The issue with not starting after running.on LPG is cause by this because the ECU, when seeing the pressure spike.up, keeps constantly reducing the fuel pump speed in order to get the pressure to drop to the correct value. But since the fuel isn't being.let out, the pump can't get the pressure low enpught and keeps slowing and.slowing. when you finally do try and restart on petrol, the pump is now running so slowly there is virtually no fuel.pressure at all and the engine can not start.

 

More and more cars are the same in being returnless because it has real benefits. Get used to it...

Real LPG installers know this and tend to fit a fuel return.

 

LPg problems are fixed. They installed a computer that resets the ecu when I get the check engine. They also took coolant from a different place in order to solve the problems with the Vaporizer. Everything is fixed Exept for my head gasket. I called a couple of companies and it's gonna set me back about €3000 unfortunately

 

You do not want to be resetting the "ecu" (PCM) as it will mask all other engine/gearbox future faults.

 

Glad your reducer is now running hot. Romano do a kit that fits under the back seat that takes care of the fuel pressure/return problem. Its about £35. Just ordered one with my LPG kit for my S type. As for the head gasket, I would still go for the sealer first before spending that kind of money.

 

They told me its fine after i asked the same question because It only resets it when I'm driving on LPG and they can turn it off when I need it to. But since I'm driving mostly on LPG I was confused cuz if I have a genuin problem with the engine it will be reset

 

I tried a sealer. The bars leaks yellow tin liquid. It's the only one they sell in holland. But it didn't work I'm still losing like 0,5L coolant a day. Except for when I'm not driving Offcourse. And ive still got those huge white clouds behind me.

 

There are many dozens of codes. They will all be cleared if any is. That would include codes for EGR faults, catalyst faults, and every other part!

 

TFJB, I dont suppose you have a link to the Romano kit you've ordered? I might be interested in this too.

 

To get back to the possible gasket problem, you can test for that with a bubbler thing on the coolant cap. I had the gasket go on my 2.5 s-type and found a jaguar specialist near me who did a good job for around £1100.
Are you still needing to top up the coolant or is that fixed now?

 

If you phone Autogas Worldwide they will fix you up.

 

It was tested that way.. With the indicator fluid. Okay I'll contact the LPG garages if they can do it via the return and remove the pc