Anyone fitted an ETAGAS system

[Tubbs]

Hi all, i had a customer ring me today to enquire about a gas conversion. As we got talking he told me he had an etagas system that he had bought second hand from an estate version of his car its an audi 80. Tbh i havent touched anything tartarinni since a tec 97 (and discounted them as rubbish in comparison to a leonard) so dont know very much about them other than they are similar to the early lovato injection systems with the twin stepper motors. So has anyone on here had any experience of them ?
Are they a vehicle specific kit or more like a generic lambda controller. As i said i haven't got a clue, but brave as a lion when it comes trying new things ! Does anyone have the software ? Is it the same pin configuration as a tec 97 ? if so i do have a lead i can borrow. I know autogas 2000 are the tartarinni people so if i need any spares i can go through them. And the tank will probably be out of date so i would need to replace that as well. Im off to have a look on wednesday and do a feasibility survey. Obviously taking labour into account and the cost of a new tank we are looking at close to the cost of a new conversion anyway. But im a bit of a womble and would like to use what the chap has if i can tbh. Also i have told him that it would have no warranty.

[Gilbertd]

Not fitted one but a mate had one installed on an XJ6. The standard lead will connect if you can get hold of the software (he had it but not sure if he still has). The main problem with it was that it needed the steppers cleaning out with monotonous regularity other than that it worked reasonably well.

[Tubbs]

I wonder if vapour line filters would help the problem. I could do with a wiring diagram tho.

[classicswede]

The age of the tank does not matter these days.

The etagas system is a real pain and a regular one we see if running problems and poor MPG.

I'd rather fit a mixer than mess about with them TBH

[Tubbs]

Ok thanks for that mate. I think thats all i needed to know i reckon !

[rossko]

Etagas can be made to work fine ; but that isn't the same as economic repair. Vaporisers fail, replacements are expensive. Steppers fail, likewise.
Tartarin lead needed (same as TEC97/99) not standard AEB

[FatBillSlim]

i did a jag with etagas almost 10 years ago and it was only in last month for safety report, vehicle back in 4-5 times, in all that time, car still running strong!

its not fantastic kit, but gets a job done!.
to correctly set pressures, you need the meter that plugs in between the lpg ecu and pc, but you guys will already know that!

[Tubbs]

Thanks for all the replies guys. Yeh I'm not overly sure on the best course of action really. See this is the pitfall of fitting a second hand kit isn't it. I can fit a new bigas, emer, aeb derivative for similar money. The chap wants a cylindrical tank in the boot and the kit he has bought off fleabay is a torroidal. I can't offer any warranty on the components, I don't even know it works. I will have to find a calibration meter I am now told (or bodge something up more likely) it's just one of those things. What's best for the customer in the long run and obviously my reputation. I offered him the option of a mixer but he doesn't seem so keen on that as he had a cherokee in the past that went bang. It's an oldish car bosch motronic according to autodata so no significant issues with an injection system full group anyway !
So I will have to see. Lol !

[FatBillSlim]

You would get by without a meter, an independent differential pressure gague will work, if you know the optimum pressure to set,

it can be a pain to set up, and if you have faulty parts and not a lot of experance with the kit your askin for trubble

[Tubbs]

Funilly enough i was thinking i would cobble something together using my fuel injection pressure test kit. However you are right about not knowing what the pressure is supposed to be. I will carry on with my research on that bit. I understand that i would be asking for trouble. Lets face it all the challenges are gone from the lpg trade these days ! These gas injection systems are all a bit too good really. The first gen was unbelievably carp other than prins. But now they have all caught up with each other (assuming you fit them correctly) there is no high drama left !
I kind of miss the bad old days of mixers. No more irate phone calls at 3 in the morning. No more monday morning 'my car went bang at the weekend' conversations.
Or am i just getting older and am happy with the easy life ?

[tommo2009]

fuel injection test kit won't work very well to measure the gas pressure.
A map sensor on a gas sytem is an absolute type, which means zero is actually zero ie a vacuum. a fuel injection tester is guage pressure which means zero is actually around 1 bar (atmospheric)

so if you put your tester on and set it to say one bar you will actually have two bar with reference to vacuum.

[rossko]

Wouldn't touch a job like that with bargepole. Even if you got it working, which will take twice as long as starting with new kit, who'll get the blame if it packs up after two weeks with a failed part? Tell 'im to put it back on ebay...

[Tubbs]

Rossko you are speaking the gods honest there mate. Autogas 2000 ? Not very helpful tbh. As they seem to stock all the bits. Its not like I'm someone who just rolled in off the street afterall.
182 quid for a reducer and 150 plus for an injection distributor you would soon be running well over the cost of a new conversion.

[lpg-cars]

Etagas was a very early multipoint system but it is not relying on the the petrol ecu to calculate the fueling. You have to map the fueling by driving at different speeds and loads.

In theory, if the kit is from the same type of car with the same engine, you should be able to install it and drive it.

BUT we live in the real world and the TPS signal could be different, the lambda signal could be different and so the fueling could be totally wrong on this car even if it was set up correctly on the old car.

I believe you can only set it up with the pressure sensor and a dongle connected. It has been about 4 years since I did any work on one. The dongle has an expiry date which lapsed about 2 years ago.

I'm with Rossko on this one. Even if it all goes smoothly, because the age of the system, you will spend a lot more time on this job than it's worth. Your customer will be very un-happy because he wants to save money but the parts are so expensive, any savings from buying second hand kit will be wiped out in extra labour and one or two replacement parts.

[Tubbs]

Ok so I should do an update. I told the bloke £650 for labour £250 for a new tank and the bits and bobs required. So straight into £900 but I cant put any warranty on the components.I would do a new conversion for £1150 anyhow with a full 24 month warranty. So £250 over 24 months ? Tenner a month to ensure that any problems don't cost him any extra money, it was a no brainer really.
I can't remember exactly why but I ended up going with my wife to meet the chap. I think we popped in on the way back from somewhere. Nice guy and my misses looked at me and said 'since when did you become such a good salesman' erm about 14 years ago, thanks for noticing!