vaporiser temp.

[john_d]

curious as to what you guys have it set at

mine is 40 but takes 2 mile to change to gas so thinking about lowering it

[andy4x4]

What car? most cars would be up to 40 within 2 miles unless very cold, check plumbing?

[john_d]

v6 mondeo, car has always taken a while to heat up, even before the lpg.

[Gilbertd]

Change the thermostat then. Old ones used to fail closed so you knew about it because of the big cloud of steam out the front of the car and a temperature guage that was trying to start a second lap. Modern ones fail safe so they are always open meaning the car takes much longer to warm up.

[john_d]

Change the thermostat then.

why would i want to change the thermostat if its working ok?

[rossko]

why would i want to change the thermostat if its working ok?

"takes 2 mile to change to gas"
+
"car has always taken a while to heat up"
+
"Modern ones fail safe so they are always open meaning the car takes much longer to warm up."
=
big clues

[john_d]

its a PITA to change the thermostat on my car and we dont know if the other thermostat will be the same.

[Gilbertd]

You don't know if it's working OK but the car is showing all the symptoms that it isn't. Either put up with it taking a while to warm up and 2 miles before it changes to gas, or change it. If it has no effect, at least you know it has been changed so won't need doing again, but I suspect it will have an effect. If you think it's bad on a Ford V6, try changing the stat on a VW VR6 engine.....

[SAD199]

I'd agree, change it. I recently changed my SAAB thermostat because the gauge was taking an age to get to normal and sometimes dropping again, above cold but still not in the middle. I had thought it was just the way the gauge registered, but it wasn't. Now the gauge climbs quickly and sits steadily in the centre, the gas comes on quicker and, more importantly, the fuel consumption has gone down. I'm guessing, but I think the ecu takes the temperature to set the fuelling. If it thinks the engine is still a bit cold then it throws more fuel in on gas or petrol. It's not clever enough to know it's been running for half an hour or more. The thermostat cost £8 and was worth it, consumption up from 22mpg to nearer a steady 25mpg. Result.

[Clifford Pope]

If this is what I understand as a normally-plumbed vapouriser, it is heated by water circulation tapped off from the heater? So it gets hot water directly from the cylinder head? I don't see how your temperature can possibly be as low as 40 unless your thermostat is stuck open.
I've often observed the movement of my temperature gauge at the start of my daily journey. The needle starts to move after a few hundred yards, is about 1/8 after 1/2 mile, and in the normal half-way mark at 1 mile. Shortly after that it rises to about 5/8, then drops back down to normal as the thermostat opens. That means it has reached normal operating temperature of about 85 degrees after a mile.

I was interested to see what difference turning on the gas makes, and it has no effect - the cooling effect of vapourising the gas is negligible compared with the engine's heat output.

[john_d]

its 40 before the gas comes on, 40 is not its normal operating temp.

[Gilbertd]

But the point is that it should be up to 40 within a few seconds. With the thermostat closed all hot water from the cooling system goes through to the heater matrix which is also feeding your vapouriser. This is coming straight off the cylinder heads which get pretty hot pretty damn quick (if you don't believe me, run the engine for 30 seconds and then take a spark plug out and see if you can hold it in your hand). Most moden cars get heat from the heater within the first 20 or 30 seconds as proved by deicing the windscreen when we get a frost. It's that same heat that should be bringing your vap up to temperature.

SAD199 makes another very good point. There will be a temperature sensor somewhere (either the same one that supplies the gauge or a separate one) that tells the petrol ECU that the engine is cold and needs a richer mixture. So you are losing out both ways. It's running on petrol longer than it should and while it's running on petrol, it's running richer than it should.