Refuelling Issues

[a137699]

Hi, I have a BRC LPG system - it's been on the car for 3 years (70,000 miles) and has always been reliable.

However I've recently noticed the fuel guage has been very unreliable - initially only on hot days, but now it seems to be all the time (e.g. showing full when it's empty) and in the last few days I've had some odd refuelling instances...

Being a 60 litre toroidial tank, it usually fills from empty to circa 42-44 litres before the shut off occurs, however yesterday it filled to over 52 litres before gradually slowing down (didn't actually shut off the pump but the flow slowed to a trickle). I put this down to a dodgy pump and continued.

Then today, having done 180 miles I pulled into a different garage and their pump would barely put any fuel into the car - they tried a different pump - no difference. After 10 mins it had only pushed 5 litres in (after 180 miles it should have taken at least 30), so I paid my £2.70 and left.

After running the tank down to empty, I then refuelled again, and once again it happily pushed 50 litres in - it would have gone on filling but I stopped there as I'm concerned if the tank continues to fill in this hot weather there will be no expansion room (possible explosion risk?). On this occasion the flow hadn't begun to slow - it was still filling at a usual rate! As I said 42-44 litres is the maximum I'm usually able to fit in the tank!

So clearly something is wrong on the filling system... The car was recently serviced at Greenfuel (only 1 month ago) so I'm surprised this is happening... anyone shed any light?

Is is dangerous to overfill the tank like this? And will this be an expensive fix?

[rossko]

See this thread
http://www.lpgforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php ... 34&p=51099

Overfilling carries no explosion risk on a E-marked tank ; but there is a safety valve that can vent excess gas out under the car which isn't nice, and a small fire risk, so best avoided.

[Gilbertd]

On the back of the multivalve, inside the tank, there is a float on a lever. It performs 2 functions, it operates the shut off valve so you don't overfill it and it drives the fuel gauge. It's had it, new multivalve time......

[SimonHobson]

Is is dangerous to overfill the tank like this?

Yes and no

If you are filling up and then immediately driving away, you'll use up some gas and create some expansion room - how much depends on how far you drive, how much you need depends on how much hotter things are going to get.

On the other hand, if you fill up and don't use any of the gas, then any temperature rise will cause some venting. It's typically only a little hiss like having a leak in a tyre. A secondary problem (apart from the smell and fire risk) is that the pressure may be too high to let the solenoid valve open, and so you can find yourself with a full tank of gas you can't use until things cool down a bit.

And will this be an expensive fix?

New valve around £40-£50, plus labour to fit it.

Alternatively learn to manage things manually and don't overfill it if the valve fails to shutoff.