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[JamieS]

Hi everyone,

 Thought i'd sign up here; you seem a knowledgeable bunch. I'm 21, and just bought my first jeep/4x4. Coming from a SAAB 9-5.

 Where do I begin though; I've had it a week and its nothing but problems. I only paid £750 - and it has a long MOT and Tax. I bought it knowing there were a few problems, but in a week things have escalated!

 It has an LPG conversion. It worked very well the past week (450 miles) but the other day it caused the car to judder to a halt. I switched to petrol and away we go again. I looked at the vapouriser, and it was frozen. Thus far it has been fine starting on petrol, and the system immediately switching to LPG. I was told by P.O that this is fine, but as I thought you should start on petrol to warm the coolant? Anyway, I think this just means I need the LPG serviced. It runs fine on it, on the motorway and around town too, but it will cut out when cold.

However, the problem gets complicated. I started on petrol, and ran the car to the top of my road (about 1/2 mile) but it stalled at the junction. Now, when the engine is cold it will sometimes misfire, and stall. However, sometimes when its cold it won't, and it'll just roll away fine. Its really confusing me. Thinking it must be the CPS, or IACV? How common is this? The idle is sometimes very rough, feels like the car wants to break free from me braking at the traffic lights when in drive. Then again, sometimes its not - smooth as the proverbial.

The other problem, which has coincided with the above; its overheating. I know that heat will kill the 4.0L so, i'm a bit cautious. Firstly, I noticed after a long run, the radiator hissing. Opened bonnet, and there was a tiny wee leak of steam forcing its way out the crappy, crimp fitted radiator side. I repaired this with some metal epoxy putty. This worked, but now the pressure is being lost from somewhere else. Its a tiny amount of steam. I am thinking it is maybe tiny corrosion hole in water pump pipe? Not sure. Fan is okay, clutch seems to be fine; getting some resistance when spinning it by hand.

So, it is overheating if I just leave it idling. It will overheat and bounce off the top of the temp gauge if it is left to idle for a while/in bad traffic. It will be absolutely fine if going 70 on the motorway for prolonged period of time. Still, the temp is very erratic, can't see any real pattern to it. Also, the car WILL NOT BLOW HOT AIR - no matter what. A/C isn't working, but then either is non-A/C hot air. It always blows cold/ambient temp. Thinking this could be connected, or maybe just the blend door/motor. Its an electronic knob that controls the temp, not a good ol' fashioned manual wheel.

The only thing that is coming up on the VIC is the coolant sensor bad. Might just be a crappy connection? Don't think it is related?

Oh, and finally! The steering will wobble like hell. It needs the tracking done, but i'm thinking this must be the 'death wobble' thing. If you go over a bump when its wobbly, you've got to be on the ball to catch the steering wheel. 

I should add, despite this - I love the car.  Its great fun and feels great to drive... It also has had a good 4'' lift, and everything electrical inside works. Okay, that last bit is a lie. A/C doesn't work and heated seats don't either.

Now... who actually read all that?

 Cheers,
 Jamie.

[Nosebolt]

the temp issue sound like lack of flow, check the easy stuff first like the stat, btw that hissing cap is correct, its a pressure release cap to stop it blowing anywhere else in the system if there is a problem

need more info on lift / tyres etc to help with wobble

[JamieS]

Cheers for the help. I noticed a tiny leak of coolant coming from the T-joint that is in the heater line, to direct coolant to the LPG vapouriser. Its just a crappy hose clip. I don't, unfortunately, think that is the end of the problem though. It is so erratic when it comes to starting/running.I was out this morning, and it was fine. Okay, the heat was a bit enthusiastic, but it was OK. I drove to collect my other half from work, and it didn't want to start on petrol. Switched to LPG, which still means it starts on petrol and instantly back to LPG and it was fine. I then ran it along the road, and it started coughing a bit. Floored it, and it was fine. Its kinda driving me a bit insane.

 As far as other stuff is concerned: Its got a 4'' lift; Rancho shock absorbers, and Pro Comp ES2000 steering stabilser. The C.V boot on the nearside is torn too. The gaiter on the stabilser is shot also.

It has the 249J TC, with 272 ratio. There is a shiny, green anodized ring though; so it may have a replaced viscous coupling? The TC looks a lot newer than the underside of the car too, not sure if I could run the serial somewhere and check? It doesn't hop. It makes a slight binding noise, like the parking brake is semi-stuck on, and the PAS makes a racket on full-lock, which all my cars do. It has a Dana 35C, not sure if it is LSD or not. 

I don't have the facilities to do anything on it myself, or the time. Are there any good, reputable 4x4/jeep specialists in Central Scotland? I think most places would just rub their hands together when they see me coming.

Cheers again for the advice!

[Mike Pavelin]

Disable the LPG nonsense so it runs on proper fuel and bypass the cooling system collection to the cooling system and see if it runs properly.

[Dodster]

I dont know much but I have had similar issues with my grand.

I had a leak from the water pump which apparently is common, I left it for a bit but when the water level got too low, the vapouriser froze causing it to cut out on gas but ok on petrol, and the heater blew cold. Changed the pump and all ok.

I also had a problem with starting on petrol and stalling when cold, lpg folks said it could be the lpg ecu on the way out, that was 2 yrs ago, what I do to get around it is just before I switch the engine off afetr a run I turn it back to petrol for 10 to 15 secs so when its switched off it thinks its running on petrol. When i restart on petrol the next morning I run it a bit longer before switching to LPG. I dont know why this works but it does and ive got used to its quirks.

Hope this helps in some way but I must warn you that these GC Jeeps are possessed and they know what you say about them, they will do what they want whether you like it or not and will change their mind the next day..

[willo]

these GC Jeeps are possessed and they know what you say about them, they will do what they want whether you like it or not and will change their mind the next day..

Phill, are you sure you are talking about jeeps here? only it sounds a familiar story....

[Dodster]

these GC Jeeps are possessed and they know what you say about them, they will do what they want whether you like it or not and will change their mind the next day..

Phill, are you sure you are talking about jeeps here? only it sounds a familiar story....

Yeah sorry it also applies to certain members of the human race...

[JamieS]

Cheers for the replies guys. I actually bought the car unknowing to it having LPG! Its not a bad system, I am thinking that it must be leaking into the manifold, or something and giving the petrol a bad time of it too. Not sure. I'm going to go over the car again, but I think I have noted down everything that I need to order up to get this thing running well. I'm still using it everyday, but when I stop at traffic lights or junctions it might stall. Basically:

1) Starts up, no problem
2) Gauge goes up to maximum and triggers 'check gages'
3) Engine, at this point, is misfiring - really rough, it will stall unless the revs are kept up
4) Temp. drops down to 'normal' (half way on gauge) and the engine stabilises. It will be fine for the rest of that journey.

 I dunno... its mental, thing has a mind of its own!

[Sprackerss]

Not me