When I got the Coupé back from Essex LPG, there was very little petrol left in the tank. It uses petrol to start the engine and pressurise the LPG fuel lines, so I put £10-worth in.
I noticed on Wednesday that the fuel gauge was gradually drifting downwards, and by the time I got back from Norfolk it was firmly below the red line. The fuel computer’s estimate of remaining range was also dropping, but only by about a quarter of the actual distance I was covering.
This morning the fuel computer insisted that there was zero range remaining, and the petrol gauge remained firmly stuck to the bottom of the red line, so I added £15-worth. I was surprised to see this moved the needle to the half-tank level...
Talking to Alan this morning, it seems that both the gauge and the computer update themselves by monitoring how much fuel is supplied to the engine, and only reset when more fuel is added to the tank. Unaware that what is being supplied is Autogas rather than unleaded, they then show inaccurate figures.
I’m sure that there is more to this than I’m aware of at the moment, but for now it seems the only way to find out how much petrol I’ve got is to add some more…
Thursday 24 May 2007
Cooking on Gas
Having got the car back on Thursday 3rd, I then left for a fortnight’s holiday with the family in Scotland. The Coupé won’t carry either the child seat or the roofbox, so I had to leave it at home while we took the Astra on the long trek up North.
I’m back to work this week, so off on my new commute in the Coupé. I’ve had it for nearly a month and a half and only driven it a couple of times, so it was good to get behind the wheel.
I’m no Jeremy Clarkson, so I won’t attempt to go too deeply into the handling characteristics, besides which the A14 (straight dual carriageway, lots of speed cameras) isn’t the best place to test the performance envelope. There are two things I missed from the Astra, though:
The first, strangely, is the rear wash-wipe. With condensation in the mornings and dusty rain in the afternoons, rear visibility is not great. The Coupé is eight inches wider and eighteen longer than the Astra, so I’m still getting used to getting in and out of parking spaces. With five cars in the space previously occupied by four outside the house (not all mine, I hasten to add!), I need all the rear visibility I can get.
The second point is the sound system. The factory-fit Peugeot radio is okay, although the reception on FM isn’t great, but I do miss my DAB and MP3 player.
I’m back to work this week, so off on my new commute in the Coupé. I’ve had it for nearly a month and a half and only driven it a couple of times, so it was good to get behind the wheel.
I’m no Jeremy Clarkson, so I won’t attempt to go too deeply into the handling characteristics, besides which the A14 (straight dual carriageway, lots of speed cameras) isn’t the best place to test the performance envelope. There are two things I missed from the Astra, though:
The first, strangely, is the rear wash-wipe. With condensation in the mornings and dusty rain in the afternoons, rear visibility is not great. The Coupé is eight inches wider and eighteen longer than the Astra, so I’m still getting used to getting in and out of parking spaces. With five cars in the space previously occupied by four outside the house (not all mine, I hasten to add!), I need all the rear visibility I can get.
The second point is the sound system. The factory-fit Peugeot radio is okay, although the reception on FM isn’t great, but I do miss my DAB and MP3 player.
Converted...
I’d booked the Coupé in with Essex LPG for conversion on April 23rd. Alan was slightly cheaper than the Greenfuel quote I’d had, at £1650, but it was going to be a four-hour journey to drive the car down to him and then get a train back home. When I mentioned this to him he immediately offered to collect it from me and take it back to Essex on a trailer. Everyone’s a winner.
He’d estimated that the conversion would take about a week, but due to a problem getting a part from a supplier in Wales, I didn’t get the car back until the following Thursday. He did deliver it to me, saving me another four hour journey, which was good.
The conversion looks like a neat job; an 80 litre (nominal) tank fits nicely under the parcel shelf, but still gives me good access to the spare wheel. The filler valve has been neatly fitted onto the rear wing, close to the petrol cap, and the switch is tucked away under the radio.
He’d estimated that the conversion would take about a week, but due to a problem getting a part from a supplier in Wales, I didn’t get the car back until the following Thursday. He did deliver it to me, saving me another four hour journey, which was good.
The conversion looks like a neat job; an 80 litre (nominal) tank fits nicely under the parcel shelf, but still gives me good access to the spare wheel. The filler valve has been neatly fitted onto the rear wing, close to the petrol cap, and the switch is tucked away under the radio.
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