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| K9F Member Since: 12 Nov 2009 Location: Bournemouth Posts: 9610   
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Had the same on my Discovery.....pressure release valve. Not sure what setup you have but I had like a header tank with indication and four other tanks feeding into it. The indication would not move for ages and on gas the last 80 miles would go from full to empty. On filling it was this header tank that fuelled first and then fed the remaining four and had the pressure release valve in. On a large fill the system could partially freeze and filling would be a slow process and the valve would periodically operate as the system became full. No real point going further beyond the clicking stage as it will be venting off. Hope this helps.
 If you go through life with your head in the sand....all people will see is an ar5e!!
Treat every day as if it is your last....one day you will be right!! |
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13th Mar 2015 8:05pm |
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| Culminator Member Since: 30 Apr 2013 Location: West sussex Posts: 305 |
Thanks for that. So is the clicking a sign that the tanks are pretty full?
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13th Mar 2015 8:36pm |
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| K9F Member Since: 12 Nov 2009 Location: Bournemouth Posts: 9610
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Yes in my experience. The fuller they get the more frequent the click. I used to stop after three or four clicks. Not sure how old your installation is but mine was a single point injection system fitted to a 97 model. The solenoid when switching over from fuel to gas was rpm initiated and made quite a distinct sound when switching over. If you go through life with your head in the sand....all people will see is an ar5e!! Treat every day as if it is your last....one day you will be right!! |
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13th Mar 2015 10:29pm |
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| Toby60 Member Since: 06 Dec 2014 Location: Cheshire Posts: 28 
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I'm not sure of your set up but most automotive LPG conversions have just one tank fitted. However on larger vehicles with space restrictions then multi tanks can be fitted which are manifolded together. We operate a number of 44 tonne tractor units on LPG/Diesel and they are fitted with multi tanks for this reason.
Whichever it is, the same principle applies, which is that all LPG tanks are only ever filled to 87% full. This is to allow for expansion of the liquid as the ambient temperature increases. If the tank is filled to 100% and the temperature rises then the pressure relief valve will operate to release the excess LPG to protect the tank. Under normal operating conditions the pressure relief valve should not lift (you will certainly know if it does as they are set at around 17 bar). So onto the clicking sound you heard at the latter stages of filling. This is probably coming from the auto stop device that is fitted within your tank. This device is designed to stop the tank from being filled to over 87%, is overfilled. As the tank nears the maximum fill the device fluctuates prior to activating (which is the noise that you are hearing). Once it activates then the filling pump goes onto bypass and the meter will immediately stop dispensing. If you then check the tank contents gauge it should read around the 87% mark. The LPG tank installation in vehicles are very reliable and pretty much fail safe but if you are unsure then it is advisable to get it checked out. ------------------------------------------------ 2002 TD5 90 HT County |
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13th Mar 2015 10:46pm |
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| K9F Member Since: 12 Nov 2009 Location: Bournemouth Posts: 9610
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I only had LED indicators (not a percentage) fed from a sensor in the lead manifold tank, the three remaining tanks had no sensing, hence once filled the system would in total take 120 litres and indicate full until the last remaining 80 miles when that lead manifold tank itself emptied. A very early primitive system but reliable and affordable at only about 50-55 pence a litre at the time.
If you go through life with your head in the sand....all people will see is an ar5e!!
Treat every day as if it is your last....one day you will be right!! |
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13th Mar 2015 11:16pm |
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| Culminator Member Since: 30 Apr 2013 Location: West sussex Posts: 305 |
Many thanks, really helpful. Mine is an OMVL Millenium system with twin underslung tanks. The clicks are quite pronounced and are close together. On a positive note, if the indicate the system is nearly full, I've achieved a higher mpg than I thought.😀
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13th Mar 2015 11:40pm |
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| Toby60 Member Since: 06 Dec 2014 Location: Cheshire Posts: 28
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Hi K9F
The usual setup is that the lead from the LED indicators fits onto the tank gauge. This tank gauge usually has the % figures around the outside of the plastic display which is difficult to read sometimes due to the lead connecting on top of it. The older tank installations had a Fixed Liquid Level gauge which was basically a bleed screw that was opened during filling, then when the liquid level reached 87% it would emit liquid LPG (a white vapour). The problem with these manual level valves were that tanks could be overfilled which is why they moved to the auto stop devices. Your tank installation is unusual and one that I have never seen before. I am sure each tank would have been fitted with the auto stop device. Another reason for this is that manifolded LPG tanks never fill equally. What vehicle was yours fitted to? PS your phrase about the head in the sand always makes me smile.  How true this is. ------------------------------------------------
2002 TD5 90 HT County |
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13th Mar 2015 11:43pm |
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| K9F Member Since: 12 Nov 2009 Location: Bournemouth Posts: 9610
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It was fitted to a 97 3.9 Discovery. I had more tanks than an amateur scuba diving club, there were two tanks one under each inner sill. The rear 'crossfed' two normal fuel tanks the left one was removed and the right hand one with the fuel pump and sender in was 'chopped' to make room and a further two LPG tanks fitted to the space left vacant by the removal of the left hand normal fuel tank. As stated I could get 120 litres of LPG but only 24 litres of normal fuel in. The downside of running on normal fuel was you could actually see the needle moving towards empty when driving it. Whilst there were a lot of rumours at the time that single point systems were no good as they had a tendancy of cutting out either going up hill or down I never experienced any problems and quite liked the simplicity of the system once you got used to the quirks (like the clicking).
I always got it checked over once a year by a company called Blazegas on the old Hullavington Airfield as I was based not far from there. It was cheap, affordable motoring that effectively doubled the economy on my wallet whilst driving a lovely V8 that I wouldn't have been able to justify or possibly afford to run on normal fuel. If you go through life with your head in the sand....all people will see is an ar5e!!
Treat every day as if it is your last....one day you will be right!! |
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14th Mar 2015 9:15am |
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