Burnt Out Valves ? LPG Converted 2010 Astra 1. 6 litre petrol engine.

2010 vauxhall astra 1.6 litre engine with 88k miles on the clock, the exhaust valves are burnt out.

[@spencerhulme1203]

Not enough credit is given to mechanics such as Alan, attention to detail and a person who cares about his work, where i live in Wales the locals Garages most of them are DIY or do not want to clean and inspect rather just change parts. Thank you for sharing Alan and keep up with the good work.

[@alan4x]

thanks spencer, appreciate it

[@sheffielduk3428]

Yup here in Sheffield it's hard to even get a mechanic to book me in for a timing belt on a 2.0tdci mondeo 2013 because they only want discs and pads jobs haha

[@pj2123]

Did my sons 2008 1.6 focus engine a few years ago also due to bad compression (valves) it had done around 120000 miles mostly on LPG and I was amazed how little wear there was in the bores. It does have a dosing tank fitted with the LPG system that helps to add lubrication to the mix. The car is still going strong.

[@sammyd7857]

Lpg is much better than petrol. There are Ford rtv utes doing over 400k. Also the lpg taxis did these sort of k's too

[@StopTeoriomSpiskowym]

I can go away lublialcation i make a TAP igniton timing system

[@Djwatzy]

It almost looked like you knew what you were doing Alan! Nice work mate 👍

[@alanblack9540]

Great video as always Alan. There was more compression in my watch than that thing when it came in to you first!!!

[@damienogorman9110]

Great video Alan, that got very dusty memories dragged out from the depths! Good for the younger guys & gals to see how it was done 'in our day'! 😂🤣😂 regards from Galway, Ireland 😉👍🍻💚

[@MrToranaGuy]

If it was run too lean on the LPG ( gas ) it will have contributed greatly to burning the exhaust valves out. We used to see that problem down here in Australia on older mixer ring setups that were usually too small for the engines they were fit to. Engines run lean and burnt the exhaust valves. Instead of fitting a decent LPG system and tuning it correctly and not buggering up the engine! On a modern injected lpg setup, unless someone has input the wrong settings, it shouldn't have run lean unless it has had a failure like a filter block up, a lock off valve jam part way closed or even maybe the gas service line between the tank and the regulator may have been damaged and kinked to reduce the flow. Finding out the failure of the LPG system might help you understand why the valves burnt out. I reckon it starting running badly on LPG and the fault was mis diagnosed as a problem with the LPG hardware, and it was just disabled and it ran good enough on petrol that the owner didn't notice the problem with the engine until it was way too late.

[@benevans3733]

Hi Alan congratulations on reaching 32,000 subscribers and you will soon be at 32,500 subscribers and well done for all your continued hard work as always

[@dave-huston-dublin]

Great video Alan, I use to do gas conversions in the 80s, people got it done so the could claim vat on LPG, but couldnt on petrol. Looking forward to the next one.👍

[@Mark-26]

I enjoyed that Alan, nice to see some engine work being done 🤙

[@mickthompson584]

First time on this channel really enjoyed it thanks feller.

[@alancutler2686]

Another great video Alan. Very interesting and informative. Keep em coming mate

[@stephenshippam9374]

Hi Alan, brilliant video, really interesting and enjoyable, look forward to your next one .

[@tamfairley4391]

Brilliant informative video Alan mindedly of grinding in valves on my 1965 mini cooper !!!!!

[@usuallyfixingtinkering]

brilliant video alan. Valve grinding is such a thing of the past with modern cars been made to a greater tolerance but its great to see how the process is done!

[@nickmackenzie703]

Nice job Alan on the Astra engine repair.

[@paulclifford4469]

Brilliant Alan. I love those indepth videos

[@iankelly6663]

A friend of mine had a Ford focus titanium with lpg conversion and exact same thing happened to is valves he ended up scrapping it great content Alan 👍

[@kristofkolosnagy9152]

Did it run on a lean mixture? Also valve clearances must be checked and if needed adjusted every 40 000 kms

[@chasmcl42]

Brilliant video Alan, i used to grind them in using a power drill on the stems (i know its not good) to be honest i dont think i have the enthusiasm now to take a head off, ill leave it to the experts.👍👍

[@malcelwell7209]

Great video Alan, keep them coming love them 🙏

[@andries514]

Beautiful work with the right results 👍

[@SJR275]

I'd say the video is going to be helpful, I normally do work on my own motorcycle and the info about grinding the heads out on the valves as well as getting the collars back in and in will certainly turn out to be useful

[@martinmuldoon603]

your a get mechanic, you made quite a major look easy, a true professional

[@richaddulieu1967]

I have a jag 4.2 v8 on lpg 4years ago a must with today's fuel ⛽ price runs great but will be keeping a very close eye on it after this, great content anyway 😀 👍🏻 😄

[@finnhogan7889]

Great video Alan 📹 hope your keeping well 👍

[@simondomski6169]

Wow, I really enjoyed that video Memories Grinding valves in I’ve still got my valve compressor OHV and OHC Ford engines Never seen or used them for decades lol When you were showing the grinding paste I was thinking I used a drop of 3 in 1 oil as.lube then you said WD40 Proper old school video

[@philipnewton7942]

Allen Great video mate burnt valves memories when I bought a bike for ride on the fields when I was age 15 a Honda 50 four stroke I bought fir £15 it would not start it just stopped the guy said he used it to go work on a bus driver anyway stripped it down a bent valve petrol poured through it fitted new valve took some starting up pushing it down the drive but it was fine after that hat was in 1976 not heard of any valves stories until this one you are the best mate Phil in stoke

[@MeFixingEverything]

Such a pleasure to watch your videos. Great help as well.

[@alan4x]

So nice of you👍cheers

[@steven907]

Brilliant video Alan as usual

[@Mr78Maximus]

Hi Alan😎 yes it's because when was gas installed they didn't change ignition . My father got same problem years ago with Ford Granada 2.8. You doing very good and positive videos Take care mate👍😎.

[@marinusapeldoorn6631]

It's running so well now, I bet it can do 50 mph in first gear now 😜😜 thanks for the video!!!

[@benevans3733]

Another brilliant video again as always

[@allandavies9488]

I have ground in many valves over the years using the 'valve grinding tool' like you used. I got blisters too! This was the easy bit though, the very dirty bit was de coking the head with a drill and wire brush attachments. A filthy job. I used to use a dab or two of paraffin on the grinding paste to ease things, then to check if all sealed when the valves were replaced, I'd put paraffin in the combustion chambers and check if any leaked past the valves. My valve compressor has to be held under compression bu one hand whilst putting the Colette's in with the other. A bit of a bit of a struggle usually involving a bit of bad language! You were lucky the valve seats were good.

[@denishoulan1491]

Decoke, thats a thing of the past really. Modern cars run so clean unlike the old days.. Only modern GDI engines coke up and they coke up the inlets really badly. We mostly replace valves these days due to cam belt failures.

[@benevans3733]

Hope you and the family have a good weekend

[@Stop..carry-on]

Top work Alan -old school mechanics

[@andymacaulay9596]

Great video,interesting to see burnt out valves 👍

[@josepeixoto3384]

That was a nice video; liked and subscribed Thank the Greenphissers' minds again, they keep us in business; Every time i saw that, the catalytic converter was partially plugged up; If the exhaust is free flowing ,no exaust valves are going to burn; the clearance may shrink a little bit after a while, after a long while, but they will not burn.

[@Roadkill7878]

Alan, brilliant video

[@stiggyness1976]

I've converted many of my cars to lpg for the last 10+ years. I've never had a burnt out valve or anything bad. However, lpg burns alot hotter than petrol, especially if it's a lean mixture, setting up the fuel map is very important. But if the engine and fuel systems haven't been maintained correctly it makes no matter what fuel it's running on.

[@kevinthacker8349]

I’ve fitter lpg, and have been running car on it from 2003. , Never had a Burnt valve Also have friends with lpg car and one is a 1.6 vauxhall Astra 2001and sill runs light a dream.

[@maciekapocaliptic]

That was definetely lean mixture. Incorrectly selected system components lead to forcing controller corrections, which in turn causes lean mixture and costly problems. Most often these are the cheapest injectors (like valtek) and a uncorrectly selected pressure regulator, but injectors are the most common cause of installation problems. Had for 11 years peugeot 406 2.0 with LPG. I bought it after conversion. And from the very beginning I had problems with the stability of the gas map, which resulted in damage to the head gasket. Only the installation of dedicated injectors and the correct regulator limited my service to replacing the filter once a year and that's it.

[@FuelPoverty]

@@maciekapocaliptic I agree with you, I've had a Chevrolet Aveo 1.2 running on gas full time for 120,000 miles now. Around 95,000 I got a misfire and low compression on one cylinder, feared the worst like Alan is showing here. Head off, turned out that just one exhaust valve was stuck open a little due to carbon buildup on the the stem, and very soft valve springs, nothing to do with running on gas at all, just replaced both exhaust valves in that cylinder, and checked/cleaned/reground the rest. My take on it is that there is no need to use coarse paste now, the machining is so much more precise, I have only used fine for 20+ years now. My car has OMVL injectors which are cheap like Valtek ones, and they need a strip down and wash out at least every 15k to stop bad running from sticking caused by heavy ends build up, even though they are set at the correct angle to prevent it. We also have a 3 cylinder 208 that does have Valteks, will be keeping a close eye on that one.

[@elcheapotravel5914]

agreed, problems with burnt valves on LPG are like 90% due to bad setting of the system, too lean generally but too rich also cooks the valves because LPG doesnt have the "cooling" effect of rich mixture in gasoline it will eventually melt your cat converters also

[@lindathefish7736]

Agree, had a pug 107 3 cylinder Toyota engine. Converted it at 10k did injectors at 60k because they were cheap clattery rubbish and gas filter every 10k. Sold it at 80k 4 years old its still on the road and was a 2008! But who bought it wanted it for delivering takeaways! I’ve only seen burnt valves on the old single point mixer systems with or without crappy stepper motors.

[@danielkareu1315]

Thank you for this information. Saved me from doing an LPG conversion.

[@alan4x]

lmao, i too would stear away from lpg

[@patkelly7999]

Great job Alan👌👍🙂

[@Finglesham]

That takes me back to the 1970s and my Mini Van. That was bad inlet valves. You got away easy. I used to mark the surface with a pencil so that when I had removed the pencil it was OK. Now cars are so well made. My 2005 Mondeo Duratec 2L is so quiet you wouldn't know it was running..That job must have cost more than the car was worth.

[@CORRIGEEN71]

I can’t imagine how much all that work cost has to be 1knplus great to watch a top mechanic. At work

[@alan4x]

😊

[@stephenegginton7590]

Great vid not done a head of job for a few years keeps your hand in 👍

[@paulfianatravels]

New subscriber Alan,, learning loads brilliant stuff

[@gaspuu]

Once again really nice vid!

[@mickpurcell272]

Fantastic job well done 👍👍👍

[@andrzejt1984]

Thanks for the insight. Nice one!

[@markhart3432]

Great video Alan, a ford (well peugeot) engine with a self bleeding cooling system, and a gm brand engine with a manual bleed... guarantee my sh*t fingers would end up with an air lock even with the bleed screw open

[@andrewjames7616]

Thankyou allen 👍

[@lindathefish7736]

Those 1.6 engines are gutsy as hell. The tech was old in 2010. This Astra is heavier than it’s predecessor and they to terrible mpg around town. The old mixer lpg systems were bad for causing backfires and burnt valves but the polish multiponts stag etc I used to fit years back were always fine for me as long as you made sure the fuel trim was not excessive after auto set up.

[@brucew4726]

Memories. As a DIY mechanic, I think the last time I ground valves was back in the early 1970's. I have a valve compressor somewhere in the garage, but I haven't seen it for years. Anyway, it wouldn't have worked on those recessed valves on that engine, so I would have had to replace it anyway.

[@i.a565]

Cheers mate this video is educational

[@alan4x]

thanks and a happy new year

[@the_retired_mechanic]

If you want to see cars with burning exhaust valves on a regular basis try working on minis. They are very common due to build up of carbon on the back of the valves holding them slightly open and that allows them to burn out

[@lee-kp2gy]

Nice work mate

[@matthewking5612]

I loved the way Alan crept around the front, before opening the bonnet. Wish the lobes were visible

[@khenalan1022]

"The car doctor😍😍.. im proud of u my love!muahhh 💋💋💋

[@ONEMOBATV]

Nice work on it 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@boredofcarverticaladverts]

Great video very enjoyable

[@davidstokes6079]

Just watched this video. I was involved with taxis, in Sydney Australia, in the 80s - 90s using LPG. Valves burning out only occurred on pre 86/pre unleaded model cars, once that happened, heads were fitted with hardened valve seats. We ran mainly straight LPG conversions but if you had a dual fuel system, you had to use petrol regularly otherwise the carby or fuel injector could clog up and you couldn't run on petrol. I used to cold start on petrol which kept the throttle body clear. Now that we no longer have local car manufacturing LPG is dying as Camry hybrids make up the majority of taxis.

[@caffjohn]

An oiler attached to the LPG system would stop that happening, the engine sounds beautiful after your work, very satisfying.

[@tecnaman9097]

With burnt out valves like that it wouldn't have run on gas at all. If the gas is delivered by a mixer or by dedicated injectors tapped into the inlet manifold on that unit, all you would have heard is an almighty "WTF was that" explosion like a shotgun blast and any rubber bellows connection likely blown to the shizen housen. 30 years experience with LPG in Australia on Fords and Commodore taxis. Anyhu, good job Alan. Hope the cab business is getting back to normal in the old dart.

[@Fritsvrolijk]

Nice Job Pro

[@mikeberry304]

There's been some burning inside there Alan youve earned your crust on that one , hope it wasn't a warranty job , great video 👍👍👍🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

[@dp8685]

Vauxhall dropped selling dual fuel cars for this reason. They even put a warning in service literature to say for every tank of lpg owners must then run a tank of fuel or valve burnout will occur. So many warranty claims. There is a lot of corolla hybrid taxis up north have lpg conversion. The taxi company sells it to drivers as if will save money but they then end up needing a new engine around 80k as damages valves and head gaskets.

[@abderrahimhaddanitankioupr9367]

TAHANKIOU ALIN

[@doaked]

Flexible fuel pipe pushed on the valve stem, other end in a cordless drill. Wee blast one direction, wee blast back, finish with a tiny bit of manual grind. Takes the pain right out of grinding valves.

[@stiggyness1976]

Oh and Alan, to answer your question (Why would you LPG convert a 1.6 litre engine?) The answer is simple, say that Astra does 50 miles on a tenna petrol, on LPG it will do 100 miles or there abouts for the same money!

[@FuelPoverty]

@Non-Stick Pan On a small 3 or 4 cylinder, it takes about 11-12,000 miles of use to pay back. On my car that was 3 months use, still using the car 7 years and 120,000 miles later, on my daughter's car it took a little over a year. A good starting point is to find out if the car is or was sold elsewhere with a manufacturer approved/fitted conversion (Like the Dacia range is now). Some engines are better/more suitable than others. There are some other benefits, e.g. the oil and the engine internals stay very clean, however all the ignition components become more critical, better plugs needed, etc, etc. Noted too that this car is not DVLA registered as Gas Bi-Fuel, which immediately brings the standard of the conversion and maintenance into question.

[@StopTeoriomSpiskowym]

and its possible easy not direct injection

[@clumpfab2740]

I’m literally around the corner from you ( near tc Harrison) and I offer cylinder head skimming services, crack testing, valve lapping in, If you ever need it 😊

[@MattyEngland]

If you're gonna test Alan's crack, I definitely don't want to see that on KZbin thks 😉

[@petargalic4765]

@@MattyEngland 🤣🤣🤣

[@TheDaf95xf]

With what’s going on in Ukrainian 🇺🇦 it’s Fantastic 🤩 watching a Alan fixing video. Half an hour job Monica said lol 😂 No Tesco 🤔 Take care matey cheers Stevie 😀

[@duncanmurrant7364]

Great vid thank you., with the cost of parts & labour must be near what the car is worth...

[@mondodaftasabrush]

In a past job, we had an engine builder / reconditioner come to work for us, he was horrified we still used grinding paste run some engine oil on them and bang them in they will seal for the engine to start and the fire in the holes will sort them out .... we never chewed on after that you would never know Only coolant you need to bleed is the passenger doors take the drain bungs out

[@coopers4491]

Great content great channel 👍👍👍👍👍🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧 will need a DSG change in the summer on my mk4 mondeo 2 ltr sport /SOLD THE MK3/

[@bodge6886]

Nice job 👍

[@Carlostype]

Nice job👍

[@tintanaudio]

Spot on asuall 👌

[@aymenhasan]

Almost the same situation with me. Bought my 2013 Astra in 2014 (13k miles), after 6 months I fitted an LPG system as it was 50p a litre and the car was only getting 31mpg :( Saved myself a lot of money over the years. And at 65k miles, cylinder 3, one of the exhaust valves burnt out. Sorted it, but uncanny how similar the situation is

[@olitonottero7620]

super helpful thank you

[@alan4x]

cheers

[@tiborhadnagy860]

Good job 👌👍

[@paulprescott7913]

Hello Alan my life i have never seen valves that bad. As you and others point out its got be something to do with the lpg conversion as they have run very lean for while to get that bad.

[@normanstephens5391]

Hi Alan. Well what can I say. Memories, memories memories. My memories are that old, my tin of grinding past stood about 2.5 inches tall, had a lid on the top for Course paste and the bottom lid contained the Fine paste. My valve compressor is still in my shed (somewhere) and those Collets, were pesky little rascals as you said to re-seat. Did that engine need replacement valve stem seals or am I too much of a Dinosaur to think that. See you in the next one. 👍👍

[@TheCheesenChips]

What happened to Vauxhall's, they litter autotrader with, '....spares and repair, engine problems.' From no compression to bearing knock and they are less than ten years old and under 100000 miles. Noticed it's petrols and diesels. Very strange I haved noticed this for the last few years, even Peugeot's and Fiat's seem to be more reliable.

[@aleksandrzinkevics1253]

I have an answer for u Alan.😂😀I did lpg for my wifes honda jazz 1.4 years ago and will do on next car as well.Green fuel save planet and family budget😀 300£ was the costs to convert,every time I go fuel station my mood is good.Trouble is lpg is not welcome in uk any more,hundreds of stations stop to sell it.So far 0.649 in Peterborough. Best regards and happy days with hello from Market Deeping.

[@FuelPoverty]

Too true, trouble is that Flogas in Peterborough haven't had it for weeks either so I have to keep going to Morrisons in Spalding which is a 5 mile diversion for me.

[@aleksandrzinkevics1253]

@@FuelPoverty its available on shell in Peterborough

[@wildracoon666]

Lpg conversions are fine if you fit a valve saver kit which cools the exaust valves the brc system is the best had mine done 5 years ago and no problem, And the reason to have it done its 0.70p per lt not £1.50p 😎 ps the guy who did my crv was Carl at Worsley auto gas Salford

[@makantahi3731]

did not have to cool intake valves, because no petrol that lubes and cools

[@steve0680657]

I think you can use a cordless drill attached to the valve stem to grind them faster / more easily

[@WhiteDieselShed]

@14:57 I think this is how they made fire. Come on own up you either remember or your too old to remember. :) Valve grinding brings back memories. I would probably use an electric drill to do that job now.

[@mazdaman1286]

Opel vauxhall went cheap and this is common on even factory cars. Used to look after a small fleet of lpg belongs 1.4 Van's. Never any problems oil still clean. Ngk laser spark plugs never wore out. Some had done over 200,000 miles. Just clutch and brakes really.

[@keithrimmer3]

Hi Al Vauxhall made LPG factory fitted available on the 1.6 engines

[@garyward6673]

They did but I believe the factory fit ones had a different part number for the head assembly, leading me to believe the valves and seats were different. Could be wrong but someone should be able to confirm. I’d be looking to fix the mapping on that and fit a flashlube system to help for future. The trusty old rover k series was unmodified for lpg but you take the head off those for a new gasket every 50k anyway (just kidding). Paid £950 for my conversion on mg tf last year, paid for itself in fuel already - didn’t get affected by the panic buying and with current prices rocketing am rather thankful !

[@johnathanpearson3203]

Vauxhall did do a dual fuel astra. Unfortunately they stopped it when the government backed diesel instead. Due to a white paper published by a university professor who said diesel is clean. When the scandal broke he said the car companies told him they were cleaner! (After giving some money to the university). 🤔 The UK now exports LPG to the EU ☹️ instead of using it. 🤔

[@martin-jj9pe]

I've had 3 partner vans with LPG 1.4 all done the valves

[@bartoszk4812]

LPG is prone to burning out valves and seats but owners don't help by not servicing the LPG system. Keep those videos coming Alan! We thoroughly enjoy them 😊👍

[@StopTeoriomSpiskowym]

the problem with lpg is longer burning. it give hotter exhaust and need faster close of exhaust valves(problems in engines where no hydraulic valves gaps regulation) . i know what i said in Poland we use only lpg

[@moski322]

Got PTSD watching you grind those valves😭 horrible tedious job

[@ast1527]

This is a common problem on opel engines because they're tring to squezee a lot of oxygen in the engine. Cheers Alan

[@lindathefish7736]

If I were to guess I’d say the gas filter is choked, cylinder 4 must have been first off the gas manifold and getting the best of what gas pressure was being provided. The multipoint lpg systems can compensate based on the lambda reading on the exhaust. You set it up on idle usually, take it for a spin with the laptop on it and check the fuel trim. On non turbos they rarely need any manual setup. The problem comes when the in line filter is choked or you take the cheap injectors past 50k. They are both cheap to buy and fitted with hose clips. Sadly people don’t service them and run them to death. The EML light will come on due to lambda being out but ppl just ignore it and burn the valves out. Direct injection killed the lpg industry because the petrol injectors on VAG engines used the fuel to cool them. Converting to gas burnt out those fuel injectors. Ecotecs used old multipoint injection at the manifold so should have been fine. The mpg on those 1.6 ECOs was dreadful though, so I’m guessing Vauxhall was running them richer to avoid similar issues on petrol… the smell from them when cold was like going back to the 90s and manual chokes.

[@pauloshea9978]

Yep, had this exact problem on a 2006 astra 1.4.

[@ferrumignis]

Interesting that it was the same exhaust valve (i.e. left hand looking into combustion chamber) in all three bad cylinders. Seems like that's probably not coincidence.

[@francishagen8508]

Hello Alan. Thanks for your excellent videos. I’m going to be brave and ask you a question. I’ve got a Transit 2011, jumbo, 2,4, 140. It starts like normal when it’s cold, impossible when normal warm. Runs and sounds great when it runs. Normally I’ll have to wait 45 minutes, the bleeding engine starts right up. Do you have any idea? No warning light appears. A fan of you from Norway 🇳🇴

[@jacquespoirier9071]

the exhaust valves have been replaced and lapped in but the basic problem is still there, first, the metallurgy of the valves is not designed to run with LPG, second, the mixture have not been corrected so the problem will reappear soon as the seats surfaces are affected by the condition of the combustion. usually. there is a 1/2 degree to 1 degree angle difference between the valve face and the seat to permit a leak free break in .when installing a new valve on a used seat, this feature is lost and the chances are great that the new valve will leak a bit and open the path to the next burnt valve.

[@clean4sureclean4sure93]

What does your company charge to do a timing chain on a 11 plate 2.2 85bhp mk7 transit front wheel drive. Love your videos keep up the good work.

[@RICHLES01]

Had an ex council one 1.6 2001. Valves burnt out…might be an Astra thing

[@bigsighmusicdroneblogs1843]

Nice video. Id love to shadow you a few day# learn how to do the latest cars timing. Ect. Oh do you do repairs to outsiders lo, iv a transit custom. Meds a few bits lol .

[@bobsurrey6686]

These non turbocharged astras I’ve found to be flat as a fart, they can’t get out of their own way

[@techgamer1597]

"flat as a fart" - ill be using that one somewhen

[@Robertas_Grigas]

Gets fking smoked by a gsi

[@jezol1994]

LPG takes longer to burn hence the burnt out valves. LPG also has a higher octane rating so is more resistant to knock; ideally, the ignition should be advanced so that LPG start burning sooner and is burnt when leaving the combustion chamber and then the valves would not burn out but that means remapping the ECU and no one really does it when converting to LPG.

[@traqnsavov822]

only the lean mixture