Unfortunately my joy of finally having a sound and good running LPG fueled car didn't last long. Under heavy loads I begun to notice choking of the engine. Concerned that any permanent damage might occur to it, I took it to another expert to have a check up. How surprised weren't both of us when after looking under the bonnet and unscrewing the air filter, we didn't see any BRC injectors but ones of different make and quality!

These aren't BRC injectors, these are made by "Hana"! Furthermore, they are the incorrect model for my type of car, I have a 1.4L engine but these are made for cars top of 2L and they have a different resistance rate (1.9Ohms instead of BRC's 2.1 Ohms). The vaporizer isn't BRC either! Nor are any of the other components installed besides the BRC ECU. Now I am not only frustrated by lack of seriousness, but also victim of a fraud!

The BRC representative contacted by the other garage wasn't happy to hear that some companies are supposedly selling BRC sequential systems but installing different makes! In addition to this, a "check engine" fault appeared when joining a motorway on an uphill on ramp, forcing me to drive home 3 miles very carefully, not passing 50mph. The AA serviceman diagnosed the fault as "P1171" meaning something related to exhaust gases, crankshaft sensor or faulty communication with the car's ECU. He recommended not driving on LPG until the problem is sorted but said on petrol I am not risking my engine's health. I will definitely have somebody sort this out ASAP and send the bill to the Autogas experts, unless BRC or somebody else in this chain of events comes up with another solution.

Hello, this is about my experience with the guys from Autogasexperts.co.uk .

The Autogasexperts website

 I want to share with you how my perception of ordering a professional expert service rapidly changed into a depressing feeling that I have in fact been fooled and ripped off. I believe that the guys have the expertise necessary to carry out a proper conversion service, but lack in seriousness and awareness of their responsibilities towards customers. At the end, I drove home yesterday without any perceived further issues to my car and in the face of all economical and environmental benefits I would still recommend converting your motor to LPG - but the conversion specialist that undertakes the service can greatly spoil your experience both short and long term.

I instructed Autogasexperts to convert my car to LPG after comparing different quotes, at the beginning Autogasexperts seemed to be more forthcoming than other experts I have talked to, helpful and to offer the best service possible. In their email reply to my inquiry they offered 24 months unlimited mileage parts & labour warranty, free courtesy car, free collection/delivery service, free european filling adapter set, all labour, fuel lines & consumables inclusive in the conversion price. All of the above plus the pictures on their website of a series of high value cars that have apparently been converted by them (success stories, so to say) made me feel confident enough to place the order.

One of them picked my car up during lunch time, went through a series of options where to place the filler cap and the lpg cockpit switch. He took his time and I had a general positive feeling about the whole process. I was also left with a loaner car, although unfortunately it didn't have an LPG conversion at least it had proper Goodyear winter tyres (yes, I care about that). The car was delivered back to me one evening, two people came to my place with my car, telling me that whilst one person was driving the other one was constantly on the laptop, adjusting the ECU. Besides that motorway journey they took a few days longer, stating that they are adjusting the system under several use scenarios (country roads, city use, etc). I didn't mind, as I had read about the importance of proper ECU setup for the entire experience to work as otherwise the purpose of the exercise would not be met.

Unfortunately just two days later, when I finally had a chance to use my car for longer than 10 minutes (I worked from home that week), I noticed the LPG system constantly switching back to petrol and not staying on LPG for more than a few minutes. Furthermore, for anything top of 40 mph, the car felt slow and old, something I didn't really want to have after 2 happy years of ownership. On a trip from Reading to Sheffield that weekend, I used over 20 Litres of Petrol (!) as whilst travelling at motorway speeds, I preferred to keep looking on the road ahead more often rather than on the LPG switch low down on my dashboard...

These issues were immediately reported to Autogasexperts.co.uk, but unfortunately they weren't even half as helpful as when I ordered the conversion. Whilst they said that its an issue they need to fix, they found all sorts of excuses for not picking up my car and review the installation service that was so obviously faulty. They even said that "we can't give you a loaner car for a service and we don't pick your car up! You have to come here on a weekday and wait." - no matter how much I repeated that this isn't a service, but a correction of their faulty installation. After lots of arguing and basically being ignored for over a week, one evening after filling up LPG all LEDs on the switch started to blink, meaning an overfill of the system that obviously shouldn't happen. I immediately called Autogasexperts and told them if they don't sort it out that week, I will involve trading standards and the Which? magazine.

Got a call the next day, we agreed I would bring the car in that Saturday early morning and get a loaner car, I thought that I will drop my car off in Hitchin and be home around lunchtime; but little did I know the outcome of that day (yesterday)....

When I got to Hitchin, all doors were closed. I called them up and was told "oh did the girl not tell you to come to our main office? Its really close - I will text you the address". Yes, another 50 miles north and another hour drive is really close if you compare that to crossing continents for sure....

I ended up in Corby, Northamptonshire only to be told that the service would only take 30 minutes...

...but that was of course after the company owner had finished whatever he was doing on his own car for over an hour! Then they made very sure I wouldn't listen to whatever they were talking about my car and didn't start work on it until the guy in a rude manner told me to step inside the office! I understand health & safety, but what is the matter if I am visibly outside of the main work area and looking from 20 yards away? From the office I could see them through some windows screwing about in the engine compartment, when he got a box labelled "BRC", took something out and put it inside the car. He told me that it was the combined pressure/temperature sensor that was at fault for sure and that he would drive the car around for a little while to see if its ok. He came back after around 20 minutes, with a full gas tank telling me "all done", after he stamped the service book for the free 1000 mile service, although I didn't have them completed by then!

And then it didn't take me 200 yards for the system to switch to petrol again....I returned and made the person who did the service sit with me in the car, he was visibly annoyed. He took his laptop and we went for a 30 minutes drive. He made some modifications on the laptop, adjusting the system in all sorts of driving conditions. I left him at his office, after he also listened to a call via my handsfree bluetooth with my at the time very angry girlfriend telling me off for spending all that time there (he went kind of pale). I drove home all the 220 miles and 2 hours they have made me drive north inadvertently, without a fault in the system and with full on power delivery.

By that experience, its obvious that the fault was not in any sensor or hardware whatsoever, but in the setup! A 30 minutes drive around was all that was needed to fix the issues, unfortunately not after I had spend another tank full of petrol in a week, having to drive whilst repeatedly looking at the switch low down and out of the natural line of sight, and gone through a hell of phone calls and emails back and forth. No, they did not live up to good service standards, not even the ones they advertise themselves on both their websites and their leaflets. I am very upset and dissapointed by the disrespectful treatment I got and the lack of seriousness and when I get my next car, I will either make sure it already is LPG converted or I will convert it at a different location. I am also seriously considering taking legal steps and contacting trading standards, as much as I will bill them time lost and mileage driven. Furthermore, I will also have my car checked out at another garage just to make sure my car is all right and of course, if anything is wrong due to the service Autogasexperts did on my car, I will not hesitate to send them the bill (after all I have 2 years unlimited mileage warranty....).