MilkoLippe

I have a problem that i cant really seem to find. Yesterday I drove My car after picking up my brother. Just around the corner the cars engine suddenly died and stopped. No weird noises or whatever. It happened to me before when the car changed to LPG setting after beeing warmed up. In that case I was always able to start again after putting it in park. This time it just wont run again. A few things stand out: it started quick and happy just 1 minute before it died. I drove 350 meters and it died. Since then starting also feels kind of slow. The starter turns over the engine but it simply turns it over slow. Almost like its having a hard time to get round.. An other thing is the battery voltage drops to 10Volts when starting.. Even when I connect an other car with jump leads and running engine to my battery the voltage drop is quite noticeable and drops to around 10 volts. What can cause the engine to turn round more heavily all of a sudden? i didnt hear any rattling noises or mechanical knocking sounds when starting or driving. Can a battery suddenly get so bad that the engine would die from it? Even though when its not running i measure around 12.2 volts. (i started quite alot) I smell gasoline in the intake manifold. I think injectors are working fine. The starter engine is quite new. I replaced it 3 years ago. It always started fast and since the engine died while running i doubt it has anything to do with the problem. Distribution belt should still have 20.000 Km to go before recommended change. I checked all fuses and relais. Fuel pump relais is functional when manually connected to a battery. it opens up when coil is powered. However when starting I measure 10 volts on the relais coil when I pull out the relais. The relais housing broke and when I look inside the fuel pump relais it is not switching. Also with the fuel relais installed the relais does not break contact when starting. i see no movement on the contact. I think that is weird since I measure a 10V on moment of cranking when the relais is pulled out.. It should open up the relais. The relais coil is still 70 ohm so quite normal. Meaning that the fuel pump relais is not being opened by the measured 10 Volt. I see when the relais is installed I do not measure the 10V at all. The relais coil drains all the power from the supply. I thought these details are quite strange. Ca it be a matter of leaking caps in the ECU? or an other problem maybe? What should I check next?

YODAONE

From the land of inches, Miles and elections that won't die...

Can you tell us what is "LPG"?

Kilometers on your odometer?

Two quick comments on possibilities..

Crank position sensor or fuel pump has taken a dump.

Perhaps your ECT sensor is past it's prime.

130,000 - 150,000 miles is the range the fuel pumps expire.

You could have bad negative grounds or an alternator ready to expire.

Battery is how old?

ECU's on the 99 LS400 are very stout, so the capacitors are probably not what ails you.

Check all fuses and fusible links

Yamae

Don't worry about the battery voltage 10V because the starter motor needs 250A or more to run. Think logically that a 10mΩ internal resistance causes a 2.5V voltage drop. Your 12.5V battery drops down to 10.0V due to the battery's internal resistance. It is almost normal, I'd say.

Regarding the fuel pump relay, I think it is inhibited to work by the circuit opening relay. There are 4 major factors that the circuit opening relay to work and stops the DC supply to the fuel pump relay. You can find about it more viewing here.

MilkoLippe

LPG is a Bi-Fuel system. The can can run on Liquid petrol gas and normal gasoline.

I drove 425.000 km. The battery is around 4 years old. But since I used jump leads from a car standing next to it with running engine i am surprized that it still sounds like a slow starter.

Cheers and thanx for thinking along.

spuds

At 4 years old a new battery is a good idea in any event.

MilkoLippe

I tried a new battery.. no change.. still starts like its slow.. maybe the air valve doesnt open and the vacuum is heavy for the starter? When starting. Should the butterfly valve be open?

YODAONE

Can you post images of your LPG system?

MilkoLippe

There is not much to see. Its a LPG ECU from Landi Sequential Injection, also a landi renzo vaporizer and 8 seperate gass valves connected electrically to the inlet ports.

ELexis

Perhaps timing belt issue?

MilkoLippe

Yes it is.. I schould have an other 20 K on this belt but out of missery checked the belt. its snapped.. Is the VVTI version of the 1UZ-FE interference? I know the old version is..

spuds

Bad news,1999 is interference.How old was the belt,you are the first broken belt Ive read of here.

MilkoLippe

I changed the belt when I bought the car. I bought a set through ebay. New rollers, waterpump and belt.(gates) the official interval is 90.000 miles. Wich is about 150.000 km. I did it at 301.000 km. Now it ran 427.000 km. So actually still have about 20.000 km to go.. aparently gates belts suck or there is an other problem that I am not aware of.. its weird. I have never ever seen a belt so cracky.. i was totally amazed. I have done many belts but this is just crazy bad quality.

Never seen a belt crack this fast.. rediculous. Ordered it in a set on ebay from the usa. Didnt expect it to last this short.

bradland

Sadly, there's a ton of counterfeit product floating around on eBay. Not just in the automotive parts world but almost everywhere...

spuds

Yeah,this is one of the repairs where OE parts from dealer really matter,apparently dealer belt is different quality even from the other OEM belt thats non dealer.So sorry to hear your issue.How many years on it?

MilkoLippe

Its a 1999 car. I drove it about 6 years.

Maybe good to make a warning post for aftermarket quality?? This was a gates belt.. sad..will miss the car.