How to Increase CNG Car Pickup
Most people take it for granted that when you covert your car to CNG the pick up of the vehicle would always be much lower than that on Petrol…this is merely a misconception and an unfound myth. We would like to clear out that the pick up of cars running on CNG can be as good as that on Petrol provided you use correct equipment in the kit with high quality, like constant pressure reducers, good quality ECU and software as well as fast response time CNG injectors. Lately, the market is flooded with low quality CNG kit equipment from China including the reducers, ecu’s and gas injectors which are copies of popular brands like Tomasetto, BRC, AEB, Valtek or Rail and thus compromise heavily on performance and using such spurious products and kits its not possible to increase CNG car pickup.
It is equally important to have installation done correctly by an expert. Simple things like placement of manifold nozzles, CNG hose size length , CNG injector nozzle size etc can make a big difference in performance of the car on CNG.
One should ensure that while calibrating the car, the installer takes interest to match the petrol fuel trims and CNG fuel trims using an OBD2 scanner or has his CNG software showing these fuel trims which enables him to tune the car properly. This would also require some experience from the tuner as he needs to drive and see whether the entire MAP is covered in this way. This ensures that there are no MIL lamps on the car while running due to Rich or lean fuel trims. Please also remember that both leaner fuel as well as richer fuel on CNG than the one desired/set by the car manufacturer on Petrol is harmful and can damage your engine, catalyst and other systems –besides this condition would always make your car sluggish on CNG . Thus the installer should ensure that he is always as close as possible to stoichiometric ratio on CNG. Once this is followed, it would automatically ensure good CNG kit pickup.
CNG fuel burns slower compared to petrol and thus the power delivery from the engine maybe slower. In some cars – specially older or un-maintained cars, it may be necessary to improve the spark of the car by way of changing to a good quality spark plugs like BRISK Silver which increase the quantum of the spark and also by using a Timing Advancer (TAP) which increases the spark duration to the engine by few seconds while engine is running on CNG to make the Gas Fuel / Air mixture ignite fully in one cycle , thus produce optimum power and greater mileage.
There are two types of Timing avancers available, static and dynamic, which can be used depending upon the requirement. The static advancers always advance the timing of the car while running on CNG by certain degree across all engine RPM or load, whereas in Dynamic or Variable advance, you can set different degrees advance at different load conditions (eg at out of idle, high RPM’s, cut off etc ) to ensure a balanced and linear performance necessary for the engine.
EG Dyamic is one such Dynamic Timing Advance processors which is programmable and can set up different timing advance degrees at different engine loads based upon the car’s RPM, Throttle position and Manifold Absolute Pressure (MAP) to get unmatched performance on CNG. While in static advancers one can only set one type of degree advance via a combination of micro switch, in EG Dynamic, one can see all parameters of the car in the software and can graphically see the load map of the vechicle and pin point the desired degree advance at the desired level for maximum efficiency and performance.
This system also enables one system to use in different cars having both Inductive or Digital type of Crankshaft Position Sensor or Camshaft Position sensors and has the ability to scan the car’s sensor signal wave for proper set up and functioning on the car while it runs on CNG – hence a boon for all cars converted to CNG. It also negates a chances of Check Engine light (MIL) owing to the Timing advance using this system.
One can also advance the vehicle on CNG using an injection order advance a unique feature available in our CNG ECU’s where it’s not possible to advance timing of vehicle using a CKP or CMP sensor of the car. This feature also vastly improves the drivability of the car and increase CNG car pickup. An increase in fuel efficiency would also be noted using this feature.
We hope the above mentioned points would help you achieve the best performance and efficiency from your CNG vehicle. Visitors may please feel free to contact us for any technical clarification regarding your already converted vehicle to CNG at support@evoautogas.com
I have fitted Lovato CNG sequential kit and facing pick up issue, specially when at inclined up road. Many times have tuned and checked by expert but still there is same issue.
Hi,
Pls let us know your car type and how many KM has it clocked ? If you are in Delhi NCR you can visit us with an appointment at 9313 418 433
Thanks,
Team EVO CNG
Hi you can also think of installing EG Dynamic TAP which is programmable device and you can set different timing advancements for different speeds for better pick up while car is running on CNG. Also you can consider installing Silver Spark Plugs which would improve pick up and performance.
Hope this helps
I have etios 2012 there is a big issue in RPM after cng installed (lovato), my car shakes badly when it idle. It also stops while driving slow, i visited the cng dealer who installed cng on my car, after scanning a code was there in software “nozzle is big in size”, after asking about this code, the dealer said he doesn’t no anything about this kind of code, he suggested to change sparkplug, i did so and facing same kind of problem , i am frustrated about this engine shake/vibration in my car……..
Hello Deepak,
As per your write up we presume that your car has no idlling issue on Petrol.
The code / error you are referring to clearly states that the gas injector nozzles are larger than required, means your car is running too rich, you need to reduce the nozzle sizes with a small one for the gas injector and re-calibrate the car. Ideally, one should tune the system with an OBD scanner where in you can match the fuel trims on Petrol and CNG for a good performance and maximising engine life. In our EG Avance system, this feature is built in and the ECU is self learning.
You can also try to reducer gas pressure from the CNG reducer to overcome the rich fuel/air mix issue in your car. When you install CNG kits, please ensure that your installer is experienced and can give you good calibration of the car and its simply not just about installing the components of the kit but a lot goes in after that !
Hope this helps,
EVO CNG Team !
I i10 vtvt 1200 cc car. My car gives jerks and low pickup on sequential kit. Cng mechanic says I should instal Advancer in it but going by what you have written above adcancer will not work vtvt cars. What is the solution?
Dear Mr. Sourav,
Ref. to your querry, Please share whats the car’s year of manufacturing of your car. On cars with Variable Timing, the advancer would not work and give check engine light ON (MIL) as it is difficult to read the moment of timing from Petrol sensors in these cars.
The best you can do is to use an CNG ecu with advanement by injection order feature and install a BRISK Silver Spark Plug for improved performance. Also ensure that your the CNG mapping is done with keeping fuel trims while running on CNG similar to that on Petrol for a better pick up.
Do feel free to contact us on sales@evoautogas.com for any CNG related info.
Thanks,
Evo Autogas Team
I got Lovato sequential kit installed on My 2007 Chevrolet Ave and its been a nightmare since then.
My car is jerking while slowing down from High speed and then it will give jerks and make tik tik sound from right side of car.
Changed spark plugs, plug coil, plug cables.. still the problem is not resolved.
The car is absolutely fine in Petrol. can some one help me resolve the issue.
Hello Mr. Sachin,
If ur in Delhi NCR ur welcome to visit us for resolution of your problem. Difficult to understand the problem without seeing the car specially the noise you’ve mentioned which could be simply something loose or a vibration of CNG components.
Pls get the car’s throttle body and idle actuator cleaned properly by a professional. You can check for Carburetion on Gas using an OBD scanner for a guideline of fuel trims on Petrol and Gas to diagnose if the car is too rich or too lean on Gas which may also cause jerks.( in our system this OBD feature is built inside the CNG software so it’s very easy for the installer unlike Lovato or some brands) 🙂
Please also cross check if you are using correct heat range spark plugs…let us know the spark plug code ur using in the car for verification as per the car…You can also try BRISK Silver spark plugs for getting rid of jerks.
If the car has clocked lot of miles, checking the valve clearances can also be worthwhile,
Hope this helps
R u guys in Mumbai
sorry we’re in Gurgaon 🙂
Hi Arun can you please drop your gurgaon address here in chat so that I can come for my i20 manga car recently I have fitted motozen cng kit in my car but I am facing pickup issue in my car mostly in 2nd gear so please advice me what i need to do to increase the pickup or efficiency of my car please advice
Hi, we guess you have already given a call to us in this regard ? – so you are welcome to visit us taking service appointment. You can try using BRISK Silver spark plugs and get more efficient calibration to ensure stoichometric air / gas ratio going to the engine for improving pick up and performance on this car.