[Cruze 2012 Lpg]

Hi am actually new to this group. I just bought a cruze 2012 with 105k miles on it. I fitted a multipoint Lpg system on it which was expensive and was an attempt to save some money on fuel. It was running perfectly fine since got it. The previous owner said that he changed the valve cover seal due to an engine code. I drove only about 1k mile and engine light came on. It was a P0172 code. The mechanic told me they are bad oxygen sensor but don't need replacing urgently as i'm on lpg. P.s am still a student who use the cruze to commute to university, so i can't afford unneccesary parts. So i continued driving it for about 500 miles. Then i parked the car in my garage for 2 days. It was about 15 degrees celcious. After the 2 day i started the engine. I was shocked to see white/grey smoke out of the tailpipe. I know normally its because of the cold but i let the engine running on idle for about 15 minutes and the smoke grew bigger. it wasn't too big but as am on Lpg, there was supposed to be no smoke at all. (because the byproduct of lpg is water and not smoke right?) i noticed that my oil was a bit low and it was since i bought it. i topped it up and its still the same. I still haven't driven it yet. I'm bringing it at a garage soon but i want to have a preview of what could be the problem so that the mechanic do not make me do unneccesary repairs. I tested the PCV valve by removing the hose and the pcv valve was rattling and sucking air.

Is it normal for the LPG car to smoke?
is it normal to have vapour out of the dipstick?
is it normal to have brown substances accumulated on the wall of my coolant reservoir?
can the smoke be caused by a bad valve cover seal ?

Thanks to spare some time for me. It really means a lot.

 

[Goat Boy]

Hello mate. My Cruze had been LPG converted and I do still get some smoke out the back. Not sure about water being the only by-product from burning it though (Isn't that hyrogen?) it is a fossil-derived fuel (just dino farts rather that dino piss)
You sure it's not just the cold exaggerating the look of what you're seeing?

Your other questions..
Vapour out of dipstick: Hot oil will give of some vapour/smoke. Not sure how much you're seeing though. Is the head gasket ok? No white cheese in the filler cap or on dipstick?

Brown gunk on water tank: Every car I've had has that but again, is it just the crud in the coolant slowly solidifying on the expansion tank sides or is it oil mixing in with the water system? (Head gasket again)

Valve cover seal: Possibly. Have you changed the LPG filter recently? I read that a blocked one can make your engine run smokey. I changed mine last week as it had been punctured from being poorly positioned over sharp clip on a different pipe which over time + vibration had burst a hole into the canister. Couldn't miss that smell in the cabin! 2 jubilee clips and it was swapped. Not sure if that section of the system stays pressurised normally, (mine certainly wasn't with the hole in the filter) but it wasn't permanently leaking when not running so wasn't directly linked to the tank (in mine at least). Should only be about $10 for a new one so worth doing regardless.

Cheers. GB