Cold-start hard cranking — LPG and valve clearance

Tags: #cold-start · #misfire · #egr · #fuel-pump

Symptom: on a car with ~200,000 km on the original engine and an LPG/gas conversion installed, the engine does not always start on the first attempt in sub-zero weather, and occasionally misfires on cold start with the check-engine light and fault code 2177 (gas-system-related)¹²³. Runs fine once warmed up; no issue in warm weather⁴⁵.

Diagnostic thread: - Valve clearance (leading suspicion). Cold temperatures can tighten valve clearances; the owner had never had the valves adjusted⁶⁷⁸. One other member reported an identical symptom that was resolved by valve adjustment — valves were "zazhaty" (pinched/too tight)⁹. - Gas conversion interaction. The engine has no hydraulic valve-lash compensators, and running LPG without periodic valve adjustment is reported to burn valves by ~100,000 km in other cases; the community recommends checking/adjusting valve clearance roughly every 50,000 km on gas-equipped cars as a precaution¹⁰⁹. - Gas system itself. The owner initially suspected the gas reducer (thought it might be leaking) and paid for inspection, but it tested fine — the problem persisted after that spend¹¹¹². - Alternative candidate: intake manifold air leak. A separate member suggested checking the intake manifold gasket for a micro-leak (vacuum/false air ingress) as another possible cause not yet ruled out at time of report¹³. - Also suggested: reading stored OBD fault codes/sensor data more broadly rather than assuming a single cause¹⁴.

No single root cause was confirmed by the end of the thread; valve clearance adjustment (with attention to the LPG interaction) is the most-supported next step, with intake manifold sealing as a secondary check.

Hard start after a night: fuel pump check valve. On a restyled X80 with push-button start the engine cranks three or four times before starting in the morning, yet starts at once after a drive¹⁵. Victor's explanation is that the check valve in the fuel-pump housing holds the line pressure; when it leaks, pressure bleeds off overnight and cranking pumps the system up again (he says he has not opened the pump himself)¹⁶. Arсhi 77 replaced the whole pump, though not because of the valve, and says the pump is replaceable if the valve is the only problem¹⁷.

Related pages

• Cold start and fuel pressure troubleshooting
• Cold-start whistling from the transmission side
• Fuel smell in cabin after cold start (canister)
• Manual transmission — cold start and clutch
• Cooling fan at cold start with A/C on

Sources

This page is compiled from 17 community messages. Every fact carries a numbered reference to its original author and message.

Last updated: 2026-10-29