REBUILD SERVICE ONLY
We rebuild your Stepper.
Necam Stepper Remanufacture / rebuild Service,
WHAT TO DO: if you require use of your car whilst we rebuild your stepper:
a)
'Necam Blanking Plate'. Purchase this first.
You will require this blanking plate whilst we rebuild your stepper.
eBay will block our accounts if numbers are exchanged before a sale, hence if you require a quick chat on what is required to get your car up and running, an offer of £5 for this item will be accepted if you make it clear a quick call is all you require.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU DO NOT require use of your car whilst we rebuild your stepper:
b)
Best we speak first. Purchase this once we have your stepper and we
confirm your rebuild and testing. Not all steppers are suitable for
repair. Offer £2 on our blanking-plate and we
will contact you with the address to send your stepper for repair. We
turn round steppers in 6-10 days. Please do not bid on this item until
we are all certain this item is what you need. If customers do this, we
promise to cancel the order and refund.
Necam (Necam now known as Koltec)
Six Month Warranty with UK forum feedback - See below.
Volvo Type B Stepper Motor
If your Bifuel randomly cuts out...
It
is highly likely it is the stepper motor. A known issue. Whereas,
initial starting issues (from COLD) or rough running, would indicate
problems with your regulator and/or distributor, starting issues HOT,
after cutting out, would more often be your stepper. HIGHLY UNLIKELY YOU
NEED A WHOLE DISTRIBUTOR. Replacement of stepper, and cleaning is a DIY
task, We detail at the foot of this page, how to change your stepper.
We recondition these and correct the ongoing fault with Necam Stepper
motors. We correct the Triac issue, Necam are well aware of this problem,
however for clear reasons they don't fix it.
We've had owners on their second and third distributor / stepper. This mod
fixes the problems with Volvo BiFuels.
Also as part of this service We offer you our wealth of experience to fault-find your Volvo and prevent recurring issues. Very simple and reliable, the Necam system is maligned simply because few understand them.
These fit CNG & LPG Necam distributors fitted to Volvo S70 V70 S60 S80
with the flat top stepper motor as shown. There are two types of
stepper motor by Necam. Not to be confused. This is the Volvo specific
model. Often called a Type B.
See Red Cross indicated pic. Shown by red cross, is the non-Volvo Type A, you will not receive a Type A. Type B has a flat top.
You are required to release your core when you collect. UK buyers will be required to supply feedback on the forum as well as here on eBay. We have a
reputation for sorting these.
You have six months warranty and support.
Support
Either way, you have our experience in solenoid set-up,
regulator management , what to clean, what to replace and general
fault-finding of your Necam system. 15 mins of our time if you collect, and up
to three phone calls of our time if you need to call me. We will walk you
thru' fixing your Volvo Bifuel. Our knowledge is such that you will be
able to fix your LPG/CNG Volvo.
Outside of Necam, We have a
greater understanding of these systems than any in Europe. Other sellers
are box-shifters, and/or whole-unit-swappers.
Six months warranty. (on sight of feedback on UK forum). You are bidding on one stepper
Changing your stepper motor.
On
post 2000 models, the Necam stepper got moved from a simple to get at
place on the bulkhead on pre 2000 to between the radiator and the block.
One for grazed knuckles this...
On 2001-2005 era S80 S60 V70s,
with the car running on gas disconnect the solenoid cable under the air
box to purge the system of gas. Reconnect before you forget.
Disconnect
battery. The distributor is close to some chunky cables that can supply
lots of amps if you put a spanner in the wrong place!
Clamp the
lower power-steering hose near the pump and disconnect the top hose and
move out of the way. (Don't get oil in the alternator) Unbolt the dip
stick pipe (10mm socket]. You don't have to remove it but it's easier if
you do. Remove the pipes and cables and undo the 2 nuts on the
distributor / engine bracket / rubber mount. Careful here, the rubber
might be perished. If you do shear the rubber mount, Demon Tweeks Part
No. FSEFPA905 - Facet Fuel Pump Mount x 2 will fit). Leaving the bracket
on the distributor might be easiest. Remove; some jiggling required.
Knuckles will be in fine order about now. Now replace those bracket nuts
with wing-nuts. You'll be taking it off again in the future, so make it
easy. And do not smoke!
Make sure the outside of the stepper
motor is clean, if you get dirt into the distributor on removal of the
stepper, the bill is some £400.
Remove 2 x 3mm Allen bolts and
remove stepper motor. Careful here. Two reasons, 1) Shaft of stepper
easily bent. We won't want it back if you bend it. 2) A large spring
washer about the size of a 2p bit, a large compression-spring, and if
you’re unlucky a ball-bearing will fly about. Watch yourself.
Unclip piston from
spring on motor’s piston/plunger-tip (note which way up piston goes -
deeper side away from stepper to accommodate large compression-spring).
Remove clip-spring on old motor plunger-tip and assemble on new motor.
Watch for the O-ring sitting on the neck of the stepper (usually Brown
in colour). Do not F*CK this up! Wrong assembly will see you cry in your
beer. You will fry your control module. So be very careful - put this
lot back in the orientation and the order as you found it. Do not omit the large spring washer.
If you require rebuild,
Be sure to remove all ancillaries from your faulty stepper, parts a, b, c, d or e in picture:
a) Spring
b) Piston
c) Spring washer
d) O-Ring (usually brown)
e) Piston retainer spring (often missed but very pricey when lost)
WE DO NOT WANT MORE THAN THE BASIC STEPPER. We do not require parts a, b, c, d or e in picture. PLEASE
NO SPRINGS, SPRING-CLIPS, O-RINGS OR PISTONS. IF YOU SEND FURTHER PARTS
FROM YOUR CAR, WE WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THESE EXTRA PARTS AND THEIR RETURN.
The
stepper was likely fried because of dirt loading the motor. The
distributor probably needs the slots cleaning, these are not easily seen
but are down the distributor barrel. Pour some Wynns/Comma
injector-cleaner (Wynns because it’s the same stuff and cheaper than
STP) into the distributor. Fill to 5-10mm from top. Put a large coin,
(2p piece is good) over the opening and let it soak 3-4 hours. 2p is
there to stop dirt and injector-cleaner evaporating.
On P1 pre
2000 cars getting the motor off is quicker, this makes it easy enough to
start the car running petrol and when it flips to LPG/CNG and floods,
let it stall on the injection cleaner. Reattempt starting and the
injector cleaner will clear. The engine may stall 2-3 times before the
stepper recalibrates and datums to the ECU Control module. Perhaps 500
yds / 500 metres into your first drive. Drive 20-30 miles to let cleaner
clear and pull the stepper off again and lubricate piston with GT85
PTFE. Do not use WD40 or any other lubricant containing silicon. You
risk contamination of your Lambda O2 sensors.
Because firing the
car up on P2 models is not so simple at this point We suggest a Turkey
baster to syphon out the excess Injector cleaner. Then GT85 PTFE spray
the piston, making sure the injector cleaner does no dilute the PTFE. If
you're that keen, do this in 20-30 miles as you would a P1.
Make sure pistons etc is spotlessly clean before reassembly. Don't bend the motor sliding the piston in. Expensive if you do.
Put it back together and check for leaks.
TWO WARNINGS
1)
LPG is dirty, dirty stuff which produces heavy-ends to clog your
distributor and thus fry your stepper motor. Applies to CNG to a lesser
extent.
Getting to the stepper motor and soaking with a 2p cap is
best, but pouring injector cleaner down the low-pressure pipe from the
regulator is fair substitute. it will certainly make for better running
and keep the stepper from overloading, hence frying.
Fire
injector cleaner in there and let it soak every 6-10,000 miles. We do
ours at 5,000 (earlier vehicles are easy to do]. Fail to do this, and if
the erratic supply (or last year nil supply) and high prices are
anything to go by, next time you won't be able to source your
replacement stepper, let alone, easily or cheaply. Volvo stopped selling
cars with this stepper motor eleven years ago, and didn't sell vast
numbers then. How long can it be before this part is declared obsolete
at any price? At present Volvo hold NOS (New OLD Stock).
2) Some
are not fitted with a filter between the regulator and the distributor.
These are £4.00 (£90.00 from Volvo). Fit one. Check this, if I recall
-16mm. Use proper CNG/LPG hose. Do not use radiator hose.
There
is a design flaw within the stepper that means that they will often go
wayward. This we fix for you, better than new. Follow our advice and we
can assure you, Volvo Bifuels are very decent vehicles, which with clean
fluids, will do mad mileages. Thye'll not crumble away before your very
eyes, unlike a Merc (and some Beemers) of the same vintage.
There's a few more known issues that appear on these vehicles at around 90-140,000.
Those
that spring to mind are PCV, cambelt, an auto gearbox flush, heater
core and ETM - all DIY jobs. Flush your autobox tomorrow if you own a
2001-2003. Attend to them and you'lll see another 100,000 miles before
they need doing again. Hence you own one of the cheaper cars to run on
the road today.
Read listing diagnosis carefully. To repeat:
If
from COLD the car runs sweet and even on LPG/CNG, your regulator and
distributor are likely OK. When HOT or COLD if running rough you have
either:
1) A coil pack going. A known issue at 90,000 miles and over. Easy to swap.
2)
Plugs getting tired or set over 0.7mm. Leave snake oil multi-point and
LPG plugs alone. Good quality single point Denso or NGK are best, and
far cheaper. Low-spec plugs changed often is better.
3) Dirt in
distributor. This will cause lumpy running, poor starting or poor
changeover. Clogged, your distributor gives your stepper motor more work
to do. So likely frying it, Hence as the car gets warmer you see more
cutting out. Cutting out is almost always the stepper. Which is why you
are reading this.
The problem comes when you have a combination
of clogged distributor, worn plugs/coil packs, these will all show lumpy
running or poor starting. The stepper motor will be causing the
cutting out. No amount of cleaning / plugs etc etc will help you if the
distributor has got dirty enough to damage the stepper and cause cutting
out.
Many of you have seen stepper motor issues before. You’ll
recognise the symptoms. More Tech support when you buy. We can help with
distributor/regulator set-up and ECU issues. This unit fits your car if
your stepper has a plain flat top as shown. The two types are not
compatible. Flat top (as offered here) is Volvo only.
In short,
decent running on petrol, yet poor starting HOT or COLD on LPG/CNG is
unlikely to be your stepper motor - injector cleaner used at intervals
will sort most issues, if not, (assuming you've decent plugs and
coil-packs] regulator and solenoid issues is where I'd be looking next.
However... random cutting-out when running LPG/CNG, and randomly
refusing to start again? No amount of cleaning will have you escape
this, this is a battle you will lose, you need this stepper to win-
remember to clean as above before you install.
Do this and a few other DIY tasks and your car is good for 300,000+
miles. We do 45-60,000 a year (55,000 last year) in mine.
All stepper
sold after reworking get a stint in our own cars for a minimum of 800
miles to be sure your stepper works under all conditions.
Moving your stepper motor.
if
you own a later 2000-2005 car, we would strongly advise you to move
your Distributor/ Stepper Motor Assembly out of the heat. Sited so that
it being cooked by the radiator, the heat is the source of many stepper
motor problems, and poor location makes cleaning and maintenance a big
job, hence owners don't do it. Which along with the poor position makes
for a vicious-circle. More so if you run LPG over CNG. LPG is dirty
stuff. Move Distributor/
Stepper Motor Assembly out of heat to the battery area. You will need
longer hose (if I recall 16 & 8mm?). Lengthen the wiring. Solder these, DO NOT
bodge this! Use of Scothloks or Chocolate Block terminals or other stupid lash-ups will not work or stay working. Electronic
components need soldering!
Dependent on application, we will
send you a heat-sink for your stepper. Do not fit this if you do not
intend to follow our advice on moving the complete assembly.
Doubtful you'll find anyone in the country, let be near you. Suspect we're the only outfit doing these now. If you do the bulk of the works, drive to a Beds address and we are happy to complete works to the stepper.
More info....
https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=280332
Read the lot, pay particular attention to Posts No.3 & 29
Good luck