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All About PHILL

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Comments

  • freedmlfreedml Member Posts: 43
    You're sure it's the 'air flow' sensor and not the fan not moving enough air? I've heard of several fan failures but no 'air flow sensor' failures. We located the fan and some less expensive fan substitutes on a www.cngchat.com thread. If it's truly the air flow sensor I would remove it and see if there are any markings or other hints for where it came from. Had my fan failure not been covered under warranty I would have fixed it myself. Not allowing FM dealers to repair certain things in the field or do more economical swaps than their 'installers' is a HUGE mistake by FM.
  • isellhondasisellhondas Member Posts: 20,342
    I came here out of curosity and I've read about 30 of these posts.

    I'm scratching my head wondering WHY in the world anybody would buy one of these units??
  • noctesnoctes Member Posts: 1
    I would be interested in knowing how your search for an FMQ-2-36 went. I also have a GX and am looking for an FMQ-2-36. And I'm in your geographic area - PM me if you would be interested in doing a FMQ-2-36 install.
  • freedmlfreedml Member Posts: 43
    PHILL will not save you money. If you have one at home the fuel will cost you more (maybe a lot more :mad: ) than buying it at a station (even a CE station! ;) ). It is strictly for convenience. And, it is so slow that sometimes you will wonder whether it's really convenient after all.
  • roderroder Member Posts: 1
    has anyone seen documents on how they rebuild the phill unit? Mine gives occasional error codes, not always the same ones. It also has taken longer to fill, which makes me think the compressor or dryer are going out. Yet it has low hours.
    I only want to get it working well enough for my 20 mile a day commute that I have now.
    I also smell too much natural gas when it first starts. . .which makes me think the solenoid valve that operates the dryer is going out. Not sure.

    My unit was filthy dirty from operating outside, makes me wonder why they don't have a air filter on the unit?

    No I don't want to pay $1000.00 to fix it at this time.

    photos of inside phill unit:

    http://ruderod.livejournal.com/181960.html?mode=reply
    phill photos
  • blackhawks92blackhawks92 Member Posts: 1
    September of '06? Sheesh. I live in Brea, and I got my Phill in August of '07. Nobody needed an inspection from me, certainly not the installer, Mike Fossler, owner of Doctor Drain plumbing (plumber @doctordrain.com). He had me e-mail him some photos of the installation site, came out, and took care of business. He quoted me $1400, but gave me a $200 discount because the installation was so easy. Mike is a man of integrity and charges very reasonably for plumbing work.

    Months later, when the city repaved our alley, we phoned the city and complained that we wouldn't be able to refuel our car when the alley was being worked on. They sent a fireman to take a look (free of charge), and he was happy with the installation. That's the last I heard from anyone on the subject. In fact, Brea wanted to support alternative fuels so much, they cut us a check for the difference between refueling at home, and refueling at stations while the alley was blocked off.
  • hondagxsaleshondagxsales Member Posts: 33
    Fuelmaker has recently been placed into bankruptcy and a sale is being negotiated. To read up on the latest news, go here: http://www.cngchat.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=85.

    As the unit is not field servicable, you may have a time getting it back into operation without help from someone in the know.
    Curtis
  • fly737fly737 Member Posts: 2
    I just bought a Civic GX and found out that DMV is no longer giving out the HOV (white sticker). Does anyone know if this is true? I called DMV today and asked about the HOV sticker for my car, and that person kept on saying that they are no longer giving sticker for the HYBRID Vehicle (yellow sticker).

    He kept saying that the maximum numbers had been reach and that they are done with Hybrid. I know that they are done with those Hybrid HOV sticker, BUT what about my Natural Gas? Are they done with Natural Gas Vehicle as well?
  • ikirikir Member Posts: 11
    To my knowledge the white stickers are still available. I had the same problem when I bought my GX in 2007. Several employees aren't aware of the difference between the white & yellow stickers. The main customer service call center in Sacramento are more familiar with the stickers. When you call the DMV, your area code will direc you to the nearest call center. I believe there is one in Sacramento and one in So. Cal.

    You should fill out the form and send it to the DMV. Make sure you fill it out correctly. It took about a month from the date I mailed the form until I received the stickers.

    http://www.dmv.ca.gov/forms/reg/reg1000.pdf
  • fly737fly737 Member Posts: 2
    Hey, thanks for the info. I mail it in already, and just hoping that DMV will have one more sticker for my car.
  • bo12bo12 Member Posts: 1
    I m looking for hose for my phill
    anybody has it or know where I can buy or repair it?
  • hondagxsaleshondagxsales Member Posts: 33
    You're going to find that the Phill is a non field servicable unit, however I once did a Google search for this item and came up with a couple of sources for them, mainly thru Phill dealers. I suppose that you may be able to find a disgrunteled Phill dealer or two that may still have them in stock. Here is one example: http://blog.cngaz.com/
    Curtis
  • pkarlsenpkarlsen Member Posts: 2
    I have had my phil unit for three years and it now needs repair. I have been trying in without sucess to get the company who purchased the Phil Unit company to respond to my request for repair.

    I have left countless messages both by email and phone mail. I even volunteered to take it their location for repair without sucess. Does anyone know if there is an independant repairer of the phil units?

    The Edmunds post on them being responsive and reliable is a bunch of &^#(#)$.
  • freedmlfreedml Member Posts: 43
    If you're in LA/OC I will give it a try. contact me directly
    freedabet at gmail dot com

    Michael
  • cal_magcal_mag Member Posts: 6
    I've fixed mine myself 4 times already because the company is so helpfull... You can email me at my username at gmail
  • robmmarrobmmar Member Posts: 3
    I have tried to gather product information on the "Phil Fuelmaker" as well as other CNG compressor/pumps.It seems that there have been quite a few Phil owners who have had reliability problems with there units. How long can one typically expect a unit to last? Is it repairable at a resonable price? Is everything up in the air due to the recent sale? Is there another product out there?

    Thank you
    Rob
  • freedmlfreedml Member Posts: 43
    they are supposed to last 6000 hours which is about 2000 gallons (gge). a lot of us had failures, in and out of warranty. they had been VERY expensive to repair with FM, don't know what will happen now. everything is up in the air right now.
  • pkarlsenpkarlsen Member Posts: 2
    I cant tell you how many times I contacted the new phil unit owners about repairing or replacing my phil unit. Because mine is not under warranty it appears they wont even acknowledge that I exist.

    I have an electrical short in mine and want to know if anyone out there knows someone that can look at it. I have it off the wall just sitting on my repair bench. I can ship it anywhere if anyone knows of anyone.

    I have my own seperate meter so I was paying a lot less then at the pump. On another point do you realize that even though the price of natural gas goes down clear energy never reduces the price of gas. Thanks
  • hal21hal21 Member Posts: 1
    I also have a Phill unit that is dead. I sent it in to have it re-furbished and after I got it back Fuel Maker went out of business. Couple of months later the new unit died and like you, Impco has no record of me and I'm not on their warranty list. Anyone ever find a solution to this sort of issue. Any local (USA) repair facility that anyone knows of.
    Thanks
    Hal
  • hondagxsaleshondagxsales Member Posts: 33
    The Phill is not a field serviceable unit. Some have attempted repairs themselves when confronted with this type of situation, but in many cases unsuccessful. Some buy other dead units and try to cannibalize them. Personally I's just scrap it and get a used FMQ or FM4. Field serviceable, faster, cheaper to rebuild... better unit all the way around. You may find more helpful info here: http://cngchat.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?20-Refueling-equipment
    Curtis
  • pasairpasair Member Posts: 2
    BRC and IMPCO have made some changes to Fuelmakers that make them field serviceable, at least more than they were. The one error that definitely requires refurbishment and will not be field serviceable is a software error. We have installed over 30 units and had ZERO warranty calls and some of the units are at least 3 years old.
  • pasairpasair Member Posts: 2
    The typical refurbishment is needed at 6000 hours or approximately 5 years. It takes about 6 months for the refurbishment to be completed.

    The refurbishment is based on the amount of hour used on the Phill:
    1001-2500 Hours - $1,493
    2501-4000 Hours - $1,934
    4000 Hours + - $2,596
This discussion has been closed.