Ducati Sporting Club UK > Model Specific - Discussion, Technical Problems and Help > General Motorcycles only > lpg cars

[Bungi]

does anyone here own an lpg car?

im thinking of getting one, whats worth knowing about the systems?

do they have to have regular inspections? re lpg eqpt etc

[rockhopper]

One thing to bear in mind with LPG is that its only cheap because the government have put a lower rate of duty on it for the moment. However the goverment have pledged to give three years notice of any intention to increase the rate.
Only certain very clean LPG cars qualify for congestion charge exemption as well.
Typical fuel cost saving should be around 40%

[Rossman_999]

I had a Ford Explorer which I converted to LPG and ran it for 150,000 miles absolutly brilliant, 240 miles on £20 of gas !!!

I then purchased a Grand Cherokee 4.7HO and have ran it for just under 2 years putting 60K miles on it, before the engine is trashed! All the exhausts valves are burnt and the valve seats are US. In short just over a £3K repair on a car that was only just over 3 years old and 72K miles. Needless to say its been traded in and im now running a BMW 530d estate.!!

In summary be very careful of what car you fit LPG to, get it right your laughing, get it wrong it will cost you a fortune.

PS dont be in a hurry to fill the tank, I could put £75 worth of petrol in the car quicker than I could put £10 worth of LPG

[Rossman_999]

Oh be very careful in the selection of your installer.

Make sure hes a good one and he knows what he's doing as there are a lot of numpties.

In the 1st few months of ownership there is normally a bit of tweeking to get it right as LPG will find anything that just isnt 100% (4 coil packs in the jeep that ran fine on petrol, but threw up a selection of fault codes on LPG).
Once this settling in period is over, you need to replace a filter (£5) every 40K miles, but be prepared for some agro when you replace plugs as gapping is critical.

[Bungi]

Originally posted by Rossman_999
Oh be very careful in the selection of your installer.

Make sure hes a good one and he knows what he's doing as there are a lot of numpties.

i was looking at buying a car with it already intalled, as intallations seem to cost about 2k on 4x4s, will check its been done by reputable company thanks



interesting that you have had both good and bad experiances, could this be an issue about intallation quality, or is it really some motors like and some dont?

[Rossman_999]

It was the same installer I used both times.

The difficulty apears to be the engine suitability with some engines you are just asking for trouble.

What car are you thinking of buying?
Is it a multipoint system? as these systems offer significantly better performance and ecconomy (you lose about 10% in performance and fuel ecconomy with LPG)

PS Make sure it has the instalation certificate as you wont get insurance (and cheaper road tax) without it.

[Bungi]

Originally posted by Rossman_999
What car are you thinking of buying?
Is it a multipoint system? as these systems offer significantly better performance and ecconomy (you lose about 10% in performance and fuel ecconomy with LPG)

PS Make sure it has the instalation certificate as you wont get insurance (and cheaper road tax) without it.

just looking at the moment , but a range rover is probably what id really prefer, would consider jeep, frontera, similar type of thing, must be auto though so this cuts out what id might otherwise have chosen for a lot of motors, as it limits deisel engine options.

[Rossman_999]

Range Rovers are solid, watch what kind of system is fitted if its a non injection one, there is a big diffrence in the newer multi point system to the origional type.
Jeeps Avoid the 4.7HO, but the standard 4.7 and 4.0 seam to be good cars, I was a little disapointed in the servicing cost of mine. the 60K service was over £600!! and the service intervils are only every 7.5K at £200 a go.
Ive got no experiance of the Fontera, but Vauxhall offer some models with LPG as standatrd is it the same engine.

[Ray]

I've owned a MY 2000 Dualfuel Vectra estate for four years. It is a factory installation, fully warrantied as per OEM car. Had one thing go wrong with the gas system side that cost a good few hundred but more than had me money back in fuel savings.

You do loose a slight bit of power when on gas so just flick it back on to petrol during do or Die manouvres.

Volvo, vauxhall and a few others do factory dualfuel vehicles, depends what type of vehicle you want. Another thing that might be a consideration is that Eurotunnel won't let LPG vehicles on the tunnel, too many dodgy Conversions in mainland Europe, e.g. propane bottle in the boot, with a bunsen burner pointing into the carb!!

You do have to be using lots of petrol to make it worthwhile or be getting very cheap LPG.

If you are going the conversion route make sure you get a reputable installer. They will give advice about the type of vehicles that are suitable as well if they are any good.

I have a feeling that the days of the govt encouraging LPG use are numbered, they are reducing the funding for conversion grants as well through powershift?

A bit of searching on the net will yield lots of info.

Ray

I'd have another factory dualfuel vehicle.

[Edited on 27-3-2006 by Ray]