LPG Conversion should I or not

[ChrisKaye]

I have a 99 4.6 HSE with 50K miles and FSH and have been thinking about an LPG conversion for some time now, I recently filled up the tank and it was £90, so its pushed me over the edge and I've booked it in for a conversion in a couple of weeks time.
Thing is I hear conflicting reports on whether to switch or not, a LR dealer recently said dont, coz it makes the engines run hotter and it can shag your engine, other say they have no problems. So do I or not ?
From what I understand its going to be a prinz conversion and its a company in Bath who are going to do it

[shadyadie]

I would weigh up the cost of the conversion to the amout of fuel saving you actually get ( you don't get as many mph on gas ) it could take a lot of miles to recoupe the cost..

Also it is worth bearing in mind that the government and opposition are toying with increasing the tax on gas to bring it in line with petrol.

And a high number of gas conversions also have blown head gaskets and in my case blew the engine block (not got it any more)

if you are still wanting to do it. go the whole hog and get the conversion on the injectosr where it also has lub points don't go the cheap way where you just plumb it in to the air intake..

[rmackay]

you could probably recoup the cost of the conversion back over a year or two so i wouldnt worry about that - i was told about the LPG conversions available for my 82 RR six years ago and never took them up on it cos i had heard that the government were planning on hiking the price of gas up to be in line with petrol - still waiting and I would have recouped the cost of the conversion three times over by now....! doh!!!

still hindsight and all that!!

running on gas is better for your engine - less carbon or whatever to stick to the insides but they do say that the car if it has to runon petrol runs a bit rough as the engine is tuned to make gas run better and petrol worse - or something like that!

as i said i wish i had done it when i had hear about it first of all!!

slainte!

[Revs]

I dont think they will hike tax anytime soon. Firstly it would kill off the thriving conversion industry meaning job losses and loss of tax, oil retailers would be angry and the gov likes to have a facade of being green. If it rises it will rise in line with petrol + gas imo

Theres only about 200,000 LPG cars in Britain at the moment so they will leave rises until theres far more on the road- maybe 5-10 years

[reece.robinson]

My 99 RR 4.6 was already converted to LPG when I bought it and it runs fine on both fuels although when I want to give it a blast I switch to petrol (don't know why - probably just the thought that if it's better for the environment then it can't be as fun to use). I still get about 18mpg on gas but at less than half the cost of petrol I can afford to run it. The bigest down side for me is the lack of boot space and the time it takes to fill the LPG tank. Sometimes finding a station that sells LPG can be challenging but I'm lucky enough to have 3 in my local area.

[Ferryman]

If you have it converted the professional way with LPI (injected), the engine will be tuned electronically too to that type of fuel and you won't notice any difference in performance.

When switched to petrol it will be tuned to petrol again, all automatically.
Those are the benefits of todays electronics. Not the cheapest way but the best.

Tony.

[fatcodycat]

[
I have just converted my 101 to gas, i know that it is a lot simpler to do then your motor, so i can not comment on how easy the installation will be if you would do it your self. How ever i would do it the way that you are -- ie getting some one else to do the work.

As for the running of the motor it runs sweeter and seams to go quiter as well, i do not see how it can kacker your engine - i think that your dealer may be mis informed!.

[jasper110]

had my 110 converted with no probs, however before going down this line i'd take a look at how far you drive on your journeys, what time of day, and the location of fillingstations. why? well i live in the NE of scotland and have 1 lpg filling station in my town which has limited opening. i often drive to the west coast (fort william area) i have a 70 ltr tank and have to fill up on route. there is only 1 lpg filling station on my route again with limited opening. see where i'm coming from.
drive after 5.30 pm - knackered - have to use petrol.
drive on sunday - knackered.
ok i could get a larger tank/second tank but load space is an issue.
why not replace petrol tank with lpg cylinder? well if i go to the NW of scotland theres no lpg at all. so need to use petrol.
now don't get me wrong, overall i'm happy enough i just sometimes wish i'd looked at the larger picture than just the potential savings, and i would advise everyone else to do the same.
do i wish i had a 3.9 v8 on LPG in my 110 ? you bet!!
cheers

[Michelle]

I would say go for it.
My average weeks travel to work and back costs me $40 - $50 per week on LPG.
I've not filled up the tank fully or used it for a full week since the recent petrol hikes but it was costing me just over $70 per week to do the same BEFORE...you know...when petrol was20 cents per litre cheaper..
I shudder to think now..(would probably be $100 now to do the same so its still a saving of half the cost for me)

My car seems to run very well on LPG BUT..run it on petrol for half an hour weekly at least. I say this because the petrol is good to lubricate the engine or somethin like that... and also, LPG hides developing issues with the car sometimes. If its anything in the starting components the LPG will show it first (eg it must have gas compatible leads, good battery, good plugs etc etc) but if its somethig else, (eg sucking air somewhere etc) then that problem is hidden when you run it on LPG because its not as sensitive to problems like that. So you cruise along not knowing anything until you have to switch to petrol one day and you think 'holy crap, this things runnin like a bucket of sh*t!! wtf has happened).
I am guilty of doing this (I drove for a couple of months without using the petrol. Then when I ran out of dosh and had to switch to the petrol in the tank..wham... I'll find out the cost of my negligence in a couple of hours..)

But I have been happy overall with how it goes. and I'd recommend it to anyone who has good access to LPG fill points.
You will lose a little space in the hold but..ah well thats what trailers and roofracks and backseats are for, right?
(mines under there, behind that chipboard)

[Ferryman]

And the toolbox shows that you're prepared for the unexpected! :D
Tony.

[Michelle]

hehe...except its probably presentation purposes only..
What would likely be the case is me standing with the bonnet up, a spanner in my hand and a blank look on my face..
I'm sure I could stand transfixed for hours like that trying to mentally correlate that jumble in there to my ole 6cyl straight carby engine... (no aircon, no PS, no fancy electrics...barely any heater...no handbrake..no speedo..) ahh them were the days... (no towing much either...)

[Ferryman]

What would likely be the case is me standing with the bonnet up, a spanner in my hand and a blank look on my face..

That's what I've seen often in dealergarages! :D
Tony.

[mudman]

as regard to your fuel bill, i just but in 70ltr of gas it cost me £23 @32.9 per ltr it should return 145/160 miles in town /short runs. i can pass on a good firm how can supply/fix . they also have a training school in LPG.
i have a disco 1 1998 3.9.

[Michelle]

crikies..your gas is expensive!!
I shudder to think what your petrol is..

32.9 p/L = AUD 77cents/L

Here our gas has jumped a bit..but the worst was 51cents/L (21.1p/L) and is now settled at 45.9 c/L (19.5p/L). Original price before all the bulldust was 40.9c/L (17.9p/L) and this is in a semi rural city. Coastal cities are usually 10 15 cents cheaper.

[caber]

As long as your engine is in good condition go for it. I went for twin under sill tanks so I didn't lose boot space. Fuel consumprion is a bit better in town and a bit worse out of town as currently set up there is a little bit more power on petrol but I don't miss it. I got a sat nav for my phone and have downloaded free lists of LPG stations so I can usually find someplace before I run out but not if I go up north in Scotland though I have 200 mile range on LPG and another 200miles on petrol if necessary!

My conversion is on carbs the people did it were fantastic they strongly reccomend getting a sequential gas injection system on any car with electronic injection there is better economy and no loss of performance. These conversons usually start on on petrol and automatically switch to gas once the engine is running. You wil pay more for this kind of conversion but it is money well spent, the crude type introduces gas at the plenum and if your timing gets a tad out you can get a backfire that will take out the air cleaner box and airflow meterthis can't happen with sequential injection so the extra money is well spent

Regards Caber

[ChrisKaye]

Well 5 weeks to go until its booked in, general consensus of opinion is thats its the way forward. Got a company called the Greenfuel company in Bath doing it----its a buddy of mine although I didnt know until after I booked it in but he's doing me a good deal for £2K all in.
Cant wait now, just wish they could hurry up and get me in quicker.

Another question. I have a blaupunkt travelpilot sat nav thingy that I removed from my old car sitting around doing nothing. As I get lost all the time can I install this and still have all the steering wheel controls and the benefits of the exisiting HK amp etc..

[Revs]

i take back what i said about the gov not increasing tax. from what i've read it seems that they are going to start increasing tax on it above petrol + diesel. i'm not sure i trust them enough not to do it right after spending 2k on converting

[emmerson]

I've run LPG classics for 5 years with no probs whatsoever.I can't speak for the 4.6, but my 3.5 and now 4.2 are great. I recouped the cost of conversion in 7000 miles, based on 15000 pa. Go to www.lpga (http://www.lpga). All the info you need is on there.there's even a calculator to work out how much you'll save. Mine worked out at £3500! That's £70 per week. With regard to the duty matching petrol, the prophets of doom have been saying that for years. It's unlikely, and if it does, I, and many thousands more have saved an awful lot of money over the years.Go for it.
Emmerson

[Ferryman]

Link to lpga didn't work, [/URL][url=http://www.lpga.co.uk/]this one ("") will.
Tony

[shadyadie]

todays prices 93.9 - 42.9 = 51p (1 gallon = 4.546 09 litres)

.51 X 4.546= 2.31 saving per gallon

Landrover V8 about 18 miles per gallon

2.31 / 18 = 0.128 per mile saving

£2000 / .128 = 15625miles

15625 X 10% = 1562.5 + 15625 = 17188

This is a quick calculation of the realistic miles you will have to do to recoup your £2000 thats 2 years driving for me.
Don't forget you will have the cost of servicing the gas conversion on top of this and you will still have to start on petrol. and IMHO you run a greater risk (risk not certainty) of engine damage.
The 10% is the fact most cars do not do as many miles per gallon on gas as they do petrol.
Also based on the assumtion that tax does not go up on gas.

I had a gassed rangie and decided never again, as no matter what people tell me I have never found gas to be as performing as petrol and in my case I lost bootspace.

The only way I would have an LPG again is if the engine was specifically designed for it.

If you disagree with the MPG for a V8 and say yours will go further then it will take even longer to get your money back.

I also agreewith caber that if not set up right you use a lot of air filters


This is my opinion

[grantc]

I don't know about England but Scotland is offering a grant of about £800 towards LPG conversion. You should get details on the Scottish Executive website

[grantc]

OOPS Sorry deadline is past. Sorry if I raised anyone 's hopes . Here is the Link
http://www.est-powershift.org.uk/
Another thing against LPG conversions for those of you who live in the uncivilised Southern reaches of thid island is that LPG is Banned from Eurotunnel, but I don'r think Landies can get on it anyway, if I remember correctly!!
Grant

[ChrisKaye]

Its gone in, 3 weeks earlier than planned, as there was a cancellation and Ive now got a crappy astra estate with all the advertising blurb on it to drive round in. Looks like a motorised billboard
Should get mine back at the end of next week and will let you know what its like

[ChrisKaye]

Gargage have had it for about 2 hours now
Just had a phone call saying the hc levels are very high about 40....Just had it serviced and it recently passed the MOT with no probs, is this indiccative of anything costly ??
Aparently putting it on the analyser is standard practice..is this right ?

[essexlandy]

landies get on the euro Tunnel no probs take tyhe 110 and New vogue on no prob, won't let you on with LPG, does anyone know why?

[Michelle]

because of the slim chance that gas tanks may explode...possibly not desirable effect in a jumbo tunnel full of cars...

[toppa]

Dont know much about LPG, but it along with CNG, another form af gas used to be popular in new zealand, now you would be very lucky to find one car with it, let alone a station that sold it. Dont know why, but it died a sad death, after all the hype about the clean fuel of the future and all that.


CHeers

[zaphodbb]

What system did you go for in the end?
My '94 LSE had sequential gas injection fitted a couple of years ago and it was brilliant (except when the ambient temp was high = summer, then it ran a little rough for some reason). There have been a couple of generations of new kit out since then.
Do your suppliers also fit an ignition timeing box as well? I was told by one firm that the LSE (that I had at the time (4.2l engine) didn't need one, but the firm that I finally used fitted one and it made a noticeable improvement).
Do buy some Magnicor leads though, they're expensive alright, but they outlast the OEM ones and improve the running no end even on petrol (I was stunned at the difference especially as the leads I replaced weren't that old).
One final tip - if you have'nt gone for the top-end lubricant option (LPG has no lubrication properties on it's own - for the valve's etc) put 10cc's of redex in every petol tank full - this also stops the injectors gumming-up (which they will do if you use LPG most of the time - even if the engine starts on petrol, it may take a while to happen but it will happen -I know!!).

[ChrisKaye]

Hi Kevn
Thanks for that
Not sure which one they are fitting will let you know when I have the car back on Thursday

[ChrisKaye]

Well I picked the car up yesterday, so done around 50 or so miles and it really doesnt feel any different to drive. Car starts on petrol and within half a mile it changes over to LPG and you wouldnt even notice.
Filler cap is neatly fitted other side of towbar electrics and you would never know its there. Cant say the same for the combined led indicator (level and switch between lpg and petrol) which has been mounted on the spare switch to the left of cruise control switch.

Will post some pics if anyones interested

[Brucey]

Am interested. Would like to see under bonnet and tank installation please. Dooes it take up too much space?

I used to have a RRC and I converted it to LPG but found the boot space then unuseable.

[ChrisKaye]

Havent taken any pictures yet as the weather has been so crap. Tank is fitted in the spare wheel well, so you dont really notice it although I havent bothered with a spare wheel for the last yearsor so and have used the extra space for general crap.
No different to drive sofar, just got through a tank of gas over the weekend and did 220miles on a tankful. (God, is mpg really this bad ?)Although majority is taking kids to school, sop start stuff and a spirited drive down to southampton over the weekend.
Just filled up again with 75litres at 40p/litre and am going to try to drive more carefully now to see if mpg or miles per gas tank improves

[ChrisKaye]

Oh and its a PrinzVSI multi point sequential gas inj system, I remember someone asked what sort of system it was

[NickT]

Like several other people, I bought my classic already converted. I've done almost 40 000 miles now with no real problems and the money I've saved justifies having a 3.9. Occasionally it struggles whilst pulling a large trailer up a long hill so switching back to petrol is effective. I don't think I'd go back to a petrol car now cos the idea of driving something small and close to the ground doesn't fill me with enthusiasm! Go for it.

[jjsaul]

ive got lpg on our 110. carbs so it is the basic type.

start it on lpg everytime.

it runs smooth on lpg and no stupid things like blown head gaskets.

dont believe all the b*****ks....LPG is definately the way to go.