D3 V8 Gas conversion?

[Disco_Ben]

Hi Guys,

Does anyone have experience (good or bad) putting a D3 V8 (4.4l) on gas?

Thanks
Ben

[bee utey]

Not personally but you will have to use vapour injection, a donut tank under the rear, a spare tyre carrier etc, could get expensive.

This mob do them:

::::: Deacon... Automotive ::::: (http://www.deaconauto.com.au/disco3v8.html)

[Ivan]

Ben

I have had my D3 V8 put on gas. They fitted a Romano SVI system and it works very well. It starts on petrol and then switches to gas as soon as it's warm enough (about 1 minute). I have an 80ltr tank fitted where the spare wheel used to be and this gives me about 70 useable litres. Running around town I get about 16ltr per 100 on gas (much better now it's been tuned after it's first 2000km's) and I get about 13 on a run. These figures are taken from the car computer as I have not bothered keeping a record of the mileage.
I can not tell the difference between running on gas and running on petrol.

HTH

Ivan

[Disco_Ben]

Hi Ivan,

Do you remember how much the conversion cost?

[Ivan]

Cost of the converion was $4800 and I got $1250 back off the government. At 70cent a litre I am saving $40 - $50 per fill (based on 98 Ron fuel).

Ivan

[Disco_Ben]

thanks Ivan,

I assume that was just the gas conversion, not including the rear wheel carrier etc?

Have you had any issues running on Gas or petrol since the conversion? anything I should look out for as I am looking around for the best place/price?

Thanks
Ben.

[Mike_S]

Ivan

Do you have any issues with the engine management light coming on ? My RRS used to run on gas in the UK and in general, the EML was on with the same codes all the time, the sensors just didn't like the LPG at all. I covered 60,000 miles with the system installed.

The other issue with the 4.4 is the exhaust valve guides are meant to be too soft for LPG. More of an issue with the S/C engine, but still meant to apply to the NA. JE Engineering did a load of research into this on behalf of JLR and the result is modified cylinder heads. Flashlube kits can also be fitted I'm told.

I went in and talked to them for a couple of hours and they had a look at my conversion. Very knowledgable chaps and I was fully expecting to end up there one day wanting new cylinder heads...

Petrol Engines | Range Rover (http://portal.jeengineering.co.uk/old/new-range-rover/petrol-engines.html)

[bee utey]

Ivan

Do you have any issues with the engine management light coming on ? My RRS used to run on gas in the UK and in general, the EML was on with the same codes all the time, the sensors just didn't like the LPG at all. I covered 60,000 miles with the system installed.

The other issue with the 4.4 is the exhaust valve guides are meant to be too soft for LPG. More of an issue with the S/C engine, but still meant to apply to the NA. JE Engineering did a load of research into this on behalf of JLR and the result is modified cylinder heads. Flashlube kits can also be fitted I'm told.

I went in and talked to them for a couple of hours and they had a look at my conversion. Very knowledgable chaps and I was fully expecting to end up there one day wanting new cylinder heads...

Petrol Engines | Range Rover (http://portal.jeengineering.co.uk/old/new-range-rover/petrol-engines.html)

EML issues are commonly caused by fuel mixtures drifting enough for the fuel trims to go out of their comfort zone. I did a V70XC turbo Volvo that had that problem. More recent SVI gas systems have an OBD2 connection so the LPG computer can fine tune the lpg map before an out-of-range mixture issue arises causing the EML to light.

As for head issues, I now set up all of my late model conversions to use about 15% of petrol under full load, this helps reduce valve wear and peak cylinder temperatures, as well as allowing standard spark plugs to be used.

Flashlube kits are now available in an electronic metering version, they take the LPG injector signal and use that to meter the valve saver fluid. They can also cut off the LPG if the oil reservoir runs out.

[Mike_S]

Mine ran on the standard plugs, no issues at all. They were changed at 72,000 miles and found to have very little degradation, which surprised us all.

I used to run it on petrol fairly frequently. About town work was where the EML used to come on, running on petrol cured that. JE's experience was that running petrol through them on a 3 tanks of LPG to 1 tank of petrol ratio assisted with the cylinder head issues. I'm fairly certain mine has suffered some damage as it's certainly not as sprightly as it was when new, but time will tell on that I guess. If the worst comes to the worst I'll get new heads for it.

[Disco_Ben]

Thanks for the information, much appreciated. Sounds like a more complicated and expensive exercise than the old falcon conversions.....

[Ivan]

Mike

Initially I had the MIL light come on when running on gas but since the initial tune up it very rarely comes on anymore. If it does come on the message associated is usually that bank 1 (or 2) is running too rich. I just reset the codes and all is well again. I also have the Flashlube kit fitted which came as part of the deal.

HTH

Ivan

[Mike_S]

You're getting the exact same codes I used to get as well then, whenever the light came on it was either bank 1 or 2 running rich or lean. It would be fine on a long run, but shortly after getting stuck in traffic or trundling round town, the light would come on. It became such a pain in the butt that one day I sat there with my independant and had it running whilst plugged into the LR software, just so we could watch and monitor all the readouts. When you see the emissions figures on petrol as compared to gas, it's obvious why the light comes on, it's well out of parameters on gas and no amount of tuning could bring it in. I've got the photos of the readouts somewhere, will see if I can upload them so they're legible.

Much as I'd like the cheaper running costs, it's nice not to be driving around with the EML on....