Is LPG worth it?? I am confused BIG TIME

[Stue 3 doors down]

We have Stue our 3 door disco which is a great car. My problem is I cant fit sequential gas as the computer is not modern enough and if I have it mapped Stue will eat tons of LPG or run rough.:(

Now Stue is a neat looking thing but is it worth it as Stue is getting old and has niggling things happening as well (not many or bad. just niggling)?


I spoke to a bloke from lilydale who explained a lot to me today which was a great help. He was not the first or only person I have spoken too and now Im wondering.

Do we wreck Stue or sell it and buy a 130 or older Td5? My concern is I cant afford to loose what little power Stue has:burnrubber: and then have Stue back fire and blow up the MAS:angry:

We have 3 kids and travel so Stue is being built to travel maybe the odd caravan trip and a tool trailer at other times as I volunteer to house building organisation, we do about 400ks a week (about 2 tanks a week, joke but close).
I want to keep Stue running cheaply so the last choice if I fit diesel in to Stue then what motor maybe even a Toyota turbo?

It comes down to wasting money carefully and what will be the most reliable and cheapest long term out come.
:bangin:

[ozscott]

I run a 95 with LPG - single open loop mixer. It only backfired when I had a dodgy lucas dizzy. Add a performance ignitions Australian Bosch one and no more problems - vehicle ha 275k on the clock and runs like a bought one on LPG...good economy, smooth, no idle problems,....just make sure you buy nice clean gas and let out the gunk every so often from the converter.

Cheers

[p38arover]

We have Stue our 3 door disco which is a great car. My problem is I cant fit sequential gas as the computer is not modern enough and if I have it mapped Stue will eat tons of LPG or run rough.:(

That surprises me as I've seen sequential systems fitted to very old EFI Rangies and Discos. Is your Disco carby or EFI?

If it is EFI, I think you'll find this can be fitted: KME - Manufacturer of CNG and LPG (GPL) electronic systems (http://kme.eu/diego/EN_index.html)

[It'sNotWorthComplaining!]

LPG might be the cheapest option if $ are tight as the Gov has a rebate on LPG fitting, but not for long.

[PAT303]

Go gas.The rover V8 runs on gas better than it ever does on petrol.I saved $50-$60 a week running gas in the disco. Pat

[Gullible]

Go gas - 52c a ltr and you get 4c back with the woolworths dockets
:D:banana::D:banana::D:banana::D

[big guy]

Go gas, one with a comp and a oxygen sensor in exhaust.
Get the right plugs for gas and the right leads and have the leads seperated so they are not closely together under the hood.

Get the timing advanced to 12degree btdc.

My install with 3 scuba tanks(2nd hand) in back and still the full range on fuel cost me $150 after the gov rebate.

My car used roughly 25l/100km's.
You do the maths and the savings are huge, the power was almost same and never had a backfire.
There is a guy in SA that specialises in the gas for Landies and he did mine, brilliant.

If you do decide to wreck at a later date, you will get money back on the 2nd hand gas system.
My range was great with up to 8-900km's with combined fuels.

[clean32]

Adelaide to port Lincoln

Ford Territory = $260 auto cruse control
ford Ranger = $120 3 litre auto turbo diesel
ford Ranger = $130 3 litre manual turbo diesel
Dunny door lt1 =$240 manual
Ford falcon = $85 auto cruse control LPG

From what I know I think LPG is a given. Having said that i have 125 litre Tanks so I can get from Adelaide to port Lincoln and back to Whyalla on about 50 bucks. These are based on my trips over the last 3 months. fuel prices have moved about a bit but not that much.
The falcon is a ford dedicated LPG set up, its always backfiring on start up, runs on 5 pots when cold some times but never for long. To me it seems more quiet smother and a bit quicker than the petrol falcons from the same batch.

[djam1]

I think LPG is great remember that the govt will start to tax LPG in 2011 (I think).
My V8 is only a Carbied one and I average 22-23 L per 100 km.
It has run faultlessly for 4 years I just put modern Discovery ignition on it and run it at 12 deg BTDC.
I pay 89.9 cents a litre as I live in WA where Kleenheat have a monopoly.

[defmec]

i keep getting quotes for a gas conversion on the goldy and the cheapest was 3000 -3600 :eek::eek: for a 85 110 v8 what is the go do they think im an idiot

[Lotz-A-Landies]

We have Stue our 3 door disco which is a great car. My problem is I cant fit sequential gas as the computer is not modern enough and if I have it mapped Stue will eat tons of LPG or run rough.:( A lot of issues to discuss.

Up front, you won't recover many $ on a 3 door Disco 1 although you can often find 4 door D1 with gas for not many K$.

I run non-sequential LPG on my 4.6 RRc, I lose about 7% of power when running on LPG. You can have after ECU modules fitted that change the distributor setting when running on LPG, this overcomes the problems when you don't have a dual map ECU. I get within 1lt/100Km of my petrol economy on LPG

The back-firing of Rover V8s is often an installation problem. I have seen numerous LPG systems where the PCV is still connected to the original port of the plenum. This means that any crank case flame that bypasses the flame trap is discharged into the LPG rich fuel/air mix in the plenum, blowing apart the air induction system. The PCV hose needs to re-positioned to a point before the LPG mixer ring. I have never had a backfire on my LPG setup.

The thing that will most frustrate you is the loss of cargo space, a big issue in a D1. I would be looking towards the twin tanks where the original fuel tank is situated and one of the small petrol tanks in the RHS mudguard. Hopefully also a pair of petrol sill tanks would also help. Fuel endurance on LPG is always less than on petrol. While lots of places have LPG, it is still a problem in remote locations.

Regarding the cost, I was able to do anything I wanted at the height of the fuel price crisis, including trips to melbourne etc because I could always afford LPG. I would have had to seriously consider long trips on petrol.

Fitting a Toyota diesel, you are not going to get change from about $8,000.00


LPG might be the cheapest option if $ are tight as the Gov has a rebate on LPG fitting, but not for long.How so?

Even if they put the full 38c/lt tax on LPG it is still going to be a lot less than the price of petrol or diesel because of the low market penetration of LPG. Just look at the cost of LPG at your local servo, add 38c and compare it to the price of petrol or diesel. During the fuel price crisis, the price of LPG was hardly any different to what it is now, except that instead of being half the price of petrol it was sometimes a third of the petrol/diesel price.

Diana

[d@rk51d3]

Peronally, the only reason I put the Rangie on gas, was because my Bro-in-law is a gas fitter, and I had a 2nd hand gas system ready to fit.

Admittedly it does run alot smoother on LPG, and is easier to start. Although LPG is alot cheaper than ULP per litre at the pump, it works out about the same at the end of the day as the LPG is not as economical, and lacks the power of ULP. (unless you make it a dedicated setup)

Granted, the combination of 3 petrol tanks, plus 1 or 2 LPG tanks gives you great range, but no storage space.

Refused to put a system in the Falcon, as 1 full tank of ULP gets us from Adelaide to Melbourne, and a good way back again. Why lose the luggage space?

[scarry]

i keep getting quotes for a gas conversion on the goldy and the cheapest was 3000 -3600 :eek::eek: for a 85 110 v8 what is the go do they think im an idiot

Factory fit on new hiace,$4500,Landi renzo gas injection.
They are a bit noisy,but very efficient.Fully loaded,around 430k around town,470k on a run,tank 62l.

If the systm is trouble free,it will pay for itself quickly.
If it plays up ,probably expensive to repair.

[Dougal]

Fitting a Toyota diesel, you are not going to get change from about $8,000.00


And toyota don't have a diesel worthy of fitting to a disco.
The only diesels you'd fit (and want to fit) are a landrover 200/300, an Isuzu 2.8 turbo or the Isuzu 3.9 turbo.

[p38arover]

Even if they put the full 38c/lt tax on LPG it is still going to be a lot less than the price of petrol or diesel because of the low market penetration of LPG. Just look at the cost of LPG at your local servo, add 38c and compare it to the price of petrol or diesel. During the fuel price crisis, the price of LPG was hardly any different to what it is now, except that instead of being half the price of petrol it was sometimes a third of the petrol/diesel price.

Diana

Unless the Labor govt. has changed it, the maximum excise that is to be applied is 12.5 cents per litre - starting at 2.5 cents/litre per annum until it reaches 12.5 cents/litre over 5 years.


LPG is currently excise free but it will become subject to excise in the future. No excise will be applied to LPG until 1 July 2011. The full rate of excise to apply to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) used in vehicles will be 12.5 cents per litre. This rate will apply from 1 July 2015. The planned excise rates for LPG are as follows:
1 July 2011 2.5 cpl
1 July 2012 5.0 cpl
1 July 2013 7.5 cpl
1 July 2014 10.0 cpl
1 July 2015 12.5 cpl

[MacMan]

Our Disco came to us with LPG fitted and it has been superb 99% of the time. There have been a couple of times where I have had to carry jerry cans to supplement the now limited 40L ULP capacity, but a full tank of 76L LPG and a total of 60L ULP gives us a safe highway range of 650km. It is far less when off road, but we're not doing any real outback driving at the moment. Nor are we likely to in the next 3 years.

I have no susbstantial loss of power with LPG. It runs very smoothly, but the best bit is that the current average running cost around town is less than $9.50 per 100km. It's way less than half the cost of running on ULP.

The argument that it's not worth installing LPG because of the future indexed excise increases is akin to putting dog***** on your icecream so the other children don't eat it.

[Stue 3 doors down]

Thanks every one I have been reading all the responses, I am thinking it would be cheaper to buy a Td5 in the long run. This is mostly due to government buggering something good for us mere workers.

Makes me wonder if all the people that got the Solar rebate will end up paying a solar tax similar to the rain water as it will end up that the government probably owns the sun rays but obviously NOT liable for the damage the sun rays cause??
Just the rambles of a man who has 1 year old up all night long

[ADDO110]

i have a 4.6 county 95l of lpg for me the savings aren't that great have had it tuned very well the best i've had this being the 3rd vehicle on lpg.im goin for a diesel conversion as soon as i can save the bucks.i wont be selling it ever so $$$ dont mean much to me and there is always bio diesel as an optoin down the track.just my opinion.they'll tax anything they can

[p38arover]

i have a 4.6 county 95l of lpg for me the savings aren't that great have had it tuned very well the best i've had this being the 3rd vehicle on lpg.im goin for a diesel conversion as soon as i can save the bucks.

A diesel conversion will take a long time to pay back - if ever.

LPG costs approx 1/3rd the price of diesel but you use twice as much fuel as a diesel (on road). Ergo, in most situations, the running cost of LPG is effectively 2/3rd that of diesel.

Off road, the diesel is far more economical. Diesel comes into its own on long trips (refuelling LPG is an issue in the bush), the range afforded by diesel, and when working hard.