Thread: Buying Advice for 1995 V8 ES Duel Fuel

I have same model, well almost 94 ES V8.

Gas tanks will hold approx 60l.
Little petrol tank might hold 35L max.
Hence overall range will be around 4-500k's.

The gas will give you 220-280k's. Petrol will use average of 20l/100k's.

The switch over should be smooth, always switch over with a few revs or on the move.

They are not super quick, auto box should be super smooth.
Check for blue smoke, oil leaks and tanny fluid colour.
I changed all fluids, battery, and couple of hoses.
Check if sunroofs work and not leak, air con and elec windows.
ABS can be tricky.
Offer them 6k and spend rest on service and to get the way you like it.


Tyres are not cheap either, also the cd changer is under pasenger seat and expensive to fix. Central locking is prone to play up with little plastic lugs always breaking.


My car is going great, ABS light sometimes stays on, sometimes not.
indicator sometimes flashes really quick sometimes not.
Lucas is well and truly living up to his old tricks.

Great car though. Touch wood.

I have a 95 7 seater 3.9 auto. Tyres are relatively cheap - Pirrelli scorpian ats for example (245/70/16) in truck tyre carcass (handles very well and lasts very well) were about $225 each fitted and balanced. Try pricing low profile commodore tyres for a comparro!!

As for the rest - just do the usual checks - check the auto trans fluid colour, compression test if they allow it, look closely for leaks (leaks mean no genuine road worth certificate), look for traces of sand in the chassis area and under plastic door sills, look for evidence of harsh offroading such as bent trailing arm/arms. Check also service history - the motors put up very big ks no probs with proper servicing that includes coolant changes, but not without (mine has 255k and still going like a train).

If you start to get ignition problems think seriously about talking to Performance Ignitions in Victoria about a replacement distributor which is effectively a Ford V8 one using an Australian Bosch HEI module - best move I ever made and now in the middle of nowhere I could get a cap and button or HEI Module and keep going - although the cap and button are likely to last so much longer than the Lucas cap and button its absurd. You need good ignition on LPG vehicles. I spent $100 and fitted 2 spring loaded backfire expansion devices to my air box....good insurance because usually the first you will know about dodgy spark is when a backfire occurs on LPG.

The other thing is that converters in Qld at least usually need a clean every 50,000 - 75,000k I have found (and second time around you might as well replaced the converter due to labour costs v a new one). Otherwise they go beautifully on a well set up LPG system - mine is open loop and the beauty of that is that it does not rely on computers to go - seperate from the injection system. Mine gets usually 340ks from 70 litres of LPG with my wife lead footing it in stop start traffic for a fair amount of the that 340 - no highway for those figures too.

Cheers

My twin tanks between the chassis rails under the floor hold about 75 usable.

My side petrol tank holds 40 litres.

Cheers

The ES is not that different to checking out a standard S.1 disco.
Over base, you get leather, sunroofs and abs/cruise although you can get the latter on many lower spec cars as well.

The rear sunroof on mine leaks but only if the car is pointing down hill.

check for rust around the alpine windows.

As with ozscott I get 75 ltrs gas and 40 petrol. The gas capacity will change slightly with ambient temperature changes.

The engine should be relatively quiet. Auto should change smoothly. Power steering should turn wheels effortlessly.

If it does not come with a rwc, checck that all the windows work and that the doors lock/unlock with the remote.

Bottom line,
Get car checked no matter what we say.
Thats a must.
LPG will use more L/KM than Petrol.
25L/100 is average.
tyres are not cheap.
Definition of cheap is something well below average.
$219 is not cheap. $99 is though.

My Michelins cost $410 a corner.
Great tyre since most of my driving is on road. Thats like most other Discos.

Been using them for 10 years now and are standard fitment.

They are great cars, go for it.
remember though, there will always be another.

If you go for the Mich' tyres you are going to bleed a bit....they are not worth it in my opinion, even though they are a very good tyre for their standard size.

As for tyres generally, where do you get a $99 tyre for any 4wd that works reasonably, as I would like to know. Compare the costs of other mid to large 4wds - most use tyres larger or much larger (therefore more expensive in a given brand) than the standard 235/70/16 of the D1.

Cheers

Thanks very much for all your advice, unfortunately somebody has now bought it so I'll just have to keep looking.

Thanks

D

All the advice will apply to any d1 v8.Also there will be some play in drive line but not to much.Drive as many as you can and you will soon know.