for those thinking about LPG here is my feedback

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Originally Posted by gasman

I have had 2 dedicated gas Ford utes and still have an RTV. Reason for joining Landie club is I want to go the Birdsville races this year, but there is no gas outback. Want a rangie.
Anyhow just about had enough of LPG as the hp is way down and sick of the back firing even from a factory fit.
Another thing is the price. Out in the bush the cost is horrific, so their is no point especially when the Gov is increasing the tax this year by 2.5 cents/ltr.
Just watch the servo's gouge the price and blame it on the tax.

Anyway, I think LPG will be superseeded as CNG is the go, if we can get the polies out of big oils pockets.
250 years supply of the stuff and we are selling it off like a brides nightie to the world, but are too dumb to use it ourselves. Typical.

Is available in Melbourne, but no where else at the moment. A home fill company tried to set up, but there are too many scare mongers out there lobbying on behalf of bigoil, so it didn't take off.
The Kiwi's have been running on the stuff for years.
Check it out, you will be suprised

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I am not surprised your Fords have been slow, why Ford continues with restrictive gas mixer systems is beyond me. The backfiring is much to do with the weak coil packs Ford insists on using. The only way to reduce backfiring is to reduce plug gaps. Bosch now recommend a gap of 0.7mm on lpg which reduces the electrical load on the coils and still runs well.

As far as CNG is concerned, having seen the restrictive mixers AMOS in NZ once made for CNG, the future will lie with electronic injection systems. When market forces decree we need CNG in new cars then we will be importing stuff from countries where it's already common practice.

BTW if you want a long range rangie get a diesel 300tdi converted classic, my mate swears by his:):):).

My 2c worth.
We have had 3 lpg vehicles, A 1976 (20 years old) 5.0 statesman which I had converted and used to do the commute from the gong to sydney for 3 years, 150,000k's later traded in. A 1998 prado which was converted by the previous owner 12 months before we bought it and I sold last year for my defender. And a 2003 prado with the gas injection that we had converted after we bought it in 2006 and have just sold it for a burb delivery multivan(3.9(due sept) kids needed more space).
On the statesman it used around 20l / 100k's and cost the same as my old camry to run to sydney(excluding servicing).
The 98 prado had the same type of gas system and would backfire(it had a stretch rubber sock on intake fitted to absorb this) if it was running to rich. In a toy this causes the air filter box to open and then the sensors will not let you start the car. This was using about 17-20l/100k's.
The 03 prado had the 4.0 v6 and the gas injection this used 15-16l/100k's and you could not tell the difference between lpg and premium.
My original lpg mech. who was to honest for his own good said basically using any type of fuel lube on a car built for unleaded was a waste of $$ as the older type engines needed the lead as a luberication for the valves whereas the new engines valves where designed to operate with no lube from the fuel. The oil in an lpg car should be cleaner as you dont get any residue left behind but if you have just converted the soot my be crap burnt off the inside of the cylinder left behind by bad fuel or a bad set of rings allowing to much oil into combustion chamber.One other thing is after 10 years in NSW all gas tanks must be pressure tested.
The gas injection was literally light years ahead of the old systems and I would recomend it to anyone with a petrol car who does more than 15k's per year. This cost us about $4k with the 2500 back from the govt it paid for itself in 1 year(we did 90,000k's during the time we owned it so figure the savings at around $9000+ over 3 years compared to a straight petrol).
One final point in favour of LPG is that you CANNOT get a bad batch of gas as compared to diesel/petrol! :) Having said that both our cars are now diesel!

P.s ford went the cheap and nasty on their lpg cars(how the hell does a ford get 20l/100 when my 2.1ton prado could do 15???:eek:) fitting the cheapest old style system so that it was basically "free" with the Govt. rebate whereas holden went the injection system which is much better, much more economical and safer but costs around $2k more so ford gets more sales due to most being company cars whose purchase decisions are made by BMW 318i driving acountants.;)

[QUOTE=frantic;
One final point in favour of LPG is that you CANNOT get a bad batch of gas as compared to diesel/petrol! [/QUOTE]

If only that was true...wax/bitumen contamination, high levels of butane and other sundry hydrocarbons etc... not common but problems happen often enough to put some people off gas.
One of my customers had to visit me every time after they bought gas at their local servo so I could unstick the valves inside the converter and make it start again. So she went home again, being told to avoid the local. Hubby promptly filled up there again and so she came back again. Some suppliers are much better than others, my local BP has never sold me bad gas.