Has anyone done an LPG conversion to a T5?

[310336gixxer]

As the title says, has anyone done an LPG conversion to a T5 ?

I was up Fort William parked in McDonalds of all places and spotted a new LHD V70R with what appeared to be an LPG filler cap on his car. On speaking to the driver, (tourist), he confirmed it was an aftermarket multi point LPG conversion, which worked a treat. He raved about it and said there was no noticable difference from petrol.

I thought, or rather had been told, that LPG didn't work with high pressure turbos.

Has anyone done one or got a T5 with one fitted and if so can anyone recommend a reputable fitter who knows what they are doing ?

[madness]

i have never seen a multi point one however have seen some really poor t5 conversions. they up the boost to compensate for the gas .

[Wobbly Dave]

From what I have seen the long term viability of the engine is compromised by using LPG and you can't tune them.

[wellsy]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1996-VOLVO-850...QQcmdZViewItem

here is one i found on e bay ,such a shame a nice 850r ruined by a lpg conversion ,which by the look of the description is not working correctly.
we have a fleet of brand new mercedes sprinters that all come with a genuine mercedes lpg conversion ,these vans have been nothing but trouble i dont think a week has gone by when one of them has'nt been to the dealer for some problem caused by the lpg system although the price of lpg is cheap at the moment i think the downtime you seem to get with these conversions is very poor.
cheers wellsy.

[lil_me]

I was talking to the garage that looks after our lpg taxis on monday about putting a conversion on the Volvo.

His explanation was

It can be done but performance will be lost at top end of rev range, overall bhp and torque would be lower on the gas, his answer was run it on lpg until you want to have a play then switch it over to petrol, seen as the gas system has a totally seperate ecu it wont effect the running, each system is mapped on the car specifically for the car. That way you get the fuel economy and the get up and go when you want to use it.

Only downside I could see is the fact lpg system needs servicing fairly regularly. Hence I am there on a regular basis if anyone wants any further info. This fitter is in Durham, can't fault the work. You didn't say where you are from so I don't know how local this is to you.

[310336gixxer]

I'm up in Scotland, have you any idea of how much he's quoting ?

I didn't realise the ECU's worked entirely seperately, but that would suit me fine, use the lpg for the mundane journeys to work and petrol for fun !

If the ECU's work independantly then I dare say you could run a RICA and 98 RON without any problems.

[audimadmike]

I have always been considering a conversion as I drive 50,000 miles a year so at around £1500 would see the benefits after a few months, only trouble now is, I have a car thats probably only worth about £1500!!

There is another reason some may have a conversion done.. if you have lpg heating you can get a filler for the car and get the fuel for around 25p per litre as there is less or no duty/tax when its used for the home. Obviously you should be declaring the amount used for the car! (yeah right!)

Mike

[lil_me]

I don't know how much it would be or if it'd run with the RICA etc, if you want to give them a ring

CLS Duel Fuel Ltd
Auton Stile, Bear Park, Durham, County Durham DH7 7AL
Tel: 0191 3849629

We don't do OTT miles in the Volvo at the minute as we are running the 2 cars but the way petrol prices are rocketing up here its 95.9 in a station close to me and its mean't to be £1.24/litre in parts of cumbria arleady it might be worth considering. We also discussed with him doing lpg on a American Muscle car, was sooooo tempted.

I think regardless of what the car cost if I did high miles and was keeping the car long enough to see the savings, I would consider it, if I was going to save money. Rather than seeing it as an investment into a car thats only worth say 1000, see it as what I am saving by doing it.

[310336gixxer]

Thanks very much guys, i'm thinking about chopping my ex plod S70 in for a newer ex plod V70, i'll be hanging onto it for a few years and racking up about 23k miles a year, so i think it will be well worth looking into it. If I go ahead i'll maybe post a blow by blow thread of the install and get some dyno runs done as if unleaded prices keep climbing, i'm sure a few others will feel the draw towards LPG !!

If anyone else has any opinions...........

(£1.24 a litre for unleaded ????????????? thats got to be the highest in the country.... surely ?)

[Al115]

LPG = not allowed on the Eurotunnel (which may or may not bother you, but it would definitely bother me! )

[Al115]

Plus, I thought that I had heard that government support and the associated tax break for LPG was being gradually phased out? Anyone else heard this or am I imagining things again?...

[Vikingxl]

I've heard that as well but cant remember the dates.All you have to do is look at diesel though as i can remember that being massively cheaper than petrol and then as diesel cars became more popular up came the price and now in a lot of places its more than unleaded so you could end up spending a lot of money only to find you are saving nothing.Be careful and see if you can find more info on the tax issues.

[lil_me]

I don't think the government supported scheme is still in action

Some info on http://www.greenfuel.org.uk/faqs/ including savings calculator etc , I don't know how accurate this info is of course, and there is no guarantee that prices will not rise of course.

Yes you are correct Eurotunnel currently does no accept converted LPG cars but I have been told that they are going to accept the ones which are LPG from new soon or already have so only time will tell if they will eventually do so. But you can take them on ferry journeys as far as I am aware