LPG

[Dogsey]

What are the advantages of converting a car to run on LPG? Obviously the fuel cost is lower and I believe (possibly wrongly) that the performance isn't quite as good but is there anything else to think about?

Also, does converting a car to run on LPG effect insurance premiums or RFL bracket?

Cheers.

[Dogsey]

Anyone?

[Silver940]

Downside, fill up often as the spare wheel well tanks are that big. ~250miles from a tank. Also the car ends up so cheap to run you struggle to justify changing to something else, on 191k miles now!

LPG is creeping up, between 63.9 and 74.9 on my route to work.

Don't notice the power hit at all. Get about 28mpg rather than 32 on petrol.

Golf 1.8T

[Fire99]

Insurance is down to the individual insurer. Some are picky, others aren't. Unfortunately, there's no hard n fast rule.

LPG does put more strain on your ignition system (by as much as double). Many cars won't have any issue but cars like my Jeep need better HT Leads than the normal ones you can buy from a motor factors (they only last 1k miles). OEM standard ignition parts are fine.

There is an LPG filter that needs changing every 12k miles or so but mine are 15 quid for two so not expensive. The system is heated by the engine coolant so some specialists advise in cold weather to warm the car up on petrol before switching to LPG.

Other than that, it's easier on emissions than petrol (No CAT test). Not much else really.

[Dogsey]

Thanks guys.

Fire99 said:

Insurance is down to the individual insurer. Some are picky, others aren't. Unfortunately, there's no hard n fast rule.

So insurance will potentially go up? Bugger. I take it tax stays the same as a standard non-LPG version then?

[Silver940]

My insurance stayed the same, just needed the installation certificate.

[Denis O]

You won't be able to go through the channel tunnel ever again

[Dogsey]

Denis O said:

You won't be able to go through the channel tunnel ever again

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Actually this won't be for the main car, I'm just considering a Defender / Discovery for the winter and have seen a few V8's with LPG conversions done and am now just working out how much it's going to cost to run / what possible problems there will be.

[Dino D]

There has been a few lengthy threads with good info about LPG lately - just pop LPG into the search function and they should pop up.

[entwisi]

In 9 years of LPG cars I never had an insurance co put the cost up due to LPG. They do want a copy of the install cert though so they know its been done correctly.

I've covered ~ 250K miles on LPG and it simply allows you to drive nicer cars at derv prices. There was no way I could have afforded to do my 120 miles/day commute in a 4.2 V8 A8 if it hadn't been on LPG...

[Matt UK]

Running a petrol barge I looked in to this and there are the obvious benefits... but seemed like a lot of hassle as well.

For a start I reaslised I'd have to do a lot of research and become an expert just to find what system would be best for my car. Then I had to find a good installer who knew my car and the system I wanted. The reaslied it would need a seperate service for it and probably pop back for tweaks after it was installed. Then my trusted Indy told me he'd never touch the car again if it turned up with an LPG kit.

Then I got bored with the whole idea.