TD6 map or chip?

[C8PPO]

Apologies if this has been asked before (probably!) but rather strangely, the PH Search function is down....

I currently have a 4.6 P38 as a second car, and the plan is to sell the main car and this and replace both with an L322. Now, MPG aside, I love the 4.6 petrol, it has the right sort of power for the car to be able to respond when required. I've tried one L322 diesel - and I didn't like it. Apart from the engine noise, the performance is, well, a little inadequate. I think, broadly, it's the difference between 8s for the petrol and 12s for the diesel?

So, I'd like a petrol one really. And I have/am considering LPG. I don't think I can run to a TDV8 at the moment (budget is around £20-22k). So, is there a third way? Assuming I can live with the diesel noise, can I chip or map the TD6 to give decent results? And what might those be? Anywhere up there with the petrol? And finally, what effect will that have on the consumption?

Thanks for all that!

[JONLINE]

Have a superchipped TD6 and to be honest if I hadnt of had it chipped it would have been sold by now.
Im more than happy with it now - extra 28bhp - which doesnt mean much, but 100lb of extra torque

http://www.superchips.co.uk/curves/td6.pdf

It makes it a nice car to drive and pretty quick (for 2 tons), worth looking into if you only have TD6 money and not TDV8.

Fuel consump - about 27-28 on a run.

[A.J.M]

JE-Engineering do a very good remap on the td6.
Also by fitting an EGR blaning kit, it will help the engine and improve response and mpg from it.

[West4x4]

the gearboxes on these aint the strongest so give it a service before any boost to the engine

[bozmandb9]

Get a Supercharged model, and get it converted to LPG. Loads of people will tell you that you'd be mad, the engine will be destroyed, the sky will fall on your head, etc etc. The Jaguar Supercharged is REPUTED to have soft cylinder liners etc. However I had mine converted, and it was fantastic. In fact I'm now buying another and getting it converted, I had to sell due to financial reasons, which no longer apply.

The LPG'd Supercharged gives equivalent to 25-30 mpg (12 to 17 mpg on LPG at around 70 pence per litre), so is probably better economy wise than a diesel. That is when it's being driven enthusiastically too, I suspect most TD6's are driven with very light right feet in order to try to approach 25 mpg.

Worst case scenario, if the doom mongers were right, you might be in for a new hardened cylinder head for a Supercharged, which costs around £3k fitted. I was saving £50-£100 per week on LPG. The installation was £2,500 all in.

Only downside is the range, you'll get 200-300 miles per tank of LPG, however you can always combine it with a tank of petrol as well, double the range, and just not get quite the cost saving.

The other upside of converting an S/C is that it really is the daddy of the 'Range'. Virtually everything comes as standard, and it looks better than the Vogue. If you do a search you may find the CarPool feature I did on my first S/C for Pistonheads.

[C8PPO]

All interesting stuff, thanks. I haven't been able to shift my current car in the classifieds, so the week after next I'll be seeing what's for sale in dealerships and whether I can stomach the PX offers around at the moment! Thanks for the input though, I'll consider all this (the SC option does have a definite appeal, if the engine issues are covered - is this all to do with LPG pre-lube?)

[camel_landy]

LPG - It's the combination of the extra 'oomph' required from the HT system to generate the spark and carbon deposits which cause the problems on an LPG conversion.

If the engine has been run for a while on petrol, the build up of carbon deposits cause hot-spots. You don't necessarily need hardened heads, they just need to be clean.

As for the HT system... If you have any problems after a conversion, change the HT leads (for the best that money can buy!!!) and then the coil packs. LPG requires significantly more power for the spark to start the burn and as such, LPG is much harder on the HT system.

HTH

M

[bozmandb9]

C8PPO said:

All interesting stuff, thanks. I haven't been able to shift my current car in the classifieds, so the week after next I'll be seeing what's for sale in dealerships and whether I can stomach the PX offers around at the moment! Thanks for the input though, I'll consider all this (the SC option does have a definite appeal, if the engine issues are covered - is this all to do with LPG pre-lube?)

I think it's largely to do with the quality of the installation, the knowledge of the installer, and the capacity of the kit.

The first kit I had on an S/C was inadequate, leading to engine light issues, and not able to deal with full power (remember it's 400 bhp), so this was removed, and replaced with a BRC kit with two high capacity reducers, and high capacity injectors, all capable of fuelling engines up to 480 bhp.

Also, as you said, a good flashlube system is advisable. I went for the BRC electronic lubrication system which worked very well with the BRC kit.

I don't know about these hotspots, but there are another four guys running supercharged full fats on the fullfatrr.com website, without apparent issues, and I spoke to other owners who had run them for up to 170k miles without any issues, also it's quite common to see converted supercharged Jag's, which do after all have the same engine.