LPG???

[Dingo T Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Dingo T]

G'day!

i was thinking of getting the LPG conversion but before i go ahead with it all id just like to get some of your thoughts on it? Does anyone recomend it? Or does anyone give it the no deal? I do a fair bit of country driving aswell as alot of round town driving, and seeing as fuel prices are going rite up id like to know if its worth it or not...
cheers

Dingo

[prado4x4 Member Find all posts View Profile Close prado4x4]

I enquired about it once. As soon as I was told they take out the sub-tank to put in the gas cylinder I stopped thinking about it.

Anything that's actually going to reduce my range on long outback trips (where diesel is avail, unleaded is difficult to find, and gas is next to impossible to obtain), put me off.

If you're only using it around towns/highways runs, then it may be a viable option. Can't help much more.

John

[ad69 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close ad69]

lpg

Hi Dingo T

I bought a second hand '97 petrol with lpg conversion done 18 months ago.

In the city its great, 35 bucks a gas gets me more often than not the same distance as 75 bucks a petrol (premium)
I notice no difference in the note of the motor or any less power at all (an I tow a trailer of tools)

Gliding around a corner though, between gears in neutral and your revs drop, when on gas idle speed sometimes doesnt have enough power for the power steering and by now your in mid corner - dash lights come on, engine stalls and your wrestling a pregnant crocodile around the bend. Eyebrow raiser at first, had the gas system serviced but still doing it.

Heard opinions the engine runs hotter on gas , mine has been fine, mostly city driving though.
4wd driving I would keep on petrol
However we are planning to go to kunnanurra and gibb river road and I'm fretting already about the lack of gas out here. And if i do find it it wont be cheap. Its already 92cents per liter by the time you get to Reagens Ford just north of Perth.
Currently designing on napkin how to use my 9kg gas bottle as back up gas supply - only thing I 've proved is they never put 250 napkins in a packof 250!

Lots of city driving - its economical - fill up when its cool
Cooks your motor over a couple of years cos it burns hotter? I dont know that yet but mine hasn't complained once of over heating.
Range? that is my main dilemma at the moment, so I guess its jerry cans for me and buy gas when ever I see it

I love driving it and on gas its cheaper than my old rodeo Hy torque 4 cly ute
Adam

[lc120_man Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close lc120_man]

Just do your sums.. All depends where you leave, how many km you do a
year and that cost and availability of lpg in your area...
I got lpg and still managed to do some remote trips around Aus like
Madigan Line and Hay River....

[plucker Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close plucker]

Can be hard to get in remote regions, but when available is cheaper.

[Dingo T Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Dingo T]

cheers for all your feedback!!!

Does anyone know if you can keep both your standard fuel tanks and have a gas tank aswell in the boot of the car???

Dingo

[Pedro Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pedro]

My previous vehicle was an 80 series and it was dual fuel (petrol.gas)

When i drove it I was wrapped in the cheaper price of LPG to Petrol .
However, when we went on trip to Broome , I found i had to pull up at every town that had an LPG servo because the range was anywhere between 300/400kg towing the van.

With the 180l tank on D4D , i went to S.A. and was able to travel through towns without worry.

From my spreadsheet shows the distance between fills (couldn't show all the spreadsheet with any clarity)
Travelled
617
712
449
657
483
641
812
795
1012
782
956
771
583


If you are not going on a big trip to the inland LPG might be the way to go .

By the way what are you driving?

[Dingo T Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Dingo T]

cheers pedro!

im driving a 1998 prado GXL done about 180 000 kms...i bought it in october last year. Very happy with it.. just spending less on it fuel wise would be very hand at the moment... i live in perth and ill be doing a couple of trips up to exmouth and karratha a year and down to margret river once or twice a year aswell. thats why id like to keep my fuel tanks for the country and use the lpg for around town because i do a fair bit of it. driving to work everyday is stop start stop start with all the traffic lights and the car likes to drink a fair bit doin that...

Dingo

[Pedro Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pedro]

Dingo,
With LPG it needs to be run on petrol for about 30k's a week.

I had my sub tank on the 80 series removed because otherwise room in the back would have been greatly reduced.

Ended up with 90l LPG and from memory about 95l for main tank. On petrol it was pretty thirsty , so that is why I installed gas.

On trip to Broome , before I had a big backfire on LPG, I used mainly the gas and then had to run on Petrol only.

Backfire followed an arc in spark plug wires after engine had been washed down by a mechanic.

If you go LPG be careful of spark plugs you use and make sure the correct spark plug leads are used.

Check out my full report, there are some interesting comments.
Importantly get the installation done by an EXPERT and I mean EXPERT.
Ring the State manager of the brand ( i had an Impco) and ask for their specialist installer.


http://www.exploroz.com/Forum/Topic/...r%2bR%26pn%3d4

[lc120_man Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close lc120_man]

When using LPG you just need a little bit more planning for long/outback trips...
I.e. I would normally find out where the lpg petrol stations are in the area
I am going to via www.lpgaustralia.com.au lpg finder link. And if there are none in the area,
I would find where the last one is and fill full lpg tank there.
From there on I would travel only on Petrol so that I would have a full range...

Your rear fuel tank would be about 60 liters, so if you can fit about 80 liters usable LPG tank in the rear that should give you the same range as your old 60 liters petrol tank....

[ad69 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close ad69]

Does any one know why gas has been going up so fast.

When I bought my dual prado about a year ago gas was 52c /liter at the right servo. Now its 72c/liter. Thats a 20cent increase in a year which is aprrox 40% increase.

There aint no middle east war strangling the price of world wide gas . in fact, we got mountains of it sitting under our jurisdiction of WA.

I can remember diesel being a real cheap option, about half the cost of petrol( back in the day when the diesel Gemini was a sporty little number). Many people purchased diesel viehcles with good reason. Then once everyone was on the diesel drip low and behold the cost has been steadily rising to the point where it has surpassed petrol / liter

I cant help but feel us gas users are going to follow the same path. Gas companies run the price low, conversions free etc. Then once we are all financially and emotionally committed - up goes the price and its going up before my very eyes. Where like the heroin user and auto gas companies are the heroin dealers. They give us cheap gear for a bit and then once we are online - us gas drones will end up paying thru the nose. not to mention a tax exemption on gas that expires in a few years I think.

I know theres inflation and all the other costs to why prices rise - but theres no war causing gas shortage and we have a lot of it

I hear the investment arm of the Singapore Gov is buying up big in our gas supplies and companies, high prices would be the only thing on there agenda. (meanwhile the Chinese Gov. investment arm are buying up our iron ore stores and infrastructure)

Petrol prices still dominate media discussion but I am alarmed at seeing whats happening at the gas bowser and I am interested to hear what the realistic driving forces are behind this.

I reckon gas CEO's are watching from above and and have a couple of years to go on their 10 year plan to get a large number of auto gas junkies off the petrol market and then really start sucking as dry.

I am a happy - go lucky, black humored cynic, does anyone have a better take on the gas situation to give me reason to offer a mental apology to Gas CO. CEO's

I think I feel better

Ad

[plucker Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close plucker]

Read today in the paper that someone had a gas install done by someone dodgy. 2 years later and still having problems the warranty runs out. Vehicle is still not working good.
The moral of the story is go to someone who is an expert which will make the whole experience worthwhile for you.
With a petrol tank still in and the ability to run petrol, even if you cant find gas in remote spots you should still find petrol. If it is only every now and then, the cost of the gas install will probably pay for itself.

[Dingo T Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Dingo T]

i agree!
i hear from alot of people that say to make sure you go somewhere good and make sure they know what there doing because there is some dodgy jobs out there. And thats coming from a bloke at my work who used to be a gas conversion fitter. Has anyone heard of a VSI kit? suposed to be a direct gas injection and apparently its worth spending the extra dollars to get that kit for 4WDs...Ive been told you dont lose as much power and the fuel consumption isnt as heavy...

dingo

[lc120_man Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close lc120_man]

Dingo,

I got SVI system on my 120. It cost almost double, but pretty much set and forget system. Start automatically on petrol and then switches on to gas once the water temperature reaches about 35 deg...
I am not sure if you can get one for 90 series Prado as I haven't seen any SVI kits for 90 series...

[carrot Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close carrot]

Does any one know why gas has been going up so fast.

In Sydney it was 50ish last year, then 75, but it's back down to about 66ish cents now. Maybe it'll come down over there too.

How often should the LPG system be serviced? What's involved, and how much does it cost?