Has anyone had any experience of LPG conversions on their daily driver? Any pros or cons? Im looking at an ex council van that is Bi fuel, so diesel and LPG. I don't know anyone that's used LPG so open to opinions or experience. I wouldn't even know where to go to get the LPG for the vehicle?

Although I have never had a LPG vehicle, I have looked into it a bit.

Assuming it is a manufacturer fitted option or a proper aftermarket job - and if it was done for the council, it should be proper.

Cons are not being able to use the Channel Tunnel and may have a small impact on your insurance.

Pros are cleaner burning (put it in for an MOT switched to LPG and the station have to test it on LPG, so fewer worries about emissions) and less muck in your engine. Still runs on petrol, so you don't have to worry about finding an LPG station on a journey, if you are running low. The big one is fuel cost - Currently unleaded is about 129p here, while LPG is about 66p. Okay you get fewer miles per litre (maybe as much as a 1/3 less), but at half the price per litre.

For me, most garages around here don't have it, but a Shell one on the A road does - so it'd be 3 miles to the garage (assuming I'm not passing anyway) instead of 1.2

For me, if I'd gone that route, it'd probably save me about 900 pounds per year on 15,000 miles.

Thanks for the reply mate. Im assuming it was done in the correct fashion by the council as it is recorded as Bi fuel on MOts and Ulez sites etc

You mention Shell....im pretty sure they opted out of stocking LPG due to lack of demand but im willing to be corrected

Luckily, i live about 2 miles from my towns only LPG stockist and i work around 500m from an Esso that stocks LPG. Ive no idea on prices though.

Ive just noticed that the Bi fuel for the van i was talking about is petrol LPG not diesel LPG.

I'm pretty sure that it was still at my local Shell garage recently - I can see the pump and the updated price as I drive past - although I have seen that they are pulling out of the market.

Some supermarkets sell it and some dedicated LPG suppliers. I suppose the question is, do you have any outlets near you?

Never had any experience with LPG and Diesel engines but have worked on a few petrol engines, several of them have had burnt valves. Shell seem to be removing LPG pumps according to some motorhome forums and supplies are very haphazard at the moment

My dad converted a BMW 535i to port gas injected lpg.

Ran perfectly for years and was sold on at about 300k miles with no issues.

Slightly lower on power.

Lpg was available locally but when not it had a full size pistol tank anyway.

b4 committing to anything I would check out local LPG availability & whether it is likely to be ongoing.

My daughter recently bought a car which just happens to have an LPG conversion, she didn't buy it for that reason, simply that it was a good car at a very reasonable price. We both thought the lpg would be a nice bonus as id would be a substantial saving on fuel, however, she only uses the car locally, typically within a few miles radius, the nearest LPG station is over 12 miles away & , due to location, probably half an hour away. Hence she's never actually used the LPG at all & once run out the car makes annoying beeps at you whilst warming up to tell you it hasn't switched to LPG (they always start up on petrol)

If yopu regularly driving big distances then you'll probably find LPG on your route somewhere, so the above may not affect you, but LPG does seem to be becoming less & less widely available - I doubt it will disappear entirely as I believe camper vans use it for heating systems etc & many have a dedicated tank for that purpose, but it is definitely on a decline

Bucks LPG Stations

I'm not sure if these are just the dedicated fuel places, we also found that lots of industrial gas distribution centres would fill us up too, usually at a cheaper price than a forecourt.

As said above, if your travelling around the country a fair bit, there's plenty of filling stations with it. With a V8 it's a no brainer and no issues at all in several 100k miles

If only staying local in a small/economical/doing low miles car without a filling station handy, forget it.

Our local garage has a side business in LPG conversions, they seem to have a steady supply of cars being converted;

https://www.hiltonautogas.com/lpg-conversions/

Interestingly their webpage suggests they've been having trouble with some modern European engines. They also quote prices, for example £1500 + VAT for a 4 pot. That would make it very easy to work out how many miles you'd have to do before you broken even.

I have a Lexus 4x4 V6 and a 7.4Ltr motorhome running on it with no issues.
As said find your local filling site, Most Shell BP etc etc charge way way to much. Find the local taxi firm who have setup a site.
My local BP 69p per Ltr but where i use owned by local taxi firm with huge tanks 52p per Ltr.

My lexus daily drive was installed when new with a Lexus approved system never an issue.
it does 22mpg average on petrol when i run the conversion through i get the equivalent of 65mpg running it on LPG.
there are a huge number of sites around the country but like electric charge points you may have to go off route to fill up, or just use petrol for 100 miles till an Lpg is on route. However running on petrol for a number of miles is not a bad thing to keep the system lubed up and working.
My best advice is always fit the biggest possible tank OR TANKS you can, taxi drivers with small tanks always moaning they need to fill up but my Lexus with a 90ltr tank lasts me a week easily.

LPG is an excellent alternative while they work out that electric is doomed and Hydrogen is the way forward Apparently.

I ran a honda civic and Subaru legacy on LPG a few years back - intially gas was 17p l and petrol 47p, but petrol went up and gas stayed the same for years.

Honda from new to 237k, needed about 20% more fuel/mile on LPG and felt a little less torqey. I used to let the gas run out and then run on petrol until I could refill to ensure valves got a bit of lubrication, so 95% on gas 5% on petrol overall. No issues running on gas.
Subaru I ran for about 80k on LPG, car had 50k on when I converted it. Fuel consumption and power were identical. It eventually died due to piston ring oil seal failure which there was a rumour may have been down to using LPG. Apparently the rally team support vehicles were run on LPG and they had some failures of a similar type. Maybe this is due to the flat 4 design.

You could go on the channel tunnel and ferries when I had mine, but you had to isolate the gas tank. The location of the isolating valve meant this was easy on the Honda, but the subaru one was next to the tank in the spare wheel well, which meant emptying the boot, so may be worth checking the regs. No one ever asked or checked if the car was on LPG or not.

Regards
Hugh

Thanks for the replies chaps. I need to do a bit more digging by the sound of it to see if its a viable option.

This whole running it on petrol every so often serves no purpose, the lubrication from petrol only comes while you're running on petrol, 5 minutes after switching to lpg you're essentially running petrol free as it will have evaporated off and any residue well gone. If damage was going to occur, it would occur during the lpg use.

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Originally posted by procomp.

LPG is an excellent alternative while they work out that electric is doomed and Hydrogen is the way forward Apparently.

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We have a motor home with on board gas tank. Morrisons supermarkets were a useful source but there are less outlets. We fill up at a local garage but there’s plenty about- various apps are available showing nearest lpg sellers. Quite a few are tucked away on industrial estates rather than in the middle of the high street

quote:

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Originally posted by procomp

LPG is an excellent alternative while they work out that electric is doomed and Hydrogen is the way forward Apparently.

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quote:

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Originally posted by procomp
LPG is an excellent alternative while they work out that electric is doomed and Hydrogen is the way forward Apparently.

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