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Lpg Conversion (Is300)


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not askin you or anyone to bend over for me mate thought i'll chip in my 5 cent as i also contemplated going down the gasing route but changed my mind and like i said I am happy with petrol so what ever floats your boat mate!

oh and some work on he manors definately wouldnt go amiss

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So I guess this has been running long enough for anyone with sound technical reasons why LPG shouldn't work on this engine to have said so by now.

Nobody knows what diagnostics to use for the cars engine management, nobody knows what the inlet manifold us made of, nobody can offer a sound reason why their particular conversion miss behaved or what the problems/symptoms where...?

Yet an over whelming proportion say, it doesn't work on this engine.

Ok, your the experts here, fair enough. Now can anybody tell me why LPG doesn't work on this engine ?

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Simply because there are not many of these in the UK & still fewer where people have tried LPG. People are wary because it generally has proved to not be a universally brilliant idea. This is to some extent explained by very, very few car manufacturers ever having bothered with it and low development-budget suppliers of kits etc. relying on punters for their quality & compatibility data.

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Maybe I should try a more knowledgable section

http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=76557&st=0

These guys clearly don't agree with you. And nor do I!

If you had a more factually based opinion, then fair enough, but your opinion is based on nothing more than arrogance and bigotry afaict. Not one valid technical reason offered. No personal experience.

Great, I'm sure the admins here are proud to have you. ;D

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I had my RX converted over a year and 20,000 miles ago and everything seems fine, including flash lube system, start-ups, switching over, running etc. Noticed a slight increase in exhaust fumes. Great in town, on the motorway, use it for work, no problems at all.

Andy

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Personally i feel lpg is very worth while cash wise. I've been considering doing the conversion for some time and recent circumstances have made my mind up for me

As a general rule of thumb i ignore most neigh sayers as on closer inspection of alleged facts most dont hold water.

Is it just me or have recent calculations on these forums ignored the important imo factor of the ppl of gas compared to petrol!

My vote is go for it if you are keeping the car for a couple years or so.

Pros

~ Cheaper per litre.

~ Greener, cleaner fuel.

~ Good for most engines.

~ Longer range due to two tanks.

~ Will increase resale value of larger engined vehicles.

~ Did I mention cheaper per litre.

Cons

~ Initial conversion costs.

~ Less service stations compared to petrol but getting much more common every week.

~ Pub experts who quite frankly know jack S**t and think google is something to do with cricket!

I would personally be grateful if people who have actually converted to gas would share their thoughts and experiences as this is the power of these forums to inform.

Thanks and sorry if it sounded like a rant and for gods sake NEVER ask me about insurance costs! :-)

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Been thinking a while now to convert mine as well as I love the car. Think its a good solution for rising fuel prices and if you fit a good system you wont have much problem with it.

Friend of mine converted his 200 couple of months ago and keep saying should have done sooner. He says cant tell when the car runs on petrol or gas, it uses petrol on startup and switches to gas automatically when the engine is warm enough. The tank is in the spare wheel hole and the filling is hidden next to the petrol cap.

I do long journeys twice a year so it should pay for itself quick but dont know what system to use to stay hassle free? Would be a DIY installation...

lpg2.jpg

lpg1f.jpg

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If you read my previous two posts you will notice I used the word ‘example’ so no this calculations will not apply to everyone hence I said its fictional figures but my calculations are definitely accurate.

Will use my self as an example to make things easy for you:. Before I got my IS300 it cost me exactly £100 a month to fill up my ford cougar V6 on upgrading to an IS300 it cost me exactly £120 a month to fill up on petrol for work. So this means my monthly fuel expense has increased by £20 a month after my upgrade to an IS300.

Now I get a quote of £1000 inc VAT from an LPG conversion specialist to convert my IS300 to LPG so on getting back home I decided to work the cost of LPG conversion (£1000) against the cost of my increased fuel expense (£20) to see if by having the conversion done works out cheaper against me paying £20 more for petrol over the course of 3 years which is how long I am looking to keep the car for.

So It will cost £1000 for an LPG conversion and £40 a month to fill it up with Gas. 12 months makes 1 year so for 3 years it would cost me 12 months * 3 to make 36 months * my £40 a month Gas cost which works out £1140.

12months*3yrs = 36months 36months* £40 a month = £1140 + the intial LPG Cconversion cost of £1000 = £2140. So as you can see it will cost me £2140 if I am looking to run my car on LPG for 3 years.

Now If I decide not to convert to an LPG on the IS300 but rather pay the fuel expense increase of £20 at the petrol pumps after my upgrade to IS300 to make up for not having an LPG, will work out £720 over a 3 year period.

So using the same formula as above, 12 months makes 1 year so for 3 years it would cost me 12 months * 3 to make 36 months * my £20 a month petrol cost for driving an IS300 over ford cougar V6 which works out £720.

There you have it. It cost me £20 more a month to drive an IS300 over a ford cougar V6 which based on that amount works out to be £720 over 3 years but will cost me £2140 for an LPG coversion + cost of filling up GAS over the same 3 year period if I decide to fore go paying Mr.Shell £20 more for unleaded fuel and convert to GAS. :phone: hope this clears things up

You say your monthly fuel expense is £120 so if you would stay on petrol for the next 3 years it would cost you £4320 (£120 * 36 months) in total

...but if you would go for the LPG conversion it would cost you £2140 for the same period, but lets say £2500 in total, so there would be over £1800 saving on fuel over 3 years, am I right???

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Finally. Exactly right Koko.

What on earth is he talking about..?

Interested to know what size that tank is btw. Does it take advantage of the elevated boot floor?

Lets try & get the figures something like right (hopefully)

The idea that LPG conversion will convert £120/month petrol cost to £40/month LPG cost is just plain ridiculous. It isn't physically possible.

LPG average cost 78p/l. Petrol average cost 145p/litre - Figures published as at 22/03/12

So if your petrol costs are £120/month; over 3 years if prices stay the same, fuel cost is 120 X 36 = £4320

The same number of litres of LPG will cost 78/145 X 4320 if prices stays the same, and amounts to £2324 - but LPG has 25% less energy so you will have to buy 25% more - so total LPG fuel cost becomes £2905.

You can see that at current prices, actual LPG fuel cost is 31% lower than the petrol cost for any distance you travel - this will vary a little depending on the efficiency obtained by the LPG system installed so that the saving could be less, but is unlikely to be better.

If your LPG conversion costs in total £1000; 3 year expenditure becomes £3905, giving an overall saving of £415.

If your LPG conversion costs in total £2000; 3 year expenditure becomes £4905; giving no saving at all but an overall increase of £585.

So the financial viability of your LPG conversion hinges on the purchase/installation cost of the conversion & if one fuel goes up relative to the other. Otherwise, is a saving of £11.52/month worth the effort plus having to lob out the conversion-cost upfront?

It could still be an interesting project regardless.

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Been looking at this with interest. Here's my take as someone who has run several LPG motors and converted even more.

LPG generally reduces the fuel costs to 2/3 of running on petrol. This takes into account the petrol for starting, flashlube, etc.

To give a fair comparison of the 2 fuels you need to compare the cost per mile, nothing else is accurate. This is how I have managed to get to the saving figure. When I first started running on LPG it saved about half (LPG was 30p/L and petrol was about 80p/L) but with the price increases it is now more like a third. This has remained steady now for about 3 years.

So, taking the rather odd example used above. If the petrol running costs are £120 per month for 3 years, LPG running costs will be £80 per month for 3 years. This means a saving of £40/month. £40 * 36 months = £1440. A DIY kit for a 6 cylinder car can be fitted, inspected and registered for sub £1k (last 6 cyl kit cost me £845 all in) so take that £1000 outlay away from the £1440 savings and you have saved £440 straight away.

Additionally, it burns much more cleanly so is more friendly to the engine and also qualifies for a (small) reduction in Road Fund License for post 2001 vehicles of £10 per Year. So there's another £30 making the savings £470 immediately :innocent: Yes, there is a little extra cost in general maintenance (filters) but the clean burning of LPG will mean that the engine oil maintains it's properties longer. So instead of changing oil every 4k max (as I tend to on petrol) it can be extended to 7-8k and still come out a nice golden colour.

Moving on to the other things raised... Modern (Fully Sequential) LPG systems can easilly perform exactly the same as on petrol if they are correctly fitted and tuned. This is fact! Yes, with the old mixer systems there was a loss of power but even then they could be tuned to minimise it. But that is old technology and things have moved on considerably (as they have with cars as well!)

The number of LPG filling stations is increasing year on year and in the last 5 years I've only had to run on petrol (because of running out of LPG and not being able to find somewhere to fill up) for a maximum of 500 miles of my 100k+ miles driven.

Finally... Whilst I accept that LPG isn't for everyone and if your petrol bill is only £120/month then it's quite affordable. With the distances I drive my petrol bills were more like £150 per week so LPG was a no brainer and had paid for itself within a few months. That car did 77k on LPG, saving 9p per mile, which cost me £800 to convert. 77000*£0.09= £6930 in savings. Take £800 off of that £6930 and I saved over £6k in fuel costs running that car! That's not to be sniffed at ;)

What I would say is that LPG is a no brainer if you do enough miles, regardless of what anyone elses rather strange calculations show ^_^

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Been looking at this with interest. Here's my take as someone who has run several LPG motors and converted even more.

LPG generally reduces the fuel costs to 2/3 of running on petrol. This takes into account the petrol for starting, flashlube, etc.

To give a fair comparison of the 2 fuels you need to compare the cost per mile, nothing else is accurate. This is how I have managed to get to the saving figure. When I first started running on LPG it saved about half (LPG was 30p/L and petrol was about 80p/L) but with the price increases it is now more like a third. This has remained steady now for about 3 years.

So, taking the rather odd example used above. If the petrol running costs are £120 per month for 3 years, LPG running costs will be £80 per month for 3 years. This means a saving of £40/month. £40 * 36 months = £1440. A DIY kit for a 6 cylinder car can be fitted, inspected and registered for sub £1k (last 6 cyl kit cost me £845 all in) so take that £1000 outlay away from the £1440 savings and you have saved £440 straight away.

Additionally, it burns much more cleanly so is more friendly to the engine and also qualifies for a (small) reduction in Road Fund License for post 2001 vehicles of £10 per Year. So there's another £30 making the savings £470 immediately :innocent: Yes, there is a little extra cost in general maintenance (filters) but the clean burning of LPG will mean that the engine oil maintains it's properties longer. So instead of changing oil every 4k max (as I tend to on petrol) it can be extended to 7-8k and still come out a nice golden colour.

Moving on to the other things raised... Modern (Fully Sequential) LPG systems can easilly perform exactly the same as on petrol if they are correctly fitted and tuned. This is fact! Yes, with the old mixer systems there was a loss of power but even then they could be tuned to minimise it. But that is old technology and things have moved on considerably (as they have with cars as well!)

The number of LPG filling stations is increasing year on year and in the last 5 years I've only had to run on petrol (because of running out of LPG and not being able to find somewhere to fill up) for a maximum of 500 miles of my 100k+ miles driven.

Finally... Whilst I accept that LPG isn't for everyone and if your petrol bill is only £120/month then it's quite affordable. With the distances I drive my petrol bills were more like £150 per week so LPG was a no brainer and had paid for itself within a few months. That car did 77k on LPG, saving 9p per mile, which cost me £800 to convert. 77000*£0.09= £6930 in savings. Take £800 off of that £6930 and I saved over £6k in fuel costs running that car! That's not to be sniffed at ;)

What I would say is that LPG is a no brainer if you do enough miles, regardless of what anyone elses rather strange calculations show ^_^

Been looking at this with interest. Here's my take as someone who has run several LPG motors and converted even more.

LPG generally reduces the fuel costs to 2/3 of running on petrol. This takes into account the petrol for starting, flashlube, etc.

To give a fair comparison of the 2 fuels you need to compare the cost per mile, nothing else is accurate. This is how I have managed to get to the saving figure. When I first started running on LPG it saved about half (LPG was 30p/L and petrol was about 80p/L) but with the price increases it is now more like a third. This has remained steady now for about 3 years.

So, taking the rather odd example used above. If the petrol running costs are £120 per month for 3 years, LPG running costs will be £80 per month for 3 years. This means a saving of £40/month. £40 * 36 months = £1440. A DIY kit for a 6 cylinder car can be fitted, inspected and registered for sub £1k (last 6 cyl kit cost me £845 all in) so take that £1000 outlay away from the £1440 savings and you have saved £440 straight away.

Additionally, it burns much more cleanly so is more friendly to the engine and also qualifies for a (small) reduction in Road Fund License for post 2001 vehicles of £10 per Year. So there's another £30 making the savings £470 immediately :innocent: Yes, there is a little extra cost in general maintenance (filters) but the clean burning of LPG will mean that the engine oil maintains it's properties longer. So instead of changing oil every 4k max (as I tend to on petrol) it can be extended to 7-8k and still come out a nice golden colour.

Moving on to the other things raised... Modern (Fully Sequential) LPG systems can easilly perform exactly the same as on petrol if they are correctly fitted and tuned. This is fact! Yes, with the old mixer systems there was a loss of power but even then they could be tuned to minimise it. But that is old technology and things have moved on considerably (as they have with cars as well!)

The number of LPG filling stations is increasing year on year and in the last 5 years I've only had to run on petrol (because of running out of LPG and not being able to find somewhere to fill up) for a maximum of 500 miles of my 100k+ miles driven.

Finally... Whilst I accept that LPG isn't for everyone and if your petrol bill is only £120/month then it's quite affordable. With the distances I drive my petrol bills were more like £150 per week so LPG was a no brainer and had paid for itself within a few months. That car did 77k on LPG, saving 9p per mile, which cost me £800 to convert. 77000*£0.09= £6930 in savings. Take £800 off of that £6930 and I saved over £6k in fuel costs running that car! That's not to be sniffed at ;)

What I would say is that LPG is a no brainer if you do enough miles, regardless of what anyone elses rather strange calculations show ^_^

Your calculations agree quite well with my rather odd example (quoting a previous post) - except you have arrived at the same 30% fuel-cost reduction apparently without factoring in the 25% more volume of LPG required for the car to drive the same distance and at the same speeds as when powered by petrol - this has nothing to do with comparative efficiencies of the system, and is entirely due to LPG's inherently lower energy value. No LPG system however well-engineered can duplicate the petrol system's performance without using more fuel or changing the immutable laws of Physics.

The economic advantage of LPG exists only while the tax-structure continues to artificially price its energy content lower than that of petrol - but for how much longer?. Hopefully LPG is so small-scale that Government sticky fingers won't bother with it.

I totally agree that higher annual mileage will submerge conversion costs and reach break-even sooner. I also accept engine-benefits of cleaner burning can accrue - although unless suitable steps are taken, damage to some valves/seats with LPG remains a possible consequence.

Lazydocker, I am glad your experience has been both positive & financially worthwhile. Nevertheless, with the mileage of the original enquirer; the break-even point is in the balance over a 3 -year period - both higher annual mileage & a longer period would make it increasingly worthwhile. It would be even more worthwhile if the IS300 Sportcross had somewhere suitable for the LPG tank that did not intrude so inconveniently into its valuable but limited loading area.

It remains an interesting & sensible project to undertake - but with eyes wide open.

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There's little point conversing with an individual who refuses to see facts laid out before thier very eyes. Quite clearly, the picture posted by Koyo shows that the tank is set into the spare wheel well, and you must already know the boot floor can be raised as standard anyway.

This is becoming rather ridiculous. You clearly have not one ounce of first hnad experience of LPG. IIl-inforemed nonsense.

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Your calculations agree quite well with my rather odd example (quoting a previous post) - except you have arrived at the same 30% fuel-cost reduction apparently without factoring in the 25% more volume of LPG required for the car to drive the same distance and at the same speeds as when powered by petrol - this has nothing to do with comparative efficiencies of the system, and is entirely due to LPG's inherently lower energy value. No LPG system however well-engineered can duplicate the petrol system's performance without using more fuel or changing the immutable laws of Physics.

The economic advantage of LPG exists only while the tax-structure continues to artificially price its energy content lower than that of petrol - but for how much longer?. Hopefully LPG is so small-scale that Government sticky fingers won't bother with it.

I totally agree that higher annual mileage will submerge conversion costs and reach break-even sooner. I also accept engine-benefits of cleaner burning can accrue - although unless suitable steps are taken, damage to some valves/seats with LPG remains a possible consequence.

Lazydocker, I am glad your experience has been both positive & financially worthwhile. Nevertheless, with the mileage of the original enquirer; the break-even point is in the balance over a 3 -year period - both higher annual mileage & a longer period would make it increasingly worthwhile. It would be even more worthwhile if the IS300 Sportcross had somewhere suitable for the LPG tank that did not intrude so inconveniently into its valuable but limited loading area.

It remains an interesting & sensible project to undertake - but with eyes wide open.

Just a couple of points... The calorific value of LPG is actually higher than petrol, but as fuel is burnt by mass, that is where this apparrent 25% figure you keep quoting comes from. I assume that as you keep pushing this point you have extensive experience of LPG cars? As I have already said, you need to compare cost per mile to get a fair comparison. My figures are based from my ownership of 3 different LPG vehicles over 5 years (some 100k+ miles) and real, long term running costs. In addition I have consulted several other friends and acquainances who have run vehicles on LPG for a reasonable period, including some of the many cars I have converted.

As I stated, if you do enough miles then LPG is a no brainer. My saving of 1/3 includes everything, even the essential (IMO) flashlube for a Japanese engine.

Also, I can't find any mention from the OP about mileage, fuel spend or the length of time he intends to keep his vehicle. For all we know he might be doing 50k/year.

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Been looking at this with interest. Here's my take as someone who has run several LPG motors and converted even more.

LPG generally reduces the fuel costs to 2/3 of running on petrol. This takes into account the petrol for starting, flashlube, etc.

To give a fair comparison of the 2 fuels you need to compare the cost per mile, nothing else is accurate. This is how I have managed to get to the saving figure. When I first started running on LPG it saved about half (LPG was 30p/L and petrol was about 80p/L) but with the price increases it is now more like a third. This has remained steady now for about 3 years.

So, taking the rather odd example used above. If the petrol running costs are £120 per month for 3 years, LPG running costs will be £80 per month for 3 years. This means a saving of £40/month. £40 * 36 months = £1440. A DIY kit for a 6 cylinder car can be fitted, inspected and registered for sub £1k (last 6 cyl kit cost me £845 all in) so take that £1000 outlay away from the £1440 savings and you have saved £440 straight away.

Additionally, it burns much more cleanly so is more friendly to the engine and also qualifies for a (small) reduction in Road Fund License for post 2001 vehicles of £10 per Year. So there's another £30 making the savings £470 immediately :innocent: Yes, there is a little extra cost in general maintenance (filters) but the clean burning of LPG will mean that the engine oil maintains it's properties longer. So instead of changing oil every 4k max (as I tend to on petrol) it can be extended to 7-8k and still come out a nice golden colour.

Moving on to the other things raised... Modern (Fully Sequential) LPG systems can easilly perform exactly the same as on petrol if they are correctly fitted and tuned. This is fact! Yes, with the old mixer systems there was a loss of power but even then they could be tuned to minimise it. But that is old technology and things have moved on considerably (as they have with cars as well!)

The number of LPG filling stations is increasing year on year and in the last 5 years I've only had to run on petrol (because of running out of LPG and not being able to find somewhere to fill up) for a maximum of 500 miles of my 100k+ miles driven.

Finally... Whilst I accept that LPG isn't for everyone and if your petrol bill is only £120/month then it's quite affordable. With the distances I drive my petrol bills were more like £150 per week so LPG was a no brainer and had paid for itself within a few months. That car did 77k on LPG, saving 9p per mile, which cost me £800 to convert. 77000*£0.09= £6930 in savings. Take £800 off of that £6930 and I saved over £6k in fuel costs running that car! That's not to be sniffed at ;)

What I would say is that LPG is a no brainer if you do enough miles, regardless of what anyone elses rather strange calculations show ^_^

Guys...everyone has raised both pros and cons of running on LPG and we can all conclude it pays off if one will be doing a lot of miles and I mean a lot of miles..I mean Lazydocker was going through £150 a week so yes would really make sense and pay off quicky due to the miles being convered were as in my case I was going through £120 a month which confirms I wasnt covering that much miles for an LPG conversion to be viable so I guess if one goes through more than £100 a week then LPG would make sense but for someone like me going through £30 a week might aswell stick to petrol. so Chrigixer if your weekly expense is in the region of Lazydocker then I guess LPG will be the right way to go mate... :driving:

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Been looking at this with interest. Here's my take as someone who has run several LPG motors and converted even more.

LPG generally reduces the fuel costs to 2/3 of running on petrol. This takes into account the petrol for starting, flashlube, etc.

To give a fair comparison of the 2 fuels you need to compare the cost per mile, nothing else is accurate. This is how I have managed to get to the saving figure. When I first started running on LPG it saved about half (LPG was 30p/L and petrol was about 80p/L) but with the price increases it is now more like a third. This has remained steady now for about 3 years.

So, taking the rather odd example used above. If the petrol running costs are £120 per month for 3 years, LPG running costs will be £80 per month for 3 years. This means a saving of £40/month. £40 * 36 months = £1440. A DIY kit for a 6 cylinder car can be fitted, inspected and registered for sub £1k (last 6 cyl kit cost me £845 all in) so take that £1000 outlay away from the £1440 savings and you have saved £440 straight away.

Additionally, it burns much more cleanly so is more friendly to the engine and also qualifies for a (small) reduction in Road Fund License for post 2001 vehicles of £10 per Year. So there's another £30 making the savings £470 immediately :innocent: Yes, there is a little extra cost in general maintenance (filters) but the clean burning of LPG will mean that the engine oil maintains it's properties longer. So instead of changing oil every 4k max (as I tend to on petrol) it can be extended to 7-8k and still come out a nice golden colour.

Moving on to the other things raised... Modern (Fully Sequential) LPG systems can easilly perform exactly the same as on petrol if they are correctly fitted and tuned. This is fact! Yes, with the old mixer systems there was a loss of power but even then they could be tuned to minimise it. But that is old technology and things have moved on considerably (as they have with cars as well!)

The number of LPG filling stations is increasing year on year and in the last 5 years I've only had to run on petrol (because of running out of LPG and not being able to find somewhere to fill up) for a maximum of 500 miles of my 100k+ miles driven.

Finally... Whilst I accept that LPG isn't for everyone and if your petrol bill is only £120/month then it's quite affordable. With the distances I drive my petrol bills were more like £150 per week so LPG was a no brainer and had paid for itself within a few months. That car did 77k on LPG, saving 9p per mile, which cost me £800 to convert. 77000*£0.09= £6930 in savings. Take £800 off of that £6930 and I saved over £6k in fuel costs running that car! That's not to be sniffed at ;)

What I would say is that LPG is a no brainer if you do enough miles, regardless of what anyone elses rather strange calculations show ^_^

Guys...everyone has raised both pros and cons of running on LPG and we can all conclude it pays off if one will be doing a lot of miles and I mean a lot of miles..I mean Lazydocker was going through £150 a week so yes would really make sense and pay off quicky due to the miles being convered were as in my case I was going through £120 a month which confirms I wasnt covering that much miles for an LPG conversion to be viable so I guess if one goes through more than £100 a week then LPG would make sense but for someone like me going through £30 a week might aswell stick to petrol. so Chrigixer if your weekly expense is in the region of Lazydocker then I guess LPG will be the right way to go mate... :driving:

I'm aware of the pros and cons of "LPG" what I am not aware of , obviously, is LPG on this particular model. Have you anything to add to that?...as the original question implies, I'm really looking for first hand factual experience.

Thanks for your guess though.

But as you say, the cost of the install, will take longer to return in fuel savings the less miles covered. Obviously, a fuel saving "formula" needs to be accurate when calculating this, or potentially for example a professional prins install costing in the region £2.500 will never return a saving at all if the car only covers 6000 miles a year and the owner sells it after two years. No brainer again.

So, now you'll understand why DIY install offers further savings. Obviously. Payback in fuel savings will be achieved much sooner. Provided the install is not problematic of course. Hence my ORIGINAL QUESTION!

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Guys...everyone has raised both pros and cons of running on LPG and we can all conclude it pays off if one will be doing a lot of miles and I mean a lot of miles..I mean Lazydocker was going through £150 a week so yes would really make sense and pay off quicky due to the miles being convered were as in my case I was going through £120 a month which confirms I wasnt covering that much miles for an LPG conversion to be viable so I guess if one goes through more than £100 a week then LPG would make sense but for someone like me going through £30 a week might aswell stick to petrol. so Chrigixer if your weekly expense is in the region of Lazydocker then I guess LPG will be the right way to go mate... :driving:

I didn't see much discussion of pros and cons TBH. All I saw was a selection of "Creative" figures and Pub Gossip "Facts" about the costs of running on LPG. At the end of the day, you don't have to be doing the high mileage I was, you just need to do sufficient mileage to get back the initial outlay. As I said, my experience (based on real figures) is that it will save about 1/3. The OP already mentioned that he's planning to DIY convert and that he knows the facts and figures so all he really needs is to know whether there are any real reasons not to convert that particular car/engine.

So, as I've not got the answer to the question about this specific engine I can't help out from that side of things. What I do know is that it must have Flashlube and other than that there is no real reason not to convert. After all, LPG is a fuel just the same as petrol and I know of much more powerful Jap cars running on LPG with no issues.

Is there anyone here that can answer the OP's question? Also the question about a Live Data Capable reader because, as he has said, it is essential to monitor the data to set up the system properly (something that most "Professional" converters don't bother with

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Been looking at this with interest. Here's my take as someone who has run several LPG motors and converted even more.

LPG generally reduces the fuel costs to 2/3 of running on petrol. This takes into account the petrol for starting, flashlube, etc.

To give a fair comparison of the 2 fuels you need to compare the cost per mile, nothing else is accurate. This is how I have managed to get to the saving figure. When I first started running on LPG it saved about half (LPG was 30p/L and petrol was about 80p/L) but with the price increases it is now more like a third. This has remained steady now for about 3 years.

So, taking the rather odd example used above. If the petrol running costs are £120 per month for 3 years, LPG running costs will be £80 per month for 3 years. This means a saving of £40/month. £40 * 36 months = £1440. A DIY kit for a 6 cylinder car can be fitted, inspected and registered for sub £1k (last 6 cyl kit cost me £845 all in) so take that £1000 outlay away from the £1440 savings and you have saved £440 straight away.

Additionally, it burns much more cleanly so is more friendly to the engine and also qualifies for a (small) reduction in Road Fund License for post 2001 vehicles of £10 per Year. So there's another £30 making the savings £470 immediately :innocent: Yes, there is a little extra cost in general maintenance (filters) but the clean burning of LPG will mean that the engine oil maintains it's properties longer. So instead of changing oil every 4k max (as I tend to on petrol) it can be extended to 7-8k and still come out a nice golden colour.

Moving on to the other things raised... Modern (Fully Sequential) LPG systems can easilly perform exactly the same as on petrol if they are correctly fitted and tuned. This is fact! Yes, with the old mixer systems there was a loss of power but even then they could be tuned to minimise it. But that is old technology and things have moved on considerably (as they have with cars as well!)

The number of LPG filling stations is increasing year on year and in the last 5 years I've only had to run on petrol (because of running out of LPG and not being able to find somewhere to fill up) for a maximum of 500 miles of my 100k+ miles driven.

Finally... Whilst I accept that LPG isn't for everyone and if your petrol bill is only £120/month then it's quite affordable. With the distances I drive my petrol bills were more like £150 per week so LPG was a no brainer and had paid for itself within a few months. That car did 77k on LPG, saving 9p per mile, which cost me £800 to convert. 77000*£0.09= £6930 in savings. Take £800 off of that £6930 and I saved over £6k in fuel costs running that car! That's not to be sniffed at ;)

What I would say is that LPG is a no brainer if you do enough miles, regardless of what anyone elses rather strange calculations show ^_^

Guys...everyone has raised both pros and cons of running on LPG and we can all conclude it pays off if one will be doing a lot of miles and I mean a lot of miles..I mean Lazydocker was going through £150 a week so yes would really make sense and pay off quicky due to the miles being convered were as in my case I was going through £120 a month which confirms I wasnt covering that much miles for an LPG conversion to be viable so I guess if one goes through more than £100 a week then LPG would make sense but for someone like me going through £30 a week might aswell stick to petrol. so Chrigixer if your weekly expense is in the region of Lazydocker then I guess LPG will be the right way to go mate... :driving:

I'm aware of the pros and cons of "LPG" what I am not aware of , obviously, is LPG on this particular model. Have you anything to add to that?...as the original question implies, I'm really looking for first hand factual experience.

Thanks for your guess though.

But as you say, the cost of the install, will take longer to return in fuel savings the less miles covered. Obviously, a fuel saving "formula" needs to be accurate when calculating this, or potentially for example a professional prins install costing in the region £2.500 will never return a saving at all if the car only covers 6000 miles a year and the owner sells it after two years. No brainer again.

So, now you'll understand why DIY install offers further savings. Obviously. Payback in fuel savings will be achieved much sooner. Provided the install is not problematic of course. Hence my ORIGINAL QUESTION!

Loooks like we all ending up at the same conclusion as I also mentioned in my prevoius post and i quote "LPG convertion does not always = saving money".....so like everyone one here is saying based on the miles one does LPG will be viable but for others it will be a waste of precious time/energy and some times money which in my case 3 years and an everage yearly miles of 8000 miles wasnt really worth the hassle but might certainly work for you Chrisgixer and thats also based on if the installation and flush and getting hold of live data goes to plan with no hicups :shifty:

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Been looking at this with interest. Here's my take as someone who has run several LPG motors and converted even more.

LPG generally reduces the fuel costs to 2/3 of running on petrol. This takes into account the petrol for starting, flashlube, etc.

To give a fair comparison of the 2 fuels you need to compare the cost per mile, nothing else is accurate. This is how I have managed to get to the saving figure. When I first started running on LPG it saved about half (LPG was 30p/L and petrol was about 80p/L) but with the price increases it is now more like a third. This has remained steady now for about 3 years.

So, taking the rather odd example used above. If the petrol running costs are £120 per month for 3 years, LPG running costs will be £80 per month for 3 years. This means a saving of £40/month. £40 * 36 months = £1440. A DIY kit for a 6 cylinder car can be fitted, inspected and registered for sub £1k (last 6 cyl kit cost me £845 all in) so take that £1000 outlay away from the £1440 savings and you have saved £440 straight away.

Additionally, it burns much more cleanly so is more friendly to the engine and also qualifies for a (small) reduction in Road Fund License for post 2001 vehicles of £10 per Year. So there's another £30 making the savings £470 immediately :innocent: Yes, there is a little extra cost in general maintenance (filters) but the clean burning of LPG will mean that the engine oil maintains it's properties longer. So instead of changing oil every 4k max (as I tend to on petrol) it can be extended to 7-8k and still come out a nice golden colour.

Moving on to the other things raised... Modern (Fully Sequential) LPG systems can easilly perform exactly the same as on petrol if they are correctly fitted and tuned. This is fact! Yes, with the old mixer systems there was a loss of power but even then they could be tuned to minimise it. But that is old technology and things have moved on considerably (as they have with cars as well!)

The number of LPG filling stations is increasing year on year and in the last 5 years I've only had to run on petrol (because of running out of LPG and not being able to find somewhere to fill up) for a maximum of 500 miles of my 100k+ miles driven.

Finally... Whilst I accept that LPG isn't for everyone and if your petrol bill is only £120/month then it's quite affordable. With the distances I drive my petrol bills were more like £150 per week so LPG was a no brainer and had paid for itself within a few months. That car did 77k on LPG, saving 9p per mile, which cost me £800 to convert. 77000*£0.09= £6930 in savings. Take £800 off of that £6930 and I saved over £6k in fuel costs running that car! That's not to be sniffed at ;)

What I would say is that LPG is a no brainer if you do enough miles, regardless of what anyone elses rather strange calculations show ^_^

Guys...everyone has raised both pros and cons of running on LPG and we can all conclude it pays off if one will be doing a lot of miles and I mean a lot of miles..I mean Lazydocker was going through £150 a week so yes would really make sense and pay off quicky due to the miles being convered were as in my case I was going through £120 a month which confirms I wasnt covering that much miles for an LPG conversion to be viable so I guess if one goes through more than £100 a week then LPG would make sense but for someone like me going through £30 a week might aswell stick to petrol. so Chrigixer if your weekly expense is in the region of Lazydocker then I guess LPG will be the right way to go mate... :driving:

I'm aware of the pros and cons of "LPG" what I am not aware of , obviously, is LPG on this particular model. Have you anything to add to that?...as the original question implies, I'm really looking for first hand factual experience.

Thanks for your guess though.

But as you say, the cost of the install, will take longer to return in fuel savings the less miles covered. Obviously, a fuel saving "formula" needs to be accurate when calculating this, or potentially for example a professional prins install costing in the region £2.500 will never return a saving at all if the car only covers 6000 miles a year and the owner sells it after two years. No brainer again.

So, now you'll understand why DIY install offers further savings. Obviously. Payback in fuel savings will be achieved much sooner. Provided the install is not problematic of course. Hence my ORIGINAL QUESTION!

Loooks like we all ending up at the same conclusion as I also mentioned in my prevoius post and i quote "LPG convertion does not always = saving money".....so like everyone one here is saying based on the miles one does LPG will be viable but for others it will be a waste of precious time/energy and some times money which in my case 3 years and an everage yearly miles of 8000 miles wasnt really worth the hassle but might certainly work for you Chrisgixer and thats also based on if the installation and flush and getting hold of live data goes to plan with no hicups :shifty:

We? Mate, please, give it a rest.

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Chrisgixer I think you might need to have some discussion on guys from the RX, LS forum as some are really happy with thier conversions

http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=69479&pid=773969&st=0&#entry773969

Rx is a v6. LS is a v8(?)

Being honest, your right. I'd be better asking elsewhere.

Thanks for your help

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Been looking at this with interest. Here's my take as someone who has run several LPG motors and converted even more.

LPG generally reduces the fuel costs to 2/3 of running on petrol. This takes into account the petrol for starting, flashlube, etc.

To give a fair comparison of the 2 fuels you need to compare the cost per mile, nothing else is accurate. This is how I have managed to get to the saving figure. When I first started running on LPG it saved about half (LPG was 30p/L and petrol was about 80p/L) but with the price increases it is now more like a third. This has remained steady now for about 3 years.

So, taking the rather odd example used above. If the petrol running costs are £120 per month for 3 years, LPG running costs will be £80 per month for 3 years. This means a saving of £40/month. £40 * 36 months = £1440. A DIY kit for a 6 cylinder car can be fitted, inspected and registered for sub £1k (last 6 cyl kit cost me £845 all in) so take that £1000 outlay away from the £1440 savings and you have saved £440 straight away.

Additionally, it burns much more cleanly so is more friendly to the engine and also qualifies for a (small) reduction in Road Fund License for post 2001 vehicles of £10 per Year. So there's another £30 making the savings £470 immediately :innocent: Yes, there is a little extra cost in general maintenance (filters) but the clean burning of LPG will mean that the engine oil maintains it's properties longer. So instead of changing oil every 4k max (as I tend to on petrol) it can be extended to 7-8k and still come out a nice golden colour.

Moving on to the other things raised... Modern (Fully Sequential) LPG systems can easilly perform exactly the same as on petrol if they are correctly fitted and tuned. This is fact! Yes, with the old mixer systems there was a loss of power but even then they could be tuned to minimise it. But that is old technology and things have moved on considerably (as they have with cars as well!)

The number of LPG filling stations is increasing year on year and in the last 5 years I've only had to run on petrol (because of running out of LPG and not being able to find somewhere to fill up) for a maximum of 500 miles of my 100k+ miles driven.

Finally... Whilst I accept that LPG isn't for everyone and if your petrol bill is only £120/month then it's quite affordable. With the distances I drive my petrol bills were more like £150 per week so LPG was a no brainer and had paid for itself within a few months. That car did 77k on LPG, saving 9p per mile, which cost me £800 to convert. 77000*£0.09= £6930 in savings. Take £800 off of that £6930 and I saved over £6k in fuel costs running that car! That's not to be sniffed at ;)

What I would say is that LPG is a no brainer if you do enough miles, regardless of what anyone elses rather strange calculations show ^_^

Guys...everyone has raised both pros and cons of running on LPG and we can all conclude it pays off if one will be doing a lot of miles and I mean a lot of miles..I mean Lazydocker was going through £150 a week so yes would really make sense and pay off quicky due to the miles being convered were as in my case I was going through £120 a month which confirms I wasnt covering that much miles for an LPG conversion to be viable so I guess if one goes through more than £100 a week then LPG would make sense but for someone like me going through £30 a week might aswell stick to petrol. so Chrigixer if your weekly expense is in the region of Lazydocker then I guess LPG will be the right way to go mate... :driving:

I'm aware of the pros and cons of "LPG" what I am not aware of , obviously, is LPG on this particular model. Have you anything to add to that?...as the original question implies, I'm really looking for first hand factual experience.

Thanks for your guess though.

But as you say, the cost of the install, will take longer to return in fuel savings the less miles covered. Obviously, a fuel saving "formula" needs to be accurate when calculating this, or potentially for example a professional prins install costing in the region £2.500 will never return a saving at all if the car only covers 6000 miles a year and the owner sells it after two years. No brainer again.

So, now you'll understand why DIY install offers further savings. Obviously. Payback in fuel savings will be achieved much sooner. Provided the install is not problematic of course. Hence my ORIGINAL QUESTION!

Loooks like we all ending up at the same conclusion as I also mentioned in my prevoius post and i quote "LPG convertion does not always = saving money".....so like everyone one here is saying based on the miles one does LPG will be viable but for others it will be a waste of precious time/energy and some times money which in my case 3 years and an everage yearly miles of 8000 miles wasnt really worth the hassle but might certainly work for you Chrisgixer and thats also based on if the installation and flush and getting hold of live data goes to plan with no hicups :shifty:

We? Mate, please, give it a rest.

Just try to be helpful thats all!! at the end of the day if i couldnt afford putting fuel in a 3.0 Lexus i wouldnt be buying one...and maybe still to a 1.4 focus

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