Considering Lpg

[Stevie 79]

Thinking of having LPG fitted to my 96 LS400 I am in the Liverpool area can anyone recomend anywere and what difference are the types of systems offered.

[Bluesman]

Thinking of having LPG fitted to my 96 LS400 I am in the Liverpool area can anyone recomend anywere and what difference are the types of systems offered.

I cant recommend anyone up in your neck of the woods but my advice is that you go to someone who has Lexus experience and dont just take their word for it ask them for a name or two and go and see the car if at all possible. Search well on the internet for any bad things written about your chosen supplier.

At this stage you can never ask to many LPG installers to many questions and do your groundwork with them then it will be smiles all the way rather than tears.

Mike

[John N]

Thinking of having LPG fitted to my 96 LS400 I am in the Liverpool area can anyone recomend anywere and what difference are the types of systems offered.

Stevie

The main difference between systems is that some work faultlessly and others give endless problems.

The difference is not always the LPG systems fault as there is also a great variation in the quality of the installers, their work,and their technical knowledge. If you look back through the past posts on LPG you will see plenty of problems people have experienced, but you don't tend to find many posts from satisfied LPG users they just get on with saving money.

Whatever make or type of system you choose it is more important to find an experienced installer with a good record of faultless conversions. The last two cars I had were both converted to LPG, and both saved me money, but they gave endless problems, and in both cases it was down to the installers.

I spent a lot of time finding the right installer to convert my current LS430, and I finally chose Worsley Autogas http://www.worsleyautogascentre.co.uk/ they are not the cheapest or the fastest, but they do a neat clean job that should work without problems.

A word of warning on fuel savings, you will get 20% less mpg from gas than petrol, this means that although LPG is half the price of petrol you will only make a 33% on your fuel costs, not the 50% the installers claim.

Remember you only get what you pay for, and there is always someone who will do a rough job cheaper!

John N

[Bluesman]

Thinking of having LPG fitted to my 96 LS400 I am in the Liverpool area can anyone recomend anywere and what difference are the types of systems offered.

Stevie

The main difference between systems is that some work faultlessly and others give endless problems.

The difference is not always the LPG systems fault as there is also a great variation in the quality of the installers, their work,and their technical knowledge. If you look back through the past posts on LPG you will see plenty of problems people have experienced, but you don't tend to find many posts from satisfied LPG users they just get on with saving money.

Whatever make or type of system you choose it is more important to find an experienced installer with a good record of faultless conversions. The last two cars I had were both converted to LPG, and both saved me money, but they gave endless problems, and in both cases it was down to the installers.

I spent a lot of time finding the right installer to convert my current LS430, and I finally chose Worsley Autogas http://www.worsleyautogascentre.co.uk/ they are not the cheapest or the fastest, but they do a neat clean job that should work without problems.

A word of warning on fuel savings, you will get 20% less mpg from gas than petrol, this means that although LPG is half the price of petrol you will only make a 33% on your fuel costs, not the 50% the installers claim.

Remember you only get what you pay for, and there is always someone who will do a rough job cheaper!

John N

Should have said that I and my wife are and have been very happy LPG users for the last 15 years. All our cars were converted over the years by either Dualfuel in Woking Surrey or Profess gas in South Wales.

Its all about doing your homework.

Mike

[SHELLDRAKE]

I had my 97, 400 done 3 years ago by worsley auto gas,the owner's name is Karl Lowe,I have seen B.M.W's Range Rovers, Jaguars,Porches,and many more in his garage being fitted with L.P.G.he is an approved LPGA installer. His work is first class,in 08 when the tank was fitted the car had done 117000 mls it now reads 142000 mls,and I have had no problems with the system.I live in Ellesmere Port,so it is about an hours drive away,but worth getting the job done and in the end saves a lot of money.

[Stevie 79]

Thanks everyone

[ManicMark]

Hi Steve I had a BRC multipoint plug & drive system fitted by Battersea autogas, 40000 miles ago it has been faultless & when I calculate the mpg it is only 1 or 2 mpg less than the trip computer tells me on my mark 4. Its one of the more expensive conversions at £1800 but seems to be the most efficient. ta Mark

[mikesands]

A word of warning on fuel savings, you will get 20% less mpg from gas than petrol, this means that although LPG is half the price of petrol you will only make a 33% on your fuel costs, not the 50% the installers claim.

John N

I am now convinced it's worse than that John. Your figure of 20% is not one any of the installers will quote as they tend to suggest 10-15%. But if you look up the science, LPG has 30% less energy in it than petrol, If the designers and installers of LPG can turn that 30% into only 20% worse mpg, why can't the car manufacturers make similar improvements in their petrol engines.

My figures measured over about 8000 miles so far are showing - guess what - 30% worse on LPG than petrol.

Mike

[Bluesman]

A word of warning on fuel savings, you will get 20% less mpg from gas than petrol, this means that although LPG is half the price of petrol you will only make a 33% on your fuel costs, not the 50% the installers claim.

John N

I am now convinced it's worse than that John. Your figure of 20% is not one any of the installers will quote as they tend to suggest 10-15%. But if you look up the science, LPG has 30% less energy in it than petrol, If the designers and installers of LPG can turn that 30% into only 20% worse mpg, why can't the car manufacturers make similar improvements in their petrol engines.

My figures measured over about 8000 miles so far are showing - guess what - 30% worse on LPG than petrol.

Mike

Hi Mike,

Have you managed to get your system sorted?

Mike

[Parrot of Doom]

I can also recommend Worsley Autogas, 98 LS here and no issues whatsoever.

[mikesands]

It depends what you mean by 'sorted' Mike. My guy bought some fancy piece of kit and managed to get the VSC light to go off. We changed the fuelflow sensor/meter thing for his (on the recommendation of another very helpful LPG company). But the engine warning light still comes on (sometimes goes off though) and the mpg is still crap. But I am becoming convinced that anyone who checks their fuel consumption scientifically will find the true MPG is in line with the science ie 30% worse than petrol.

Mike

[ManicMark]

Hi just filled mine up again tonight, my mileage is mostly around town 60% & 40% 70/80 mph dual carridgeway 21.3 mpg on the trip computer (it thinks its running on petrol), I did 227 miles on 52 litres of gas, so 20.16 mpg. I get around 300 miles on 54 litres at 75 to 80 mph which = 25.6 mpg.

I know if I was to have another car converted it would be a brc conversion or maybe im just lucky with this one, It did take them 5 days to fit it & a good 3 hours to do the final set up ( I drove the car while the mechanic set up the system on his laptop next to me).

[Thunderchild]

I can only say that Profess Autogas in Cardiff were fantastic. I took the car in at 8am and got it back at 5:30 the same day. The car has been flawless in its running and performance. £1300 to have the job done and I don't regret a penny of it. There will always be arguments as to how much you save etc but I know that each time I do the calculation on a penny for penny basis I am getting the equivalent of 35 - 40 to the gallon. That has got to be good for the size, weight and engine in the car.

I would recommend these guys to anyone considering a conversion to LPG.

HTH Tc

[mikesands]

The savings on mine when worked out over a year are 21%

This assumes I'm running on LPG 80% of the time (which it seems to be round town), and that petrol is £1.28 and LPG 68p per litre (Asda)and that my fuel consumption is 27% worse on LPG than petrol. It doesn't take into account the extra costs of servicing the LPG installation.

My installation cost was £1700

Mike

[Bluesman]

The savings on mine when worked out over a year are 21%

This assumes I'm running on LPG 80% of the time (which it seems to be round town), and that petrol is £1.28 and LPG 68p per litre (Asda)and that my fuel consumption is 27% worse on LPG than petrol. It doesn't take into account the extra costs of servicing the LPG installation.

My installation cost was £1700

Mike

It sounds like you are doing lots of short journeys and that is going to be low on MPG in any car and on any fuel.

Mike

[mikesands]

MPG on gas down to birmingham NEC and back at 75mph was 22mpg couple of days ago. On similar trip I get 30mpg on petrol

Mike

[Bluesman]

MPG on gas down to birmingham NEC and back at 75mph was 22mpg couple of days ago. On similar trip I get 30mpg on petrol

Mike

Hi Mike.

I had to go down to Cardiff today from Reading so about 240 mile round journey.

10 Miles of the journey was not motorway and driving on the Mway I cruise 70mph going by my dedicated Sat Nav.

My average for the whole journey is 29 MPG.

So talking in petrol terms thats 58mpg I'm as happyy as a pig in ****

Mike

[Parrot of Doom]

I've not worked out the mpg, but my car says about 32mpg best hovering at around 70mph on petrol.

On LPG I can get about 55 litres max in the tank, and that gets me about 250 miles or a bit more if I'm purely on the motorway, at 70mph-ish.

Let's say I pay £0.70 a litre for LPG (actually I pay £0.63 but let's be generous) that's £38.50 to fill it up. So £77 to cover 500 miles. My last car, a 1997 3.0TD E-class, would have been about £85 to cover slightly less - and at the absolute limit of efficiency, that car did about 38mpg.

So I'm quite happy with what I'm getting. Anyway, including the LPG conversion I only paid about £4,000 for the car. My neighbours have paid five times that for a newer car with less class and less refinement, and only slightly higher mpg.

So I'm still quids in.

[nicenic61]

Interesting, I was just about to post a question about lpg mileage....my old dear Mk4 which I've had since June with no paperwork and a Stefanelli system fitted by Noah (still can't find the filter) very regularly does 17mpg around town and the most I've ever got on a long run, 95% motorway, was 25mpg. Looks a little low compared to other posts here. This was before the current gearbox fault, for which i don't get 5th gear. This is all manually worked out since the computer doesn't work on lpg, only petrol. And i've got a dodgy oxygen sensor, great fun driving on a cold engine. And it's just been serviced. The garage said there were new life forms on the pollen filter.

Incidentally, the lpg switches in immediately after starting on petrol, even when it's very cold outside and the engine runs much better on lpg, lpg is 'very forgiving' according to my garage. My proudest purchase is a splinter-free broom handle, excellent fit. When I can work up the energy it's the gearbox next, then the oxygen sensor, then the rear nearside cigar lighter, then the driver's door mirror, then the boot light, then the aerial, then the bonnet struts, then the front skirt, then the alloys, then the headlamp levelling. In fact, mine is a great example of all the standard faults you can get on a 400.

Or I might just leave it, she did pass the MOT after all.

And Green Flag want £142 a year breakdown insurance....laugh or what, more like £18.50 with £40 call out, I very politely declined.

Nick

[Mybikesacx500]

I'd say 17 /25 mpg on LPG is good, My old single point system gets 12in town and 20 on a run, that's actual figures, people double these figures to get the "equivalant if using petrol" figures, so I recon I am geting nearer 40 MPG cost- wise

[Stevie 79]

Thankyou for all your reply's looks like its going to get done just need to sort the money out,have read about single point and multi point which is best

Steve.

[Parrot of Doom]

Take it to Worsley Autogas, let him sort it for you, he's done a few Lexuses. Mine is multipoint.

[John N]

Thankyou for all your reply's looks like its going to get done just need to sort the money out,have read about single point and multi point which is best

Steve.

Multipoint is better, like the normal petrol injection system it uses a dedicated injector for each cylinder. Single point is cheaper because it uses one common injector, which is always a compromise.

John N

[ManicMark]

Hi, just came back from Swansea at a steady 65mph cost £26.09 for 227 miles 70.9p a litre.

if I was driving a diesel it would need to do more than 55mpg to match it. The tip meter read 33 mpg I got 28 mpg on gas.

[Bluesman]

Hi, just came back from Swansea at a steady 65mph cost £26.09 for 227 miles 70.9p a litre.

if I was driving a diesel it would need to do more than 55mpg to match it. The tip meter read 33 mpg I got 28 mpg on gas.

Well done Mark,

Yet another happy LPGer. And think how much of the planet you have saved.

Mike