How much do you save each month
?The tank that I have
installed takes 54 litres of gas. I have checked a few times and it does
seem that the recommendations are correct that miles
per gallon using lpg is about
80% that of using petrol. The readout on the dash states an average of
22mpg, therefore I am getting about 17.5mpg from lpg. So say for every
1000miles I will cost £100 in lpg based on 39p/litre against £153 in
petrol based on 75p/litre. However, it is
surprising how much petrol you still use. The car has to start on petrol
and will not switch over until the engine reaches a preset temperature,
in my case 60 degrees. This means for the first couple of miles you are
running on petrol. This is OK if you are doing reasonable distances,
but if you are just traveling a couple of miles to work, and then not
using the car all day until driving back at night you won't gain the
benefit. Obviously the better the mpg to begin with, and the more miles
you travel, the better the saving
How do I locate
my nearest LPG filling station ?
There are many web
sites where you can download the latest list of LPG filling stations.
The one I refer to most is
lpgmap.co.uk where you can download an overlay for Microsoft
Autoroute. Then whenever I am planning a long journey to an unfamiliar
area, I can print out a series of maps covering the route with the
relevant filling stations and opening times indicated. They also have
overlays for France and other parts of Europe. There is also a map on
the Powershift
web site, and a full list of suppliers can be downloaded from the
LPGA web
site.
Do you notice a
loss in performance ?
I have not noticed any
loss in performance. The car handles as normal and pulls away cleanly,
although it must be said that I need a few more revs when pulling off
from standing ( I have also heard others mention this). Although
generally you do not notice a loss and get use to the performance when
running on lpg, you do notice that the car seems more responsive when
switching back to petrol.
Are insurance costs affected
?
When I enquired if my insurance
premium would be affected, prior to conversion, several insurance
companies said that there wouldn't be any difference, as long as the
conversion was carried out by an LPGA
approved installer and that they were given a copy of the installation
certificate. A couple of insurance companies even offered at the time
cheaper premiums as an incentive. Unfortunately I didn't take much
notice of these at the time, as the quotes they gave for a 2.8 Galaxy
were way above what I was paying at the time anyway !
Where do you
put the spare wheel ?
The spare wheel is in the boot. I never
have the rear two seats in the car ( they are kept in the loft) and have a
parcel shelf so no-one can look in. At first I thought it was a bit of a
pain, but when the wheel is turned upside down, it makes quite a handy
storage box. I did buy a cover (as for 4x4's) to stop getting rubber marks
on the side panels. One of the LPG installers offered a service where a
puncture repair chemical was injected into the tyres which would instantly
block any holes if there was a puncture. This worked out at about £10 per
tyre which wouldn't have been too bad, except that I seem to go through
quite a few tyres (average 9,000mile life for the front tyres so far,
although had 45,000 from the rears so far !). The alternative is to carry
a tin of puncture repair foam which costs about
£10. One of my colleagues at work also had his car converted at the same
time as me (2.0 litre ford focus) and just carries a tin of foam around -
he says if he really gets stuck he's in the AA. There isn't a legal
requirement to have a spare wheel. Even the new Mini One comes with a tin
of puncture repair foam instead of a spare tyre.
Can I get a grant to pay for
the installation ?
Refer to the
Powershift website for the
latest rules on grants available
How do I fill up with LPG abroad ?
My only experience
of driving abroad is in France. You will need an adapter which screws onto
your cars filler point first. These can be obtained from your installer
and cost about £15 (for a brass one although I've heard there are cheaper
ones about). Finding LPG on the motorways in France is far easier than in
the UK. The advanced information signs for services indicate if LPG is
available - it is called GPL in France. Most motorway services sell
it as well as most of the major supermarkets (Carrefour tended to be
cheapest). One of the good things about the LPG pumps at the service
stations are they are usually in a seperate isle from the main pumps so
whilst everyone is is queuing for petrol and diesel so can bypass them and
go straight to the pump - not like in the UK
I have a "T" 2.3 Galaxy. Would the same type of kit
be required as your car i.e. multi as opposed to single point injection? How
much did the conversion cost?
Although I am no expert at this, I did talk to
quite a few people when I was look at getting mine converted so I did pick
up a fair amount of information. I was given several quotes, the cheapest
being £1800 incl vat, the most expensive being about £2300 incl VAT. I
ended paying £2000 incl VAT, although I did get a bit of a discount
because it took 5 weeks to install - don't let this put you off - no one
in the UK would admit to fitting multipoint LPG system to a new style V6
before so it was a bit experimental. However everyone I spoke to had
fitted single point and multipoint to pre 2000 models with success. I even
went to one place and saw one fitted and working.
For starters, the majority of manufacturers
base their kits on 4 cylinder models or multiples of 4 cylinders (ie V8 or
v12), so with a V6, this messes things up a bit. Naturally therefore there
is less work in fitting a system to a 4 cylinder than a 6 cylinder car so
generally they are cheaper. The other thing is that the mechanical
'plumbing in' of the kit is comparatively easy compared to the programming
of the computer - the more complicated the electronics on the car, the
harder it is to program, therefore the older and simpler the car, the
easier, quicker and cheaper it is to fit - that's why apparently systems
on old landrovers only take a few hours to install !
I don't know about the 2.3 model, but on 2.8's
pre 2000 models had a steel inlet manifold which makes it suitable for
fitting single point injection. After 2000, the inlet manifold fitted is
plastic (although it is sprayed silver and to look at the two side by side
you wouldn't notice any difference). If you have read the bit on my web
page about backfiring and explosions, you will appreciate that if you get
a backfire with a steel manifold, it would only blow up the air filter box
- with a plastic manifold this blows up as well and can cause further
damage to the engine as a result.
Certainly, the multipoint and newer sequential
multipoint injection systems are more refined than the single point
injection system, however it all depends how many miles you do, how
refined you want the system to be and how much you want to spend in the
first place. I would have thought that a single point installation would
be in the region of £1200 with multipoint somewhere between £1400 to £1800
depending on where you went and what system was fitted. I would certainly
recommend AG and Tartarinni.
