LPG Vehicles - Happy moment!

[fitzyfootlong]

Just wanted to share my happy moment today guys..

Filling the cruiser up on gas at 64.9 cents per litre. It's a 100 series 4.5 petrol with 2x 35l tanks under the chassis rails, still retaining the original main and sub petrol tanks for long touring. $45.00 gets 300k's around town and 400-430k's on the highway.

It seems whilst the price of diesel and ULP keeps going up LPG is the same or even cheaper over the last few month. Im a very happy camper about choosing LPG right about now 

happy happy Joy Joy!

[Jon]

Caltex F3 NSW diesel $1.56/litre.

Profiteering gone mad.

[Joff]

I miss my 80 when I'm running around town. even at 11.5ltrs/100 the 105 is still expensive when diesel is $1.55

[jetcrew]

FFL,

 Did you go with the multi seq system or the old fashioned dump and burn ?

I had  the old one fitted 3 years ago and I hated it, recently pulled it all out after it has stuffed what was a good engine. But please do not my experience sway your happy moment ,they are cheaper to run on lpg and if it is multi seq and has an upper cyl lube it just might still be cheaper in 3-5 years.

If not you'll kiss yourself for leaving those fuel tanks in (I did)

All the best mate and enjoy. 

Jetcrew

[fitzyfootlong]

Thanks for the confidence jetcrew 
I am getting the tappet cover gasket replaced in the next couple of weeks and having the valves adjusted at the same time, apparently these are what cause problems when converted to LPG? My system is the traditional type "dump and burn" haha.. no lube syustem but it starts up on petrol and swaps over to LPG. We would still run 5-10 litres of petrol through it a week though to be keeping both systems operational.

Bugger yours didn't want to play the game! any other tips?

[Joff]

I dunno how you blokes do it.. Between me and my father in law we did half a million km in two 80 series cruisers running the old fumigation systems without issue.

[jetcrew]

I dunno how you blokes do it.. Between me and my father in law we did half a million km in two 80 series cruisers running the old fumigation systems without issue.

You know is such a funny situation ,same car ,same engine ,same lpg system and they both run differently. I have heard this story so many times Joff. It really does seem to have no ryhm or reason.

dad worked in a panel shop years ago and the boss had taxis as well he gad 4 falcons on gas 2 ran like poo and 2 ran perfect ,they could never work it out.

FFL,

only piece of advice I can offer is to install a back fire valve .They cost around $100 and they hav a one way flap in them so when /If the engine backfires on LPG it does not explode your air box and lid  . They are not cheap to replace . I have a valve at home that came off the cruiser . If you want it you can have it mate (i drink XXXX) . they really are worth it . I wish I knew about them before I blew the box up ,twice.

I only ever got 300kms out of the 70 lts on the h/way , so if you see the 4-430 you might be running lean and I would ask the gas techs to adjust the mixture for long term engine survivabilty rather than short term economy as it's running them lean that causes the head to go south. Also the valves seats in the factory head are not designed for lPG (aparently)this is why the head sufferes so badley from lPG use hence the upper cyl lube kit which I only found out about after the fact. But with yours getting adjusted it might cover that. Also get regular tune ups they never stay in tune long term and you will see this through your economy when the k's drop shes running rich and it works out cheaper to get a tune than burn LPG.

I don't want to be a sour grapes poster ,mine ran like poo but thats not to say that yours won't run like a dream as Joff posted,if she starts to play up at least you can get on top of it with a little knowledge from my bad experiences.

But enjoy the economy and the fact that your vehical has less carbon emmissions than most so your green creds are there mate, also you will notice a difference in economy with different gas suppliers ,I always found VITAL GAS was the best and cleanest to run.

All my comments are based around my gas system and do not represent LPG systems as a whole ,so I am not bagging them out totally just sharing my experience.

the only thing to check is that they wired the fuel sytem as the defult on the soliniod thingy , my idiots did not and when the soliniod went I could only run gas as it cuts the power to the injector rail and you get no spark and then the convertor crapped out and left me stranded . when the new one went in they got it right.

Best of luck mate

jetcrew

[Burnsy]

Mine runs nice and has done so under my foot for 10 years now.  Had my timing advanced last week to 6-7 degrees and it has noticably more poke now.  Also got back up to 400km for a tank (96 litres) for the first time in a long time.  I have an upper cylinder lube but never remeber to fill it up, maybe once every six months.  Car has done 380 K now and the lpg system has been on it since it was 2 years old.

As for price, enjoy it while it lasts, excise on LPG starts to kick in in July, 2.5 cents every six months I think up to 12.5 cents - might be wrong on the figures.

Caltex are bewildering with their LPG prices in Perth driving yesterday and one Caltex 67.9, two kilometers up the road caltex at 83.9   Price of lpg is still way to high though, it was only a couple of years ago that I remember buying it for 26 cents a litre, as a percentage I belive lpg has gone up more than fuel over the past 10 years.

[fitzyfootlong]

Might be dropping you a carton soon jetcrew  my airbox has a split in it anyways and i saw they were bloody expensive when researching new ones ($650.00!). I think mine will be repairable however I will not be taking any deep water crossing with it the way it is..
I will get the mechanic to check the a/f mixtures when it is in next week also for piece of mind..

Im heading up your way on the weekend, I will drop you a PM once plans are confirmed and if you are available I might catch up if that is OK?

Cheers for the input guys, I still reckon LPG right now kicks ass..

[areyonga]

I have the new LPG system on my 100 series and it runs like a dream, and the pulling power is better on LPG than on E10 ULP, mine has been on 2 years and no hicups yet.

Wil

[kiva]

I've had a Vapour Sequential Injection on my 4.5 petrol (105 series) for about a year without drama. An electronic Flashlube kit was installed at the same time. I opted to keep both the main and sub petrol tanks and add 2x35L "scuba" tanks.

So far, so good!

[robsjack]

I've run the old style system on my jackaroo for 6 years now and am very happy with it. It doesn't pull as well on gas but the $$$ savings more than make up for that!

I get just over 300km out of 55l of gas. It's costing me $40 to fill the tank which I think is great.

rob

[Silvo]

this is what i like fuelly for..

Burnsy, accoridng to your fuelly results, you are 0.04 cents cheaper per kilometres than mine on average. $40 per tank for me (1000kms per tank I get) - how many times would you need to fill up to get 1000kms ?

I'd be keen to see figures that we can compare from you fitzyfootlong - use fuelly, awesome little tool!!

it's more of a curiosity thing for me, i can't see me making any change, but it's interesting none-the-less.


Dan

[Burnsy]

this is what i like fuelly for..

Burnsy, accoridng to your fuelly results, you are 0.04 cents cheaper per kilometres than mine on average. $40 per tank for me (1000kms per tank I get) - how many times would you need to fill up to get 1000kms ?

400km per tank so full on leaving then two more fillups to get 1000km.  I am a tight arse and only fill up at the cheapest stations (usually within the bottom 3 or 4 cents) based on fuelwatch and use dockets so if you don't do that then we are probably equal on cost

[fitzyfootlong]

I checked out Fuelly and I'm not bothered to go into it for my cruiser. We drive it 200k's a week and maybe once a month do a couple of hundred k's on a trip. I have a company car for the daily stuff  I know as soon as you get on the sand or offroad the consumption goes right out the window though!

A good example was at South ballina last weekend, we got 350k's from 70 litres of LPG and 100k's of that was with the diff locked and on the sand. Even around town if you have a lead foot I can get as low as 250k's from 70l of gas. Main point is consumption goes as far as your right foot, and I don't mind letting my cruiser know who is boss every now and then. and lets not even get started about how the wife drives it (seatbelts on everyone!)

Robsjack - do you have some sort of lubrication system on your jackaroo? That's some good value in my book what you are getting out of it! Mine too does lose some power, particularly uphills..

Kiva - do you know what sort of money the flaslube kits are? It's not the same as there based on your link-   http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Flashlube-Valve-Saver-Automatic-Lubrication-Kit-BNIB-/130504152586?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1e62a7560a

[kiva]

Kiva - do you know what sort of money the flaslube kits are? It's not the same as there based on your link-   http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Flashlube-Valve-Saver-Automatic-Lubrication-Kit-BNIB-/130504152586?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1e62a7560a

Sorry, I can't recall the pricing. There are two kits available:

• A manually adjusted kit
• An electronically controlled kit

I opted for the electronic kit because I'm lazy

The manually adjusted kits work just fine; however you need to periodically check them so that you are consuming the correct amount of fluid (1 ml per 1 L of LPG) and adjust accordingly. The electronic version has a dial adjustment, so it's "set and forget" and it is also smart enough to only use the valve saver fluid when the vehicle is running on LPG. When you are on petrol, no valve saver fluid is consumed. The manual kit isn't this smart and uses the fluid regardless. There is also a light you can install on the dash to alert you when you are running low on fluid. The manual kit doesn't have this so you have to remember to top up.

Its cheapest to purchase the valve saver fluid in larger quantities. I bought mine online; again because I am lazy .

Remembering that the general rule is 1 ml of valve saver fluid per 1 L of LPG; and if you are averaging say, 4 km per litre on LPG, then 5 L of valve saver fluid is good for about 20,000 km or so.

[fitzyfootlong]

Thanks Kiva, I am going to invest in one of these kits I think..