I ran several cars on LPG and found it cheap to maintain provided I did the
work .I went duel fuel which is the only way to go .You need stronger
springs in the rear and expect a bit more brake wear as your hauling a
couple of extra people in effect with the extra weight .Here in Victoria it
was ok but in Tasmania back in the eighties fuel was hard to get late at
night .Mechanics charged a fortune to tune or repair gas problems .Thet used
normal plugs instead of colder plugs and ran the gas lean which is a no no
in summer .Oil changes need to be kept up and the occasional pull down of
the system to clean the water hoses and keep the anti freeze up to the mark
..Its just not worth the problems in a private car but in a taxi or larger
car it sure was good value .NEVER go to a back yarder as I have seen some
dangerous work done by fools .Done properly by a person who knows his stuff
,gas is safe .Done by a diy its dangerous big time .I say this after
millions of klm of using gas in two states .
"Josh" <shannon_joshua@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1184165992.933229.36750@x35g2000prf.googlegro ups.com...
> I've recently had my '89 240 converted to LPG, and thought i'd help
> out anyone else considering it with some pros and cons
>
> I got my conversion at AG autogas, in lilydale, Australia. Both the
> converter and my mechanic (who is really more of an adviser, as i do
> my own work most of the time) recommended i skip duel fuel and go
> straight LPG, apparently it is not practical to run a B23E engine on
> duel. So i had to trust them on that one. Its probably the most
> simple conversion on the market, just feeding gas slightly downstream
> of the AMM
>
> Range; Big con
> The tank fits between the rear wheels in the boot, and fills it up
> quite well, although the majority of the space is still available.
> The tank is 50 usable liters, whereas the old petrol one was 60, which
> is a bit of an inconvenience.
> I was getting about 6.5km/l economy on petrol, giving me a 390km
> range, with an extra 10L in the jerry can i would bring with me for
> emergencies. Now, fuel use has risen quite a bit, which is to be
> expected when running on gas. At the moment, in the same conditions
> as before i'm getting 5km/L, which brings the range of the vehicle
> down to about 250km. Because of the nature of LPG i have no way of
> adding more fuel on the go, and running out would mean i have to tow
> the car, so in practice this shortens the range to about 225km to
> ensure i never run out of fuel. This short range makes the car very
> impractical for driving interstate, and means i fill up twice a week
> instead of once :-(
>
> Performance; con
> Once he is warm, the 240 goes just the same as when it was fueled by
> petrol, i can't tell the difference. The only time it actually makes
> a difference is when the engine is quite cold i.e winter morning. It
> always starts first time, which is actually an improvement over the
> old system, but it lacks power for about two or three blocks while it
> gets warm (ie where i used to push the pedal about 1/4 to take off,
> now i push to about 1/2). Not a huge drawback, but still something to
> consider. I'd imagine if i had a heavy trailer the car would barely
> move
>
> Cost: Big pro
> Now this is probably the biggest factor for most people, being the
> underlying reason conversions are done in the first place :-). Before:
> 6.5km/l @ $1.20 average per liter = about 18c per km.
> After: 5km/l @ $0.45 average cost of LPG = about 9c per km
> The conversion is halving the cost of fuel each week for me, saving me
> about $30 per week
> I was charged $2500 for the actual conversion, of which the government
> offers a $2000 rebate down under. Total cost out of my pocked is
> $500, which at this rate should be paid off in about 5 months
>
> Thats about all that i can say at this stage, i havn't had the system
> long enough to comment on any difference in maintenance. To put it
> simply, it seems the savings in fuel make it well worth the while, but
> that is only true if you can live with some of the disadvantages.
> Say, for example, you had to hire a car twice a year because of the
> short range, you would probably end up losing any money you saved from
> the conversion
>
> However, nothing puts a bigger smile on my face than completely
> filling the tank for $20
>
> Hopefully someone will find this post useful :P
>