Unleaded vs LPG.......
 

For a while now we have seen a rise in fuel prices and I for one am keen on keeping my ZS whilst also trying to find ways of making it mine and costing less to run.

Recently I have been looking at LPG conversions.......roughly around £1800 for it to be installed and paying for itself in just a few years. Performance and reliability were the two concerns a few years back when a member on here 'Papa Lazaroo' had a conversion done but it kinda went *****......so he had another company put it all right and as far as I know he left here with everything running good.

Watching the BTCC a few weeks back I was reminded of LPG as I do believe the Arena Ford Focuses are running it under hard racing with the NGTC engines....... (New Generation Turbo Charged engines) so performance can't be that bad??

Anyone on here running LPG in their ZS and got opinions and advice? My credit card should be paid off next month and after June I have a little time to do more 'mods' before the baby comes. Obviously this mod is very favourable in the house at the minute as it could save money in the long run!

Jim

I looked into this about 2-3 years ago but the time it would take to pay it back was too long. Secondly I didn't want the added weight and loss of boot space.

Yeah I know what you mean :yes: it will take a while to pay it all off but once it is fitted and running it is just a matter of time before it becomes an investment :) plus I can unleash it a bit more without worrying about the cost of a litre of go go juice!

Was thinking I would ask for the donut in the spare wheel well ........failing that it can go in the boot as there isn't much room in there anyway in the hatch :laugh:

Might have to put the standard springs back on the car with the extra weight though :unsure: .........worth me going to look at a car set up with an LPG conversion anyway.

Jim

do you know whats involved with this conversion?

is it just a gas canister and some rubber hosing to the engine? or is it alot more complicated then that?

maybe i should surf google and stop asking silly questions :judge:

Ironically it is the Prins autogas system that Papa had installed.......and look who uses it!

clicky

Jim

had a quick read up...

seems simple enough!

gas tank in the spare wheel well, hoseing running underniethe the car to some sort of vapour tank in the engine bay (converting the liquid gas to vapour). then to some new injectors where the gas is injected straight into the engine

you also get a new ECU to go along side your exsisting ECU and a push button to tell the ECU to switch between gas and petrol.

there is adverts for these conversions as cheap as £900 but didnt look into the quality of those conversions ;)

seems the general view is that running on the LPG you are cutting your fuel costs in half, but i guess that depends how much you use the LPG? as you have the option to switch to petrol whenever you want! which i guess can be determined by your mood/driving needs. Eco-drive, put the LPG on! in the mood to put your foot down, switch back to petrol!

couldnt really find any info on how much additional weight you get with the LPG. Also more importantly, when switching from petrol to LPG on a (quite possibly) regular basis, what effect will this have on the life span of the engine?

Jim I have also been looking into this. I think the pay off time is comming down due to the increase in petrol prices. I got quoted £1400 from grren fuel to do the conversion I was very tempted to get it done just saving up the cash. My wife is always nipping me head at my pertol bill so It would be a great mod indeed.

Generally speaking spark plugs will get eaten but more so from frequent switching of fuels............running on LPG as much as possible with platinum plugs means trouble free motoring......

As for performance..........no trade off!!! BHP should be the same........it is the MPG which changes...........unleaded is more economical per mile.......the LPG is greener but burns more so the LPG per mile is more....

Trust me..........when the engine is warm and up to teperature I will have my foot buried more often!!!

Only thing I have noted is that it is wise not to let the tanks run down to low. On the flip side I drive LPG powered forklifts and have had no mechanical problems in the 1500 hours our two forks have clocked up each.........they are run on the rev limiter across our site even though this has been reduced by Linde technicians.......

The sooner I get a conversion the better.......but I must do my homework first by asking if anyone has been running LPG on a ZS180 already.

Jim

Approx £1800 ready to run...........performance should be the same...........I think it is a good deal. Quite a few perks running LPG too. Wonder if I can ditch the fuel tank :unsure: that would even things up I think.

Not really got much intention of running on unleaded if I get the LPG conversion.

Jim

Is it not a case that you need to run the unleaded for so many minutes/miles from startup before you can make the switch?