LPG

[swindy]

OK, not so much technical but more experience with.

Who has done it to their E30 and what effects did it have, would you recomend it and any problems with it?

I am hopefully starting a new job in a month or two which invovles alot of commuting on the Motorway, dont want to rid the E30 that would be but cant afford another car, so LPG sound good so far.

Regards Mark.

[toby]

I read BrainMoore has a converted LPG car and it has problems associated with air flow meter. Perhaps other with real knowledge will post. LPG seems an inviting financial option. Conversion costs about £1600 according to the LPG website so would take a lot of miles to become cost effective.

[swindy]

Yeah worked it out with the cost of gas against cost of LPG with the intial outlay included I would save just £300 in a year but the following year I would save £2000, thats alot.

[toby]

Hopefully someone who has had the conversion will post their experiences. It seems pretty readily available sown here in Kent & SE London and I think we're missing a trick not finding out more about it.

[swindy]

Me too, anyone?????

[glenbat]

Cant advise on cost/mpg but as a retained fire fighter can tell you that we're trained to keep a 500m clear zone around any vehicle known to be fitted with LPG thats alight. 500m (yes half a kilometre!) Seen loads of training videos and when the valve starts to go, it creates a 'flame thrower' effect and theres sod all anyone can do, including the emergency services.
100% of fire fighters think LPG is crazy, should never have been allowed to be toyed with, but those covering huge miles love the stuff.
If you ever carry babies/old people regularly please dont even think about it. Buy a diesel instead.
I dont know if YouTube has any LPG vids but you really have got to see it to believe it

Sorry to be so negative but its best you know both sides of it

[swindy]

I appreciate any feedback, and as a Police officer going to be in training and ex-rally marshall I can understand what your saying, I have been trainned in fire dealings track side, and never even thought of the accident side of things, thanks. Maybe a diesel would be a better idea.......

Food for thought.

[glenbat]

Yeah sorry to only give you negative feedback mate but its all I know about the stuff...

[drewjak]

i bought my 320 with a lpg conversion on it, it seems to be ok ive had no problems with it in the 12 months i used it for, its a bit slow but not as bad as you think, its cheap as hell to run on(been using petrol for 3 months now) and its cost me a fortune compaired to wot i used to spend, but im a petrol head so dont care, one thing i noticed about mine is on gas there doest seem to be a rev limiter????? you also seem to use ya gears a lot more as well, and with all that extra weight over the back wheels it handles a lot better to, but goes wen it does go!!!!, ive got an old system(5 years) so my tanks like a compressor!
i originally bought the vehicle from a local garage which fitted the conversions and it was their demo vehicle, and from wot i can tell by the records its covered 70,000 miles with the conversion on. and all seems ok.
if theres anything you can think of just ask cos i know ive probly not given ya much real info here

[swindy]

Nice one, good to hear both good and bad, and here is a couple, how big is your tank? what sort of mileage can you get out of your gas compared to your petrol, are refills just a frequent but cost less, or does it run for longer?

Any advice at the moment......

[drewjak]

if i remember rightly it holds 80litres of liquid, to fill from empty cost around £ 30 , round town cruisin about would get 150/180 miles, but on a run expect about 250/300.
a full tank of petrol costs me a tad over £50 around town etc about same mileage as gas but ive got a heavy right foot, on a run i couldnt really say as ive not had chance really to go anywhere as of yet.
one thing i did notice once on a short journey down the motorway using gas the obc figures were average of 16mpg @ 85mph and when using petrol it was returning an average of around 26mpg but was only over 15 /20 mile stretch on both occasions.
the best figure i had of the gas was cruisin at 40mph & getting 48 mpg that was round the lakes country roads.
on the refill side its all depends how ya drive it m8 a suppose.
i dont even use it any more either its been diconected from the the engine now,im thinking of takin the tank out as well,cos its just a pain in the ass cos it takes up half ya boot space, but theres serious amounts of pipes and wiring on the system as well otherwise i would have sold it, belive me i looks complicated its in to the ignition system and all sorts.but the tank can be removed quiet easily by the looks of it.

[kirils]

i have converted my 1983 320i l-jetronic to LPG, there are two systems i put in the cheaper one where the LPG is released after the air filter, and it goes ok, it's highly recomended to use new spark plugs and new cabels, every start is on gas and after 2000 rpm it changes on LPG and after that you drive on LPG, and it goes ok it usualy spend one litter on 100km more. but with the price of the lpg is really cheaper.
there is another system with a nozle on each cylinder, and far more eficient and it spends just like gas, and with that kind you can make it even more powerfull but it would spend a lot like that.

here is some pic of my car with LPG


if you need any more advice i would be happy to help you ... cause i have experience some with this.

[shazE30]

well mate i havent got an e30 on lpg but a Vreg 2.0 honda accord trust me mate if you wana save money for

example i do 130 miles on £7.50 lpg easy.......obviously its a diffrent car so will drive diffrent to an e30 but when i see

the miles i get outa it just cant go wrong my advice to you is dont get a cheap system mine was £3000 4years

ago but it was already fitted to car main advice is you gota maintain the car and service it every 8monts atlest

just to make sure everythings as should be dont want noting going BOOM.....but if you do put it in your car let me

know how it goes would concider doing it myself........

[swindy]

Loads of advice boys and girls, thanks, going to see how much and how long at a local garage soonish, I will let you all know the prices.

Thanks again.

[FBF]

also bear in mind mr G brown promised to leave the low tax on LPG but lied and has already raised it in the last budget. expect to see similar things next time