Iq Lpg Conversions ?

[bobkneale]

Possibly a "daft" question ? Has anyone considered or actually converted a 1.0ltr manual IQ to LPG

Either through a approved LPG converter or a "do it yourself" conversion.

I guess payback is not to good ? however with a professional LPG 3 cylinder conversion costs can now be less than ₤600 ish and completed in less than a day, It was just a thought.

Just the reduced cost of LPG V Petrol cost could provide some payback on its own ?

All comments welcomed.

Positive Regards,

Bob.

[s44gtw]

I run my 4x4 on LPG & it works out as good economy for me.

Where were you thinking on Fitting the LPG tank in the iQ?

Possibly behind the drivers seat if you remove that rear seat..

A 60 litre tank would hold 48-50 litres of Gas.

http://www.go-lpg.co.uk/tanks.html

george

[jwball]

The practicality and savings on what is already an economical car would be negligible in my opinion.

Yes LPG is roughly half the cost of petrol but you also get less miles per gallon than petrol.

[Parts-King]

and you void the engine warranty too!

Kingo

[craggle]

Have to agree, pointless on such a small engine.

I had LPG fitted on my last 2 cars, First was a 4.2L V8 Range Rover and the second was a 4.6L V8 Range Rover. The conversions on those was around £2000 each but I made the cost back in fuel saving over less than 2 years and as I kept the vehicles for 6 years each it was worth doing. Made my 15mpg into the equivalent cost of 28-30mpg on gas. Ran very well on LPG too and kept the oil cleaner.

The cost of a conversion on a modern engine will be more than £600. To get any sort of decent running you'll need a multi point injection system just like the petrol system already fitted and that needs to be fully ECU controlled and linked to the car electronics to make it think it's still running to stop it going into an error mode. A single point injection ring just fitted into the intake pipe will not work well.

I suspect the cost of the conversion would mean you need to do hundreds of thousands of miles to make the savings back. I also found that LPG stations are few and far between in this country and any trips out of the ordinary required some planning if you wanted to remain on LPG power.

Craig.

[bobkneale]

Thanks to all for above comments, they all make perfect sense.

Positive Regards,

Bob.

[sweet-dentist]

But still.... I know some people who had a Citroen 2CV... and a LPG installation in it...

But then again... those engines were aircooled and with a carburetta fuel intake... so not a multipoint injection type....

They did it for the fun of it... driving a very cost efficient car and than still a LPG installation... :-))

[craggle]

It's a shame really it never caught on in the UK in the way it should have. It's a cleaner fuel, no doubt in that and as it's a bi-product of refining oil it's essentially a waste product so cheaper to produce.

I think manufacturers need to get behind it and promote it. For one Land Rover and Jaguar should be looking at it I think. They produce big expensive to run cars and if they had a factory LPG option I reckon it would sell. You also get breaks in London for LPG on the congestion charge and road tax but only if you have a factory fit system or it's done on a new car with an approved conversion. Very few vehicles fitted with aftermarket kits qualify.

Insurance wasn't a problem for me on my Range Rovers, they just wanted to see a certificate to say it was installed by an LPGA dealer and not a DIY job.

Admiral was quite funny when I phoned them up and said I'd had my vehicle converted to Liquid Petroleum Gas and he said we don't do that, we only do LPG which is low pressure gas. I tried to convince him it stood for Liquid Petroleum Gas but he was having none of it!

More filling stations need it too but the storage tanks at garages seem to be above ground cylinders in a fenced off area. I guess lots of petrol stations already in use just don't have the room to add the tanks.

Craig.

[s44gtw]

Plenty stations in Scotland with LPG and well priced in Asda.

(An Asda Credit Card used to give another 1 pence a litre off.)

The Problem was when Fuel was going up by a penny a litre and you might use twice as many litres.

Once it started getting over 50 pence a litre i lost interest in using it for my Daily Drive.

My other problem was sometimes coming back to Scotland from Norwich and the pathetic coverage of LPG Stations if not being in a vehicle with a big enough tank.

Going down the West side of the UK gave more available fueling stops.

I used to run a Land Rover for towing & with just LPG and no other fuel i did not need a Tachograph.

(So no petrol carried for starting, just set up for on LPG)

The LPG tanks in that gave a 700 mile range and i could often fill up cheap in Scotland get south and maybe only need to do an expensive top up if really needed, then back north. (Morrisons was often good for cheaper LPG in the South.)

http://www.v8engines.com

http://www.petrolprices.com

george

[craggle]

Did you have any petrol on board or just gas?

Only ask as I had a fuel pump relay fail on my first Range Rover so the fuel pump wasn't priming the system to start the engine on petrol. My system always started on petrol then changed to gas after.

No problem I thought, I'll start it on gas so I pressed the override button and started cranking away. A few seconds later the bonnet seemed to rise slightly followed by a huge bang but the engine did start. Looked under the bonnet and the plastic air filter housing was laying in bits all over the engine bay.

Can only assume the gas found it's way back down the intake pipe and ignited in the air filter! It did start though and drove happily back home where I replaced the £4 relay and the £50 air filter housing!

Craig.

[sweet-dentist]

Seems like here in Europe they tend to get more cars on bi-fuel... and this means running on natural gas.... So not LPG but earth gas...

A friend bought a Volkswagen Touran bi-fuel... on petrol and on natural gas.. bought it in Germany..

In Holland we have very little filling stations for natural gas... but seems cheaper than LPG...

[craggle]

There is a thing called CNG in the UK or compressed natural gas.

You connect your car up to a machine and it takes gas from your household natural gas supply, compresses it and sticks it in your car tank as a compressed liquid gas. I think it takes a while to fill up though so you are meant to plug it in when you return to your garage and disconnect the following morning.

Never seem to hear anything about it though so not sure how popular it is.

Craig.

[s44gtw]

Not looked at it or Googled.

But Duty is on 'Road Fuels' in the UK,

and 'Household/Domestic/ Fuels are rather different.

Illegal to use one for the other purpose.

Plenty of Military Display Type Vehicles with big Tanks installed running LPG from Grain Dryers on Farms for longer trips.

Obviously Illegal, but hey ho, it happens. (35 pence a litre)

The difference from running 'Cherry' in an oil burner is the lack of markers with the Gas.

george

EDIT

from a google

http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed_natural_gas

[craggle]

Yes, I believe you have to declare the fuel usage and pay tax separately on it.

I did look at getting an LPG cylinder installed in the garden once as you get a discount buying it in bulk and you can use heating gas but then after you add the cost of the tank, pump, filler gear Etc and declare the use of it to pay tax, you barely save anything.

I assume people running around on chip fat also pay tax separately.

Craig.

[s44gtw]

No, in the UK for private use, not Commercial or Business, (that would include a Company Car/Vehicle)

its 2500 litres a year 'Used Vegetable oil'. 'WVO' (waste vegetable oil)

Collecting, filtering, getting rid of H20 is the time waster.

But that does not stop you going into the Cash and Carry or supermarket and buying New Vegetable Oil @ say

£1 a litre and using it. 'SVO' /Straight Vegetable Oil.

No Duty to pay. (But the HMRC rules are all about 'Used' Oil.)

Then you get into mixing with diesel for cold weather,

Twin tanks and possibly heaters.

or producing 'Bio' for your own use from 'WVO'.

Its a PITA actually for doing high mileages and messing about with messy Oil.

Easier to go earn a few hours wages and Buy the stuff from a pump and its filled up in minutes.

george

[Kip]

Been a while since I posted, but seeing as I'm here...

I considered LPG for my iQ too when I still had it. Never went through with it. The one place in my area that was an approved LPG dealer did not respond to a quotation request, they probably didn't take it seriously and I can't blame them. It isn't worth the cost on a low cc petrol. High mileages might warrant it, and if you combine that sort of use with an engine pre-heater to give your engine an insanely long lifetime (as well as using less petrol/more gas), you might save something.

Most interesting option in my opinion, if you were able, would be a diesel iQ with LPG fumigation. LPG fumigation is different as it mixes LPG and diesel in the cylinder together. It supposedly offers increased engine efficiency, giving more power and mpg. It still runs about 60%-80% diesel in the mix so still mostly conventional fuel. Last time I looked into it it was still in early stages of development though. Also, have fun getting hold of a diesel iQ in the UK. :P Just one of my many crazy ideas for the iQ, along with 4 wheel steering. :D

As for using WVO/SVO, its not always about trying to save money. Sometimes, people just want to be more self sufficient. They want to take the control away from big corporations/govenments and do it themselves, regardless of the consequences. Each to their own and whatnot.