2006 Rav4 2.0 A/t With Engine 1Az-Fe And Lpg Conversion Experience

[ToyotaForever]

Hello,

I am new here, and I found some topics about RAV4 LPG conversion. But I am interested esspecially, if anyone has some long term experience, after LPG conversion has been done and has driven many miles since than. I like this car so much. I had the Corolla Verso before, it was a great car too, but RAV4 is just amazing :) except the fuel consumption of course, which is really terrible on my 2006 A/T model. So I plan to do the LPG conversion with Prins VSI 2.0 ValveCare system, just I'm so scared of many scary stories about engine, valves and engine head damages, that I have to make sure, that it is really a good idea to convert it to LPG. For example, a friend of mine damaged the Honda CRV engine completelly after 40 000 km on LPG. So are Toyota's VVTi engines more resistant to that kind of damage than CRV's? Has anyone such experience?

Any advice would be appreciated very much.

[gjnorthall]

Although LPG is a clean fuel - it doesn't contain the additives found in petrol which protect valves and valve seats. All petrol engines are susceptible to damage though detail design differences will make some engines more prone to damage than others. Most LPG systems include (or have available as an extra) an additive system such as the Valve Care system on Prins set-ups. Hopefully someone has first hand experience of running a Rav on LPG but there are plenty of vehicles that reliably cover mega-miles on LPG. As you say, there are plenty of horror stories - often associated with not using additives, not properly maintaining systems or fitting cheap and nasty equipment.

For a vehicle covering around 12000miles per annum - it takes around 2 years to cover the installation cost. There's also the issue of fuel availability, space taken up by the LPG tank and additional maintenance requirements.