LPG conversion: is it worth it?

[Vins213]

1 hour ago, flash22 said:

With the FXE engine, it does use the Atkinson cycle so the exhaust stays open longer on the compression stroke, which is both good and bad, bad because you don't have the same lubrication from the fuel with LPG

in fact there will always be a petrol contribution, micro injections and increase with the engine rpm increases

 

1 hour ago, Cyker said:

It might be better in Italy, but in the UK LPG is virtually dead so it's hard to recommend!

Generally the hybrids are already so fuel efficient that you gain almost nothing with LPG conversion, even if the fuel is cheaper (Here there is almost no tax on it so it's almost half the cost of petrol, but mpg for LPG is significantly worse than petrol so the savings are a lot less than a half).

I hear the petrol quality in Italy is not great so maybe LPG would be worth doing, esp. if you actually have a lot of specialists who know what they are doing rather than the mostly-trial-and-error types we seem to have here  

Personally I wouldn't, esp. as nobody has cracked the Toyota ECU (AFAIK!) so they'd need to use a piggy back ECU to alter the injection to adjust the fuelling amounts for LPG, and I'm not confident the long term reliability wouldn't be affected...

there is about 17-20% difference between km/l with petrol and LPG (23 with petrol, maybe 18 with LPG, with a little petrol contribution, see the excel table posted)...the results for my hybrid will be about 3-4€ per 100km, and now I'm near 9€/100km


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=134NXmax9fw&t=362s

[TonyHSD]

LPG brings along  issues and complications. 
Others may have converted their cars  and share only positive results, but save the negatives for themselves. I will not trust anyone how good is to drive on lpg , I know from personal experience, it is not worth it, similar to any other type of car modification. But if you really  want to try , you can do so and have an lpg installed and enjoy cheaper fuel.
For me the best is the simplest. 

[Cyker]

I like the idea of LPG but modern Toyotas really don't like being tinkered about with - If I was going to LPG anything it'd probably be a Ford or Vauxhall or some lower-end German car that has a much simpler engine system.

But with LPG pretty much dead in this country and LPG stations closing down en masse (The nearest one to me was 2 miles, but now it's more like 20!), and zero government support or interest, it just isn't a wise investment in the UK.

As the support is much better in Italy, it might be worth a punt, but I'd find people who already had it done and find out what their long term experiences are like, and make sure you can find a place that can support it long-term as Toyota will not help with any problems when they see the engine's been hacked about with!

[hind]

17 hours ago, Cyker said:

it'd probably be a Ford

They will tell you the same thing on the Ford forum 😛 that these engines are not suitable for LPG because of the lack of hydraulic tappets and need to inspect the valve clearances very often. Yet there are a lot of people who installed LPG anyway, got it properly tuned and they are happy with the conversion which makes it more cost effective than diesel engines (with their own set of problems).

IIRC Opel/Vauxhall 1.4 Turbo engine and  1.4 T-jet from Fiat are well suited for LPG.

[Roy124]

@Vins213 you seem to have convinced yourself that the conversion is worthwhile.   What was the question the question?

I recall many years ago the Italy was not the place to buy petrol.  I managed to go from Switzerland to Venice and back and avoided buying fuel in Italy.

Are you really going to save money?

 

 

[Vins213]

5 hours ago, Roy124 said:

Are you really going to save money?

Definitely yes and the maths says it well, I was hoping that in England the conversion was more common, but I made the mistake of not evaluating the fuel costs of this area

 

maybe only in Italy we have the 'LPG mind conversion', spritmonitor says it all with the cost per 100km

 

but the users have the 1.8, a bunch of people have the 1.5...and we are back to the main question 🙂 not a problem, I have to ask to someone who has/knows the LPG on the 1.5

 

[MikeSh]

2 minutes ago, Vins213 said:

I have to ask to someone who has/knows the LPG on the 1.5

I think you have find Italian users.

[Cyker]

22 hours ago, Vins213 said:

Definitely yes and the maths says it well, I was hoping that in England the conversion was more common, but I made the mistake of not evaluating the fuel costs of this area

 

maybe only in Italy we have the 'LPG mind conversion', spritmonitor says it all with the cost per 100km

 

but the users have the 1.8, a bunch of people have the 1.5...and we are back to the main question 🙂 not a problem, I have to ask to someone who has/knows the LPG on the 1.5

 

Alas the vast majority of LPG users here seem to be Land Rovers and Camper Vans enthusiasts.

Land Rovers mainly because their fuel economy was so shockingly bad the LPG conversion made them almost bearable.

Camper vans, I suspect because they use the same gas to power their stoves and heaters and stuff.

Either way though, it's in a bit of a death spiral here as the lack of demand means more LPG stations close every year which makes it a bigger pain in the proverbial to refuel which puts people off which reduces demand etc.

Interestingly the advent of electricity has also spurred the decline of gas in the Camper Van world, environmentally-conscious hippies that many of them are, having discovered small inexpensive heat pumps and induction stoves that can be run off solar panels, batteries and electric hookups instead of gas.

 

[Lefk]

I just installed a prins VSI 2.0 on my Yaris.

 

first tank gave me about 6.2 LPG consumption for 15€. Didn’t fill up gasoline cause it clicked just when I started pumping.

I set it up to run with LPG until 3500 or 80% load. 

conversion cost was 1400€.

i also have a 6 cyl BMW (M52 engine) with 50K kms on lpg. 
If the system is setup correctly the exhaust temperatures are identical to that of gasoline for the same loads.

i don’t worry about the valves.