Why Is LPG Overlooked when its 50% cheaper than petrol

alfa114

i would like to know why LPG is not pushed more on this site and others. its 50% cheaper than petrol. better for your engine and exhust. a big CO2 saving. it has so many advanatges and yet people still do not convert their cars?

Alexandria

Perhaps because in a lot of cases because its not worth the conversion cost? I looked into getting a conversion but given the low mileage I do (approx 5k per year) it would have taken me far too long to make a saving from it. Instead I took the option of swapping to a more economical to run car that didn't cost me anything to change.

LittleVoice

alfa114 wrote: »

i would like to know why LPG is not pushed more on this site and others. its 50% cheaper than petrol. better for your engine and exhust. a big CO2 saving. it has so many advanatges and yet people still do not convert their cars?

Maybe they don't believe the price differential will continue. Look at diesel.

chilli_dog

The last company i worked for bought 6 of these to see how they went. Vauxhall Astra's. All 6 had blown cylinder heads within 60k miles. The LPG does around 20mpg. Servicing costs were higher and the LPG system was unreliable. These were standard Vauxhall cars that were converted by Vauhall.

Ray-N

LPG doesnt lubricate the upper cylinders,causing premature wear on cylinder bores.It is not cost effective(obviously).Also whatever you do dont use that bio-diesel that you see for sale in industrial estates,they put too much solvent in the mixture to get fast supplies and the solvent rots all the seals in your diesel fuel pump,costing you possibly £1000's to repair.You have been warned

Zeitgeist

If you really want an LPG car then it's really only worth thinking about if you buy a car that has already been done. It's "another thing to go wrong", and as an after market fitment you may have to get it serviced elsewhere than your usual garage.

As Ray-N said, LPG doesn't have the lubricants that your engine needs so can causes premature damage. Some makes are better than others though. There are things you can do to help by running it on petrol sometimes and putting stuff into your petrol to lubricate the values and cylinders but if you have LPG you won't really want to run it on petrol will you.

This is before you take into account where you can fill it up, if you have a local garage with an LPG pump that's OK but if you go travelling elsewhere, you may need to switch to petrol. Having said that, your engine may thank you for it (see above).

A mate at work bought an old 1991 car which had an LPG conversion done. It worked reasonably well but passengers did complain of a horrible gas smell from the back (not noticed it from the front seats). Found out it was a gas leak! Just as well he found it, he is a heavy smoker...

alfa114

i understand the problems with the valves on some cars but a system called flash lube is now fitted to stop problems the vauxhalls had.many hundreds of cars will be converted this year i hope this trend continues. then perhaps LPG will be more widely available? i dont think the price will rise anything petrol and diesel will over the next 5 years.its time this moved away from a cottage industry and became more mainstream.. but i would advise independant advise before just jumping in and having it fitted by the nearest installer. check with the uk regulatory body uk lpg or their website drivelpg or use a indepenant site like comparelpg.com its better to be safe than sorry so get the full story 1st.

tomstickland

The fuel is about 50% of the price, but the mpg is down by around 20%.
Conversion costs money even if DIY.
Extra tank in boot.
Not many garages sell it.
Tax breaks will fall as it becomes popular.

Running a basic diesel engine on DIY biodiesel or standard vegetable oil must be the way to do it.

TAG

It depends on the sort of mileage you do as to whether or not to convert.

My ex Hubby bought an LPG Vauxhall Combo van back in 1999/2000. He was a courier covering in excess of 100k miles a year. Plus back then you could also claim a grant that covered the cost of the conversion. He had no problems with the van at all. But having said that, would always have had to of 'switched' the van over to petrol on most long journeys. Hence maybe why there were no engine problems.

It did however work out to save a vast amount on fuel costs. I think it was around the 35p a litre mark back then.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

My ex paid out for a professional conversion on his Range Rover. The one place selling LPG within an hour's drive stopped offering it due to what the manager called 'pressure from the company'. Then his fuel system practically disintegrated. It may be just bad luck, but he's not going anywhere near LPG again.

tomstickland

Your marriage will fail if you convert to it.