Help.

I ended up having to lever one of Megs off with a screwdriver and some cloth under the 'lip' of the lead head! Was worried I'd break it but luckily didn't!

I miss the LPG from my F and am slightly tempted to fit it to the TF, though to be honest it does an average of 30 miles in a week and costs me roughly £40 a month in petrol, so any conversion would take years to pay its way...

Unless I start using it more

I never had an issue with revs dropping in traffic, only a rough ride during initial switchover from petrol to LPG, then smooth driving from that point on. The only oddity I had was the car losing coolant when running on petrol but no loss with LPG.

Never got chance to get to the bottom of that.

Well Mal , the mileage I do (around 1k a month), the saving of 60% on fuel compared to petrol and the car coming with the lpg system already fitted means that it should pay for itself in just over a year by my rough calculations. Touch wood.

I didn't realise that you had one in your F. What setup did that have? tank size? In the boot was it? Any problems ever? Did it last for many miles? lol anything I forgot to ask?

The LPG conversion was already fitted to my F when I got it, but sadly it was written off a month later.

The fitting was quite elegant really, the tank was in the front where the spare used to live and the LPG filler point was in the rear bumper below the petrol cap with colour coded cap so it was barely noticeable. The button to switch, along with the fuel level was located just next to the fog lamp switch and even now after months in the TF, I sill look there for the level gauge.

Other than the weird coolant issue, there were no real problems with it. Engine ran a little rough switching to LPG but soon ran smooth again once it settled into the new fuel. I did find the engine felt a little gutless on LPG compared to petrol, but that was only really an issue on steep hills (a big issue then in Huddersfield). All it meant was that I needed either a little more lead in my foot or a quick switch back to petrol, depending on the hill and surrounding traffic.

Not sure what the make was, I was going to get it all checked over however other events got in the way. I occasionally look at the kits on fleabay, but buying those still means you have to get the tank, get the pipes made to measure, get it all programmed and working and then get it certified by a fitter before its road legal, so in the end doing it yourself does not really save much over getting it fitted by a professional. If its already fitted its a no brainier, use it as it saves you money, if not there is a lot to factor in as to whether it's worth it or not. That's the position I'm in now.

I see your point Mal. Damn shame about the write off. My setup is outlined in my photo album on here (that'll save my two fingers typing a bit). Mine's in the boot as you probably know from other pics.

You're right about it being a 'no brainer' for sure. I would't fit one due to the costs and time involved. Even on petrol this car is much better than my old fiat coupe on juice. Mind you, lol, I've only used a tank of petrol since having it I think. One of the bonuses of being near a big city is the availability of lpg. Most of them are up backstreet industrial estates though. Probably why it's so cheap.

While I was on holiday in Norfolk every petrol staton had LPG, here in Huddersfield there are a couple of stations and the taxi place down the road that will sell you some at a little over cost price.

We have around 6 fitters here now, compared with 1 a few years ago and the nearest being in Liverpool a few years before that.

Hopefully the fitting costs will start to drop, then it becomes a no brainer for more people

Mal7921 wrote: Hopefully the fitting costs will start to drop, then it becomes a no brainer for more people

That's when they'll put the price up. Although, you have to shop around for best prices as it is now. Some stations charge up to 80p a litre down to as little as 63p. Quite a difference when you're filling an 80 litre tank.

It's interesting that they seem more available down south. I wonder why that is? I set my satnav up to show me when there's an lpg station within 500 yards or so. It rarely makes the cuckoo sound up here. I was sick of hearing it all over europe. :lol:

You can bet that as soon as lpg becomes a popular option, the government will whip up the tax to increase the cost to petrol levels. Just like they did with Diesel.

I'm not sure that it ever will, since they stopped subsidising the costs of fitting the systems to vehicles.

Interesting thing with diesel, it's the cheapest fuel to refine, but out of the oil you get 2 parts petrol for 1 part diesel.

The original excuse for the diesel price hike was investment in more refineries as it was feared there was not going to be enough capacity to fulfill demand once the diesel cars started becoming popular, despite there being way too much capacity in the first place. While the tax does add a whopping amount, it is the wholesale price that is causing the discrepancy, with the percentage of tax inflated as a result.

Having said that, it's still cheaper to run my citroen c5 diesel than it was to run my xantia petrol car, even though diesel is about 30p per liter more than unleaded was at the time, the road ripoff, erm, road tax is cheaper too.

Leigh Ping wrote:

Mal7921 wrote: Hopefully the fitting costs will start to drop, then it becomes a no brainer for more people

That's when they'll put the price up. Although, you have to shop around for best prices as it is now. Some stations charge up to 80p a litre down to as little as 63p. Quite a difference when you're filling an 80 litre tank.

It's interesting that they seem more available down south. I wonder why that is? I set my satnav up to show me when there's an lpg station within 500 yards or so. It rarely makes the cuckoo sound up here. I was sick of hearing it all over europe. :lol:

That's easy, have you seen the price of petrol in remote areas down there?

Buy a £500 micra, spend £1000 on an unleaded conversion, use it daily if you live over 10 miles from where you work and it will pay for itself many times over during the remaining lifetime of the car as those things go forever.

Even if it was just a local runaround, it will pay for itself within a few years

Leigh Ping wrote: I'm not sure that it ever will, since they stopped subsidising the costs of fitting the systems to vehicles.

The equipment is pretty cheap now compared to a few years ago, the cost is mostly down to the fitting on the car now.

More competition would bring that down, though it still has to be a reasonable level so businesses can survive