What is your experience with LPG?

[sawadee1947]

I'm considering to build in a LPG system into my 8 years old Fortuner run 200.000km. Is it worth do do so and what is your experience? And what is the best and safest brand? What about the costs?

Thanx for serious replies

[CharlieH]

In my observation, IT EXPLODES ! far too often in this country.

[ubonjoe]

Moved to the Thailand motor forum.

[marko kok prong]

My mate converted his old transit van back in Aus,it was duel fuel petrol/lpg,he had nothing but problems and eventually it caught fire,i think it would take you a long time to recoup the costs of fitting it,i reckon not worth the bother.

[ThaidDown]

Is the Fortuner Diesel or Petrol powered?

If Diesel can only run at around 25% LPG so much longer to get return on outlay.

For petrol can be done but a cheap and shoddy conversion can give more problems, including fire.

In answer the question 'what is your experience with lpg' my answer is 'it's great for cooking'.

[i claudius]

A few weeks ago our car was being serviced so i borrowed my one of my neighbours cars ,had lpg ,flippin terrible ,you can stick it where the sun don't shine.

[noahvail]

If your Fortuner runs on diesel, get it up to 250,000 kms and then have the engine rebuilt. It'll be good to go for another 250,000. Converting a diesel to LPG is a waste of money, IMHO.

[Ace of Pop]

Makes Exceedingly Good Cigarette Lighters

[IMHO]

My experience is limited to cooking. Great stuff.

[Ace of Pop]

Slight Edge over Charcoal ,price wise..

[StefanBBK]

I heard insurance will go up. Also resale value will drop. I don't think there is any financial gain.

I guess your fortuner uses gas, gasoline. 14.5 lt. On 100 km should be normal for it. I switched to diesel years ago and the new fortuner uses 9.3 Ltd on 100 km mixed. Saved 50% at the gas station. Get a diesel is my recommendation.

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[WarpSpeed]

If your Fortuner runs on diesel, get it up to 250,000 kms and then have the engine rebuilt. It'll be good to go for another 250,000. Converting a diesel to LPG is a waste of money, IMHO.

Only 250,000 k's? That should be break in mileage for a well maintained diesel .

Edited May 6, 2014 by WarpSpeed

[WarpSpeed]

Slight Edge over Charcoal ,price wise..

Nonsense!!

Priced charcoal lately? It's flippin expensive!!

[wprime]

In my observation, IT EXPLODES ! far too often in this country.

Such is to be expected when the standard procedure for clogged LPG filters is to increase the pressure.

[Ace of Pop]

Slight Edge over Charcoal ,price wise..

Nonsense!!

Cant You Yanks read English, that's what the Edge is .Its Cheaper., price wise.

Priced charcoal lately? It's flippin expensive!!

[tomtaylor1]

HI All, I always fill my LPG tank to the maximum, I find you can get between 5 and 10 liters more into the tank after the pump says full, is this likely to lead to a problem, this I do on long journeys to save to many fuel stops.

To date we have owned a Suzuki Caribean, A Jeep Cherokee and two 4 liter Wranglers with no engine problems, although The Suzuki and on one occasion the first Wrangler refused to switch back to petrol, both faults easily fixed. No overheating problems, engine oil stays clean, oil pressure reads ok.

The Cherokee and the latest Wrangler have a valve saver fluid container fitted.

On long runs we get app 6.5 to 7 kilometers per liter at 1900 revs 90 to 100 kph.

Tom

[WarpSpeed]

Slight Edge over Charcoal ,price wise..

Nonsense!!

Cant You Yanks read English, that's what the Edge is .Its Cheaper., price wise.

Priced charcoal lately? It's flippin expensive!!

First to read it one has to be able to properly write it..... Ace..

Ermm don't think the "yank" is the one having trouble COMPREHENDING in this case.. or quoting properly either .. Read: I think charcoal is far more expensive, not a "slight" edge...

Edited May 7, 2014 by WarpSpeed

[WarpSpeed]

HI All, I always fill my LPG tank to the maximum, I find you can get between 5 and 10 liters more into the tank after the pump says full, is this likely to lead to a problem, this I do on long journeys to save to many fuel stops.

To date we have owned a Suzuki Caribean, A Jeep Cherokee and two 4 liter Wranglers with no engine problems, although The Suzuki and on one occasion the first Wrangler refused to switch back to petrol, both faults easily fixed. No overheating problems, engine oil stays clean, oil pressure reads ok.

The Cherokee and the latest Wrangler have a valve saver fluid container fitted.

On long runs we get app 6.5 to 7 kilometers per liter at 1900 revs 90 to 100 kph.

Tom

How do you do that? It is a pressure based system and operated by the attendant, yes I'd say it is dangerous, you're putting a lot more PSI on the tank that way as the LP (liquid propane) has to have room for expansion into a gas to flow through the system. They should not be able to override the pressure limits set on the pump.

[dutchrdam]

Gas in a car is great. My car have a Toyota J 3 liter engine, auto gear and 2 or 4 wheel drive. I don't have petrol. Start up on gas. Old fashion system. Just inject the gas in the suction air before the carburetor.

Plus points....

If drive normal use about 1 liter gas every 8 kilometer. If driving fast, about 180 km, then this drop to 1 liter 5 kilometer. Total gas an board is 80 liter by 80-% filling.

In the past flooding use cooking gas without any problem. The gas stations where closed.

Also use cooking gas in rural area's if there are no LPG stations.

Big smile by the pump. At this moment pay 12.68 a liter.

Engine run more then 180.000 km on it and no gas related problems in the past 5 year.

Min points.....

Engine get hotter. Compensated this with a bigger radiator and a separate radiator for the gearbox.Also for the oil i have a extra reservoir from 4 liter with a oil cooler.

Need extra protection between the hood and the engine else your paint will do strange.

If engine cold take a little longer to start. After first start the engine start quick.

If you let it install do it by a garage who have experience in t.

[Ace of Pop]

Like You Warpy i'm not English and speak and write a rather poor version of it just like Yanks , but think im good at it too. .

[WarpSpeed]

Like You Warpy i'm not English and speak and write a rather poor version of it just like Yanks , but think im good at it too. .

Dood, WE mastered English after the English introduced us to the bastardized version, we've been refining it ever since, not the other way around ..

[ginglee]

I hate dieses, so the last 3 vehicles have been LPG (in the UK) ...I guess in the UK they would have better regulation than Thailand, all have to come with certs from a qualified installer. I'm currently running LPG on a Jeep Cherokee, had it now 3 years no issues. My last car a Range Rover, the lambda sensors kept burning out every 20k. Put a good system in and you wont go wrong...

[PattayaPhom]

Standard price is THB 23,500 by a registerd fitter that will provide paperwork and sticker. Stations will refuse to fill if no valid sticker. Price increases each month for the next 7 months or so.

[Camilo Diaz]

I bought and old honda accord about 6 years ago, I swich it to LPG and run it for about 3 years till the engine die, I am not sure if becouse the LPG or becouse the engine was already prety bad when I bought it, but since I put a newer ingine the car runs very fine, it can not swich to oil, only LPG, and I recon it had save me hundreds of thousands as I drive to hua him and pataya prety often. Just keep it well check.

[hugocnx]

Who's afraid of cargas. Sure, the old systems can cause problems if ill maintained or used with cooking gas. Fools!

LPG these days is very safe. Modern units work by injection system and are as powerfull as petrol engines.

Only problem is you must have patrol to start up, which wasn't necessary with old gas drum systems (in not too cold climates).

New injection systems come from Italy, country famous for producing LPG car systems.

Thailand has strict rules on building in of LPG and your car needs a new certification.

Price about 40,000. or more Baht and my Vigo 2.7 patrol engine does 7 km to the liter out of the city. So that is about 2 Baht something per km. On patrol that would cost me double and maybe it is only 1 baht gain compaired to diesel.

So count your profit.

[Dazinoz]

HI All, I always fill my LPG tank to the maximum, I find you can get between 5 and 10 liters more into the tank after the pump says full, is this likely to lead to a problem, this I do on long journeys to save to many fuel stops.

To date we have owned a Suzuki Caribean, A Jeep Cherokee and two 4 liter Wranglers with no engine problems, although The Suzuki and on one occasion the first Wrangler refused to switch back to petrol, both faults easily fixed. No overheating problems, engine oil stays clean, oil pressure reads ok.

The Cherokee and the latest Wrangler have a valve saver fluid container fitted.

On long runs we get app 6.5 to 7 kilometers per liter at 1900 revs 90 to 100 kph.

Tom

Not a great idea. I don't know how car systems work but I do know about LPG as I used to work in an oil refinery making various fuels including LPG.

A space is left on purpose in an LPG cylinder for a couple of reasons. The main one is that is allows for expansion of the liquid when it heats. Secondly the safety valve is located in the vapor space so if it operates due to over pressure it only release LPG vapor. If the safety valve is located below the liquid level LPG liquid is released instead of vapor. The problem with this is that LPG liquid expands 256 times at atmospheric pressure. So in this case if 1 Litre of liquid is released it fills the same space as 256 liters of gas. This is a very large amount if ignited.

This is the reason why LPG bottles should be operated upright and never modified. We have sample cylinders where I worked that people have modified for home use and has resulted in a fatality.

Edited May 8, 2014 by Dazinoz

[dotpoom]

My first car here was a Honda with petrol engine...on average cost 3 Bt per kilometer. My second car was a Mercedes with LPG and petrol....cost 2 Bt per K on the LPG. Now i have a 3 liter diesel pick-up....costs 2 and 1/2 Bt per K. Never had any problem with the gas.

[kovaltech]

HI All, I always fill my LPG tank to the maximum, I find you can get between 5 and 10 liters more into the tank after the pump says full, is this likely to lead to a problem, this I do on long journeys to save to many fuel stops.

To date we have owned a Suzuki Caribean, A Jeep Cherokee and two 4 liter Wranglers with no engine problems, although The Suzuki and on one occasion the first Wrangler refused to switch back to petrol, both faults easily fixed. No overheating problems, engine oil stays clean, oil pressure reads ok.

The Cherokee and the latest Wrangler have a valve saver fluid container fitted.

On long runs we get app 6.5 to 7 kilometers per liter at 1900 revs 90 to 100 kph.

Tom

How do you do that? It is a pressure based system and operated by the attendant, yes I'd say it is dangerous, you're putting a lot more PSI on the tank that way as the LP (liquid propane) has to have room for expansion into a gas to flow through the system. They should not be able to override the pressure limits set on the pump.

Its a manual pressure release valve, something what was always done in the early days of filling a LPG tank. it allows you to fill the tank a few liters more, without putting more PSI in the tank.

LPG stays liquified under low pressure, does not need "room for expansion". It flows in liquid form towards the expansion unit where it turns in a gaseous state or with newer systems its getting injected in a liquified state into the air intake manifold.

If this manual valve is at the top of your tank, then you could fill it up to 100%

in some cases , if not opening that valve, the tank can only filled with 60% before the pressure would be so much increased that the pump reached its maximum. ( 45 PSI) some pumps even pump under lower pressure...

In the case of the OP, my guess he's filling at a low pump pressure station and he 's opening this valve. in any normal case this valve is placed at a point that you can not overfill your tank. ( at 80% level physical placed )

[kovaltech]

Who's afraid of cargas. Sure, the old systems can cause problems if ill maintained or used with cooking gas. Fools!

LPG these days is very safe. Modern units work by injection system and are as powerfull as petrol engines.

Only problem is you must have patrol to start up, which wasn't necessary with old gas drum systems (in not too cold climates).

New injection systems come from Italy, country famous for producing LPG car systems.

Thailand has strict rules on building in of LPG and your car needs a new certification.

Price about 40,000. or more Baht and my Vigo 2.7 patrol engine does 7 km to the liter out of the city. So that is about 2 Baht something per km. On patrol that would cost me double and maybe it is only 1 baht gain compaired to diesel.

So count your profit.

Sorry to inform you... LPG is cooking gas.... ( mixture of Propane and Butane )

CNG = compressed natural gas ( Methane = Biogas )

[Dazinoz]

HI All, I always fill my LPG tank to the maximum, I find you can get between 5 and 10 liters more into the tank after the pump says full, is this likely to lead to a problem, this I do on long journeys to save to many fuel stops.

To date we have owned a Suzuki Caribean, A Jeep Cherokee and two 4 liter Wranglers with no engine problems, although The Suzuki and on one occasion the first Wrangler refused to switch back to petrol, both faults easily fixed. No overheating problems, engine oil stays clean, oil pressure reads ok.

The Cherokee and the latest Wrangler have a valve saver fluid container fitted.

On long runs we get app 6.5 to 7 kilometers per liter at 1900 revs 90 to 100 kph.

Tom

How do you do that? It is a pressure based system and operated by the attendant, yes I'd say it is dangerous, you're putting a lot more PSI on the tank that way as the LP (liquid propane) has to have room for expansion into a gas to flow through the system. They should not be able to override the pressure limits set on the pump.

Its a manual pressure release valve, something what was always done in the early days of filling a LPG tank. it allows you to fill the tank a few liters more, without putting more PSI in the tank.

LPG stays liquified under low pressure, does not need "room for expansion". It flows in liquid form towards the expansion unit where it turns in a gaseous state or with newer systems its getting injected in a liquified state into the air intake manifold.

If this manual valve is at the top of your tank, then you could fill it up to 100%in some cases , if not opening that valve, the tank can only filled with 60% before the pressure would be so much increased that the pump reached its maximum. ( 45 PSI) some pumps even pump under lower pressure...

In the case of the OP, my guess he's filling at a low pump pressure station and he 's opening this valve. in any normal case this valve is placed at a point that you can not overfill your tank. ( at 80% level physical placed )

Edited May 8, 2014 by Dazinoz