LPG - anyone got experience or thoughts?
 

I had thought that when the diesel engine is introduced in the Legacy next year I'd be pretty much at the front of the queue, however I've discovered a couple of things which may change this and I'd appreciate any comments.

Firstly, there is now a Subaru approved LPG conversion available for the 2 litre petrol engine. This costs around £1900 so with LPG at around 47p per litre and unleaded at about £1 then even allowing for fuel consumption dropping by about 20% when using LPG it still pays for itself at just over 30K miles. As I do 25K miles per year, the LPG conversion would pay for itself fairly quickly.

However, while the new diesel engine sounds like being very good it will be Euro 5 compliant. I don't know all the details behind this but I understand that Euro 5 probably means that while emissions may be low this is achieved at the expense of fuel consumption. So although diesel gets more miles per gallon than petrol the difference between Euro 5 diesel mileage and petrol mileage isn't so great and that as diesel is more expensive than petrol it will take longer to get the payback.

So - is LPG the way to go? Has anyone on here run on LPG for significant miles? Are there any extra maintenance costs? Is reliability affected? What do I need to know?

There have been umpteen threads on this subject in Scooby General and Drivetrain. dl

I have had 2 cars on LPG and would recomend them to anyone who wants to save some cash on fuel.

Converted both myself and have never had any trouble with them.

Take a look at WTV-UK Autogas LPG Conversion Kits

I had a Lexus IS200 that I had converted and it was terrible (bodged conversion, I think). It kept cutting out after a long motorway run (i.e. at the end of the exit slip road), sometimes wouldn't start easily, used petrol even when running on gas, only did 15mpg on gas so wasn't any cheaper to run and the fitter reduced the air intake by 50% because "it was running lean on gas" and they couldn't get the mixture right using the computer. This meant when running on petrol it was gutless due to being strangled. Filling it was also a nightmare, it had a screw-in adaptor for the pump which never pressurised properly so it took about 5 attempts to get any gas delivered and due to small tank and poor consumption it meant I was spending a lot of my time on forecourts.

It's put me off for life.

Start here for info LP Gas, LPG, LPGA, LPGAutogas, Bottled Gas, Butane, Gas Cylinders, Gas Stations, Car Conversions, Liquefied Petroleum Gas, Propane but bear in mind they would say it's a good idea wouldn't they :)

What they won't tell you is that they have a secret page on their site (members only) that lists out cars with "chocolate engines" that are prone to problems - usually valves and valve seats - if they are converted. Fords and Hondas feature IIRC. dl

It costs me £44 + for a 47 Kg bottle for use in the house for cooking and heating!

Les

Sounds like mixed experiences then. As the approved conversion has only recently been introduced it's too early for it to appear on a "chocolate engine" list, so maybe I won't rush into this....

Thanks.

I have a great big calor gas tank in the garden. is their anyway that I can use that to link to a home LPG pump for the car ?

I think that it's a bit like red diesel or running on used chip oil. Technically, the answer is "Yes". HMRC might get interested though.

I run my diesel on vegetable oil and he has now aquired the name chippy:D

your local dealer should have info on the lpg conversions, they have different heads to the petrol versions for a start and to do the tappits which have to be done when stated is going to take a silly amount of time and labour.

No. Apart from being highly illegal, your tank is vapour offtake and a liquid installation is required for Autogas/FLT usage plus you'd need a three phase supply to run the EDU.

As for the conversion, the actual fuel is much cleaner than petrol/diesel which is noticeable in the reduced carbon content of the oil i.e. its much clearer. It is generally kinder to the engine as well as having a much higher calorific value resulting in less wear and tear, however, you need to ensure that you use a decent convertor as there are a number of cowboys out there.