The demise of LPG

[Olbucko]

Back in 1990 I had a 2 litre Escort van converted to gas, ran it 100,000 km, then transferred the equipment to an XE van and ran it for a further 550,000 km, with only one problem, a valve in the tank failed it's 10 year inspection and the tank had to be replaced. I must have saved $40-50 thousand dollars during the 17 years I used gas, no regrets at all.

Now that both Lab and Lib govts have removed any incentives and subsidies' and are selling it off cheap to Asia it has no future.

Australia would not have been worried by the increasing cost of petrol had we developed the industry and kept our LPG.

Recently I bought a new FGX which I intend to keep for a long time, but decided against gas because of probable supply and service problems in the future. I think many potential customers have walked away for this reason.

[chizzy86]

For the last time

Australia is not selling off LPG cheap to Asia!

I checked last year and the average export price of LPG (note the P!) was 39 cents a litre. When you add in distribution and retail costs + GST, that is the price you pay the pump.

Yes, LNG (note the N!) is sold at about $0.02, but it methane, not propane. Its a different product.

I've got a 4.5 Patrol on lpg and its runs sweet, and powers past all those little 3.0 grenades and smokey old TD42s

[MrEL]

I had an injected system on my 5.0 in my 4x4.
I pulled it out and went back to straight petrol.
With the price of gas now i was only saving $11 a week.
Not worth the hassle of having it.

[Windsor220]

I was looking at some on gumtree but it's going to be a risk now if petrol stations are pulling out. Disappointing really because the injected ones are quite good.

[Brazen]

Shame about LPG. Probably one of the best Holden 6s was the recent dedicated LPG 3.6 in VEII to VF, it was tuned to be really torquey down low - felt very Falcony.

The ECOLPI Falcon is an absolute rocket.

[cycle myth]

Yep - a missed opportunity.

The most environmentally friendly fuel (save for electric generated by renewables)

LPi system was powerful, responsive, low cost of ownership

Just needed to:

1) Alter bad view (unfrounded) on the fuel

Red diamond should have been green (hybrid is green diamond but I worry about heavy metal batteries)

Not cheapo but green and thrift

If boot packaging with tanks on falcon was better then spare might fit without unaccepted impact on space use.

If all the above and fuel went > $2 then Falcon may have sold a lot more....

[vztrt]

Had an aftermarket system on my old BA (when I was doing big kms), after the 6 months of BS to get it running right it still felt gutless.

Traded the car in when I moved overseas. In all seriousness unless the payoff is really worth it I dont see the point. Petrol is cheap on this country...its the deprecation on the cars that hurt.

Looked at an lpi ute when buying the current car butvthe servicing cost and insurance (and lack of a manual transmission) pretty much put me in the seat of the turbo....and have never regretted it.

Lpg, like diesel, is pointless unless the kms are there to justify the purchase.

[baboon]

Yeah LPG suits big k's. I do about 40 000kms per year, and mostly hwy. The XR6 Turbo on the JTG system is great to own, and you dont feel as guilty giving it a squirt every now and then. Boost and LPG is addictive though... Comparing price of 98 vs LPG around here and LPG is still great value. Suits me, but not everyone...

[b0son]

Originally Posted by cycle myth

Yep - a missed opportunity.

Only if there was an opportunity to begin with. There wasn't. Private LPG sales were virtually non-existent for the better part of the last decade. People don't want to drive around with a gas tank in the back of the car, powered by the same thing that their BBQ runs on.

[cycle myth]

Exactly -if only there was some work done to overcome the perception issue.

"If only there was some body representing the LPG industry body that did something" maybe some marketing something to lift the image, use and therefore support of the distribution network..

[stoodoo]

I've had 4 falcons on lpg (5 including my current XR6 ecolpi) over my lifetimes driving. It's mostly been faultless driving with the mixer systems, a few hiccups/backfires, that most likely came down to lack of maintenance. I pretty much never had any servicing done on the lpg systems, till I had a problem - after many 100's of thousands of kilometres driven in them. Really enjoying this ecolpi now, its a whole new ball game with the liquid injected gas, and the motor thats been built for running on lpg. Return trip to Melb a little while ago saw an average of less than 10 litres per 100km's. Cost me a little over $8 geelong-melb-geelong. Bought the car in May and didn't even consider a petrol XR6 (though a turbo would've been nice )

I plan on keeping this car for many years, and I really can't see lpg just fading off into the distance. Yes some servos have dropped it, while other new servos have put it in, with multiple bowsers too! Petrol prices aren't going to stay low forever and when the prices go up again, the demand for alternatives, including lpg will increase again I'm sure.

[woodiebro]

Ive got a Prins VSI duel fuel in a AWD Territory. Runs and tows well.

Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk

[janddbone]

I shall continue to float around for about $8 per 100km while Rome burns... Current lpg installation has saved this car about $28,000 in today's dollars.

[russellw]

Originally Posted by danzvtil

I had 2 FG EGAS Utes, they are a pragmatic purchase, you only buy one because they're cheap to run. I don't miss the backfiring, 400k range, sluggish performance and crap resale, we were only ever offered 8-10 k trade in on 2 year old Utes. By the time ECOPLI came along the market had moved to diesel.

The FG EGas models weren't a patch on the EcoLPi with the outdated 4 speed and even more outdated mixer system but if you were only getting 8-10k trade in offers then you were being shafted. My last FG EGas ute was written off at 112,000 km and the insurance company (hardly noted for their generosity) offered $19,000. My local (country) dealership tells me that you can pretty much name your price for one these days.

Originally Posted by PridenJoy

The Ecolpi and SVI cannot be faulted, run seamlessly and the Ecolpi is ridiculously fast for a stock NA XR6

Love LPG and will be screwed if it's ever phased out but i doubt that would happen.

I'm with you on that. I've covered ~82,000 km in my FGII XR6 EcoLPi at an average of 11.2 l/100 km (compared to 15.56 for the FG eGas) and it doesn't get driven sedately. The major distributors have all indicated the availability of gas for the next decade at least and while most new stations will not have it included, existing ones will likely keep it until their cylinders are renewed.

Cheers
Russ

[OzJavelin]

Originally Posted by russellw

The FG EGas models weren't a patch on the EcoLPi with the outdated 4 speed and even more outdated mixer system ..

Personally I look at this as a positive for long-term ownership .. simple, pretty much indestructible, but cheap to repair if required on both counts.

[Vesper Martini]

Originally Posted by NX74205

Aside from the cost of filling up, what are the benefits of LPG?

Cleaner, although there is debate over that because its less efficient there's more Exhaust.
properly tuned with a Turbo they go harder

I also believe LPG/diesel combo. would fix up their emissions & give a bit more grunt at the same time.

remember this is all from engines not built from scratch to use LPG.

[Sox]

I'm not into BBQ fuel for cars at all, let the crap die.

I've owned a handful of dual fuel cars, each one performed worse when frying sausages.

Duel fuel is a such a toss, the engine can't be optimised, the maintenance is higher, and it's bad enough having one bomb in the car, let alone 2.
Luggage space is reduced, the weight of the car is increased, all I see is negatives for very little reward.

I can see the merit in a ground up dedicated engine and steak fuel system, but as many have already said, too little too late.

Petrol is cheap here anyway.

[Vesper Martini]

I was waiting for the BBQ Fuel, Flat Earther comment, take your 1st Price Ribbon

[69ISH]

I currently own a FGII EcoLPI Tray back ute and it has just ticked over 100 000 K's 2.5 years old, I have had no drama's and it is currently costing me $9 per 100K's in fuel costs. The last 3 utes have been a FG XR8 styleside which was costing around $33 per 100K's in fuel costs, BA and BA MkII Tray back ute both with the Barra220 which I think both were costing around the same as the XR8 except was carrying much more weight. The new ute is carrying the same as what the BA's were.
I currently have had no issues including the common as F##k diff whine that all the other utes had, all have been autos.
The only reason I went gas is because I could not get a V8 in a tray back and after putting up with the styleside for 4 years it was just not suitable to stick with a styleside. I decided to go with LPG over petrol because the way I looked at it if I could not get a V8 I might as well get the cheapest ute I could get and put the savings towards my weekend toy, I never expected to be saving this much money in fuel costs.
I normally keep my utes for 4 years until they reach 220 to 250 thousand K's depending on when the transmissions or diffs need replacing again and then trade for a new one but I will be either buying another one with lesser K's, when this new ute needs money spent on it or I will spend it on this and keep it as long as it is viable.

I quite often get "P" platers in there commodores pull up beside me and get quite pi$$ed when at traffic lights I pull away from them in my ute loaded with Tool Boxes and builders racks with roller doors on them, especially funny when it is multiple sets of lights and they try to holeshot me to beat me, It definitely is not down on power/torque and it is not that much slower than what my XR8 was.

I swear by the latest EcoLPI but I also had 83 XLT Bronco with a 351W which I had converted to dual fuel and although I had no mechanical issues it did not save a lot in fuel costs and was definitely down on power/torque when running on LPG.

[Sox]

Originally Posted by Bevsta007

I was waiting for the BBQ Fuel, Flat Earther comment, take your 1st Price Ribbon

Thanks for caring, but someone else got first prize days ago (or is that price??).

[janddbone]

I also push my services out to 20000km due to the oil staying in better condition. So overall I would save on maintenance.

[Vesper Martini]

Originally Posted by Sox

Thanks for caring, but someone else got first prize days ago (or is that price??).

You get 2nd prize then.

[Sox]

Originally Posted by Bevsta007

You get 2nd prize then.

I can live with that.

[lamborghinifan]

Have had 3 cars on gas. Two Utes and a territory.
One mixer, two injected, two sixes and an eight.
All were good, injected definitely better.
Worked great in the Utes with the bigger tanks, but short range in the territory was a pain in the neck. I loved it for being cheap, but now I'm a bit older I'm happy to have a big boot and long range. Fuel is cheap at the moment now and until it goes sky high I'll just keep putting fuel into my nice v8.
Price creep from the gov taxes killed it for me too, and no rebate for install. If I went back to a ute for any reason I'd still be interested, it'd have to be already converted. But not worth it for me in a sedan again I don't think.

[ScotchanDry]

hows it going, Bout to change plugs in my AU3 xr8 ute currently has bosch super plus in it and has been pretty good.before that it ran NGKs but the Ford techs binned them and i dont know what was in,so Question ..run same plugs that have been no issue for last 6 years or NGK and what.?
and to those who bag lPG my tank is under the floor of ute and have huge range with full tank of gas and full petrol. My system is sequential Injection and have never had an issue.Had it run on dyno in early days and kws slightly less on Lpg but unnoticeable on flooring to pass.I bought it at 20000 ks the prev owner had a **** lPG system on it and sold I think in frustration. My mate pulled it back to the tank and replaced with now Injection and here we are at 190000 ks purring wit little hiccup that points to plugs,,,,, Cheers

[SumoDog68]

Why would you want to ruin a perfectly good car and run it on LPG (unless it was factory designed to run on it , which are mainly Falcons and Commodores) . People install LPG systems on Lasers ,Camrys and Corollas .I have Never seen a BMW or Audi on LPG for example , who would want tea screw mounted brackets in their car and a big steel tank underneath it or in the boot.
Even factory installs have rough edge about them. If anyone offered a nicely engineered integrated solution that would be another story.

[cro142]

My BA XR6 Turbo ute did over 200,000 on vapour-injected LPG.

The main problem was maintaining the state of tune, and failures of minor items in the install resulting in gas leaks. Therefore the service costs were too high, and coupled with the higher consumption, and the rising price of LPG, the extreme prices outside the metro area, finally put me off LPG.

Basically too much hassle compared to the savings.

[ScotchanDry]

Originally Posted by SumoDog68

Why would you want to ruin a perfectly good car and run it on LPG (unless it was factory designed to run on it , which are mainly Falcons and Commodores) . People install LPG systems on Lasers ,Camrys and Corollas .I have Never seen a BMW or Audi on LPG for example , who would want tea screw mounted brackets in their car and a big steel tank underneath it or in the boot.
Even factory installs have rough edge about them. If anyone offered a nicely engineered integrated solution that would be another story.

agree people did conversions on cars not worth the conversion and today its electric.. Tesla, jag etc in my case the car had a tank and why not improve it and we have..yes no way would I convert a car today.

[ScotchanDry]

Originally Posted by cro142

My BA XR6 Turbo ute did over 200,000 on vapour-injected LPG.

The main problem was maintaining the state of tune, and failures of minor items in the install resulting in gas leaks. Therefore the service costs were too high, and coupled with the higher consumption, and the rising price of LPG, the extreme prices outside the metro area, finally put me off LPG.

Basically too much hassle compared to the savings.

no state of tune problem with injection an computer controlled and gas leaks ..never. and no component failure in 10 years..wow that would be bad install.
however im not here to champion gas but for me has been a great experience.
will not not ever have another on gas as I dont know who converted or history.
Probably have electric or at least a scooter next ha ha ha..(im an old ****)

[5.8]

I bought a one owner dedicated gas AU2 with 90,000km on it early this year just to use as a daily and tow my car float when I need to. I've put a set of extractors on it with a quiet 2 1/2" exhaust, K&N filter and a bigger cold air induction pipe on the original airbox (all 2nd hand). Plenty of torque for towing and just a good run around car. I had the gas system serviced when I bought it and run iridium plugs. I've had no problems and it has not backfired once.

It drives smooth as and gets 550-580km around town on about $40 gas if it's 58c per litre and about 700-800km on the highway. A petrol AU2 auto would I'm guessing would use about $80 ULP to do the same.

Most people are sceptical of LPG cars and poor gas systems and lack of maintenance are the biggest problems with it. I've had dual fuel cars before but the difference I have noticed with this car is how smooth the engine is with the LPG.

People that have had good gas cars generally are fans of LPG cars, people that haven't had one or have had a bad one generally aren't.

Having said all of that if the price of LPG was to rise to more than about 90c, in my case it probably wouldn't be much more economical than a petrol car and hardly worth the hassle.