I, like many of the rest of you, am not particularly impressed with the extortionate petrol prices in this country. Never a huge problem whilst I lived in London, I have now emigrated to the North West and have to use my car every day for work and clock up about 20k pa.
Now, LPG is a great consideration, particularly when you can get fully integrated cars (eg Vauxhalls+Volvos) these days - I am aware LPG does not run as efficiently volume-wise but I could in theory save about a third of my fuel bill a year which is still very tempting. I can't help but think that this is going to go the same way as diesel in a few years time (particularly if more people do invest in an LPG vehicle) and the government will start piling the tax on the gas.
My question to anyone who can answer it is, as LPG is surely just simple 'Calor' Propane (many filling stations have a big fillable cylinder same as people in the country do for storage!), is it possible just to either get some contraption to fill your car gas tank from (very cheap) "heating" gas bottles you can get from anywhere, or even perhaps run the car directly from a (securely mounted) cylinder in the boot?
|
|
Whittering a bit there wasn't I? Apologies, it's only the last paragraph you should read really :o)
|
|
|
I run a 1991 Golf GTI on LPG and have slashed my fuel bills. I clock up a similar mileage to yourself and expect to pay the installation costs back in approx. 7 months. I fill up (60 litres) at the local Sainsburys for 31.9p/L after collecting a fuel voucher. I get around 30mpg compared to 35mpg on petrol.
I have heard of a device that allows cylinder propane intended for use as a home fuel and such like to be transfered to the LPG tank in the car. I don't use one, of course(!) but such a thing does exist. I have yet to see how it looks.
Don't try this at home folks.
|
|
|
Needless to say - if u get caught then ur in trouble with our friends at HM Customs & Excise - but you knew that anyway!
I would find such behaviour abhorent as I enjoy paying tax.
[just in case my ISP is bugged]
|
|
Well absolutely! It was just out of personal curiosity of course... ;o)
|
|
|
|
Now at a previous firm we ran our fork trucks on propane cylinders direct which were filled from a big storage tank, so why transfer it to your installed tank? In theory could one could just strap the cylinder down in the boot?
Not me occifer drive an oil burner, in ALL senses of the term unfortunately.
|
some of the rally schools do indeed run their cars this way...
and are obviously buying the gas in bulk somehow or other
however i dont think such cars are road legal as there are pretty strict rules about where fuel tank should be in case of crash etc...
|
|
15 or so years ago one of my neighbours was a mini-cab driver. His car had been amended to run on LPG or petrol. It had a calor gas cylinder in the boot. Nothing new about this.
|
|
The control unit for an LPG system needs an oxygen sensor mounted in the exhaust in order to provide a reasonably accurate state of tune for varying engine load/temperture conditions - earlier systems were installed on a 'fit and guess' basis and tended to be very uneconomical.
|
|
|
|
Um, no.
Can u tell me where the oxygen sensor is on a 1991 MkII Golf?
There ain't one.
|
|
Earlier non-cat vehicles, such as a 1991 Mk2 Golf would normally convert to a system which doesn't use an oxygen sensor - but converting to a later type LPG system WITH a sensor gives much better economy. A non-cat vehicle converted to this setup has a sensor installed in the exhaust down pipe so that the latest type ECU can be used.
|
|
|
|
