Range Rover V8 4.6 '98 LPG Conversion

Doug Stormforce · 21 May 2011, 23:22

Anyone done this?

What sort of consumption did you end up with, what did it cost, any tips?

Nos4r2 · 21 May 2011, 23:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doug Stormforce

Anyone done this?

What sort of consumption did you end up with, what did it cost, any tips?

Doggypaddle would be the guy to ask-if it's got a V8 Rover in, he's either done it or messed with it.

Personally I'd flog it and buy a diesel though. The cost of LPG conversion would be a large proportion of the value of a '98 RR (around £1500 for the conversion IIRC) and £1500 buys an awful lot of fuel. It won't cost much less than a diesel to run afterwards-specially not when you factor in the conversion cost and the lifespan of a RR that lives next to the coast before it starts to rot.

Mollers · 21 May 2011, 23:38

On the other hand Nos, the 2.5 TDI in an RR is flater than a witches t*t. At least the 4.4 on gas would have some beans about it.

Nos4r2 · 21 May 2011, 23:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mollers

On the other hand Nos, the 2.5 TDI in an RR is flater than a witches t*t. At least the 4.4 on gas would have some beans about it.

Yeah, but I didn't say buy a diesel RR, just a diesel.

Doug Stormforce · 22 May 2011, 07:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

Personally I'd flog it and buy a diesel though. The cost of LPG conversion would be a large proportion of the value of a '98 RR (around £1500 for the conversion IIRC) and £1500 buys an awful lot of fuel. It won't cost much less than a diesel to run afterwards-specially not when you factor in the conversion cost and the lifespan of a RR that lives next to the coast before it starts to rot.

I take your point. The upside of the current RR is is low mileage (65K) for its age and so far pretty reliable, I have ironed out the few faults that it came with. The body and interior are in very good condition for their age. I think if i flogged it and spent similar money on another one i would not be looking at such a good car and would take a hit on quality. I am not really a fan of buying 13 yr old vehicles but this one came from a mate.

Anyone got any figures i can base a more scientific decision on?

Leapy · 22 May 2011, 08:57

My neighbour has an RR with LPG...it's an early Jag engined 4.2V8 RR - and therefore the new shape - but the following still applies.

To me, whilst he thinks it's the dogs whats-its, the maths don't add up. He tells me it does less mpg on LPG than petrol and cost £1500 to convert. Most people think their car does more mpg than it actually does so when he says it does less, and he's a supporter of LPG, I'm moved to believe him. Plus, there's occasional 'niggles' with the LPG system involves a long round trip to get them looked at as local expertise is non-existant. Plus, there's that tank.

I can speak to him about more numbers and details if you wish. Last time I spoke he was claiming 18mpg on petrol, less on LPG. My RR Sport diesel does 28mpg.

For me...diesel every time.

Nos4r2 · 22 May 2011, 09:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leapy

My neighbour has an RR with LPG...it's an early Jag engined 4.2V8 RR - and therefore the new shape - but the following still applies.

To me, whilst he thinks it's the dogs whats-its, the maths don't add up. He tells me it does less mpg on LPG than petrol and cost £1500 to convert. Most people think their car does more mpg than it actually does so when he says it does less, and he's a supporter of LPG, I'm moved to believe him. Plus, there's occasional 'niggles' with the LPG system involves a long round trip to get them looked at as local expertise is non-existant. Plus, there's that tank.

I can speak to him about more numbers and details if you wish. Last time I spoke he was claiming 18mpg on petrol, less on LPG. My RR Sport diesel does 28mpg.

For me...diesel every time.

I did actually consider buying an already converted LPG V8 RR or V8 Disco a couple of months ago when I changed cars so did a bit of research.
From what I could find out,it will do less mpg on LPG (and be slightly down on power-but with the amount of power from a 4.6 RR it's a moot point really).
The saving is based on miles per £ as LPG is so much cheaper, not MPG. I think the road tax is cheaper for a dual fuel car too.

However, unless you go for an underslung tank (I don't like that idea much) you'll lose a lot of boot space. Range won't be as far on LPG unless the tank is absolutely huge too and the ones I looked at still had to be warmed up on petrol.

I bought a diesel Toyota.

Leapy · 22 May 2011, 09:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

It will do less mpg on LPG (and be slightly down on power-but with the amount of power from a 4.6 RR it's a moot point really). The saving is based on miles per £ as LPG is so much cheaper, not MPG.

Yes, but how many miles do you have to do to offset the £1500 and how long does that take?

Hang on...Nos you changed your post

Nos4r2 · 22 May 2011, 10:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leapy

Yes, but how many miles do you have to do to offset the £1500 and how long does that take?

Hang on...Nos you changed your post

Yeah,I realised I had left a load out.
Just doing the maths... On petrol at current prices at 18mpg, 3 miles per £ so that £1500 gives you around 4500 miles.With around a 30% saving on LPG-about 4 miles per £.

If my figures are correct, 18,000 miles not including cost of servicing the LPG system.

Finished messing with this post now

Doug Stormforce · 22 May 2011, 11:11

Nos

I think your right, the conversion is not a particularly good investment.

badbaws · 22 May 2011, 13:30

I have driven an LPG rangerover V8 and when I got to the garage and saw the price of the LPG you get a big smile on your face!
Also it depends how many miles you do and where the nearest LPG station is. In hants there are not that many..
But do it anyway as V8's are just fun! Vs boring diesels.. I had BMW v8 before Christmas as missed having one.. no LPG and 21 MPG, but 0 - 60 very quickly and big grins and only cost £1100.. Great tow car too.. 740i V8

Mollers · 22 May 2011, 13:33

To buy an already converted LPG 4X4 might be a plan. Thet don't appear to fetch a premium.

CJL · 22 May 2011, 16:03

Might be worth PM'ing "Under the Thumb" he has a P38 with an LPG conversion.

Chris

Searider · 22 May 2011, 22:00

Mate of mine had one with LPG about 7 or 8 years ago.

4.6HSE P38 with all the bits and pieces.

Loved it and did loads of miles. Had a tank in the space for the spare wheel - gave enough range to be useful - and once you have LPG you will know where all of the LPG equipped filling stations are.

Only sold it when it succumbed to the normal RR V8 killer of porous heads / block at 100,000 miles.

He seemed to think that the running costs were equivalent to getting 30mpg once the increased consumption was factored against the cheaper fuel.

Chris · 22 May 2011, 22:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

£1500 buys an awful lot of fuel.

About 11 tank fulls for a RR which at 15MPG is about 4000 miles or in my case about 3 months worth.

And I thought the TD5 was bad

Bigmuz7 · 22 May 2011, 22:26

Mate of mine converted a 4.4 BMW and I think he'd have to wait a while to see his money back too.

Wouldnt work for me cos there still isnt enough LPG outlets in enough remote locations, and I need all the space in my boot I can get .. that tank takes up a lot of room !!

LURCHER · 09 June 2011, 05:47

I know of two Rover V8s that have been converted to LPG by thier current owners one a P38 has had 3 head gaskets let go and the other a Discovery 2 has had 1 before they moved them on . I understand that these V8s are on the limit of cooling before the conversion and LPG runs hotter that petrol .There were also several teething problems with the gas instalation too.

akirk · 19 June 2011, 09:48

A friend has a P38A with the conversion - sitting as the head gasket has gone, now on a new shape with LPG - was very happy with both (other than the head gasket going!)

I have a P38A diesel. I bought it after owning a classic with a 5ltr v8 petrol in it, what a difference - the 2.5t wouldn't even go up local hills at 60mph and 0-60 was about 13.5 secs! One of those cars where you book a slot to come out of a junction giving about a week's notice...

so having bought it two years ago on the Friday, on the Monday it was in JE Engineering (nr. Coventry) for a stage two upgrade - chip remap & enormous intercooler... It cost c. £1,000, but:
- 0-60 is now c. 8.5 secs
- mpg instead of 22-25 as per manuf. figures is 25 if driven hard / 27-28 norm / best of 33.8!
- the car has had almost no depreciation over 2 years as a JE conversion is desirable...

so - diesel is not an impossible option

Alasdair

lizardland · 19 June 2011, 10:32

I don't know anything about Range Rovers or Landys but I've had a few LPG 4x4's, a Shogun, a Cherokee and a Grand Cherokee, all with varying levels of succcess. The Cherokee was absolutely brilliant, not a single problem apart from needing a bit of adjustment to get through the emissions on the MOT. Grand Cherokee was a bag of crap, it had a fancy engine management system and the LPG system really screwed it up, especially if you ever swapped back to petrol. I found out after getting the Shogun done that the engines aren't suitable, the lightweight alloys the Japanese use don't like the higher temps of LPG and will eventually burn the valves out, from what I read the Aussies had been through it all years earlier and ended up with tons of wrecked Mitsus, Nissans and Toyotas. So I got shot of it before anything happened.

I had lots of niggles, whatever you get the kits are still bodged a bit to fit the engine. I had tons of annoying minor problems like wiring getting worn or melted because it was running over parts it was never meant to run over, stuff like that. They were all done by proper LPG companies but I couldn't help thinking it was down to the skill of the engineer to spot potential problems, the kit itself never went wrong it was more problems created by how it was installed. I also had a few niggly problems with heating and cooling depending on the weather where the gas regulator would freeze up. Quite a few times on the motorway I'd had to stop until it thawed.

I never really noticed much of a drop in power on the Jeeps but they were big engines to start with. Consumption was no worse on the Cherokee but a lot worse on the Grand Cherokee, I used to get 20'ish on petrol and around 16 on gas. Long journeys took precise planning and often a lot of detours to get gas which was really annoying especially when they don't have any gas or its shut or it isn't there and the list is out of date. Going back on petrol was painful.

I went back to diesels five years ago, I've got an Isuzu Rodeo now and it costs me less to run that on diesel per mile than it would running the Jeeps on gas at current prices.

doggypaddle · 19 June 2011, 11:33

P38 Rangerover My mate too his to the local landrover dealer and everyone in the workshop vanished for an early lunchbreak

Payback time will be longer than you think, and to be honest a 4.6 IS going to get a loose liner or other cooling system problems its just a question of when

If you do a few miles and never intend selling the vehicle then its worth it, otherwise keep the money to pay the big repair bill for when the well documented loose liner rears its ugly head.
Realistically for sale price of the rangerover, the cost of a gas conversion saved and the potential massive repair bill saved when the heads play up, and a little extra you could buy a TDV6 Disco or TDV8 rangerover........or something japanese and reliable