Is it possible to convert IS250 to LPG?

[IS250 SE-L]

Hi all, I've recently purchased a 2007 IS250 and was wondering if it is possible to convert to lpg? Has anyone managed this?

 

[McShmoopy]

15 minutes ago, IS250 SE-L said:

Hi all, I've recently purchased a 2007 IS250 and was wondering if it is possible to convert to lpg? Has anyone managed this?

 

I have seen it done, there’s a company in Yorkshire who are well known to this community who are good at LPG conversions so it’s worth giving them a ring although I forget their name! 

[Herbie]

1 hour ago, IS250 SE-L said:

Hi all, I've recently purchased a 2007 IS250 and was wondering if it is possible to convert to lpg? Has anyone managed this?

 

This guy, Yorkshire Autogas is absolutely brilliant and will give you all the advice you need.

Most installers are just that, installers. They are only qualified to work on certain systems and they get these systems as a kit of parts from the manufacturer and just follow the instructions. It's a bit like 'painting by numbers' or building a Lego model. They know that Part A goes here and connects to Part B and so on, but that's about it.

On the other hand, Simon at Yorkshire Autogas knows and understands the science behind it all and he works out what is the best system for the car in question. Instead of a kit of parts and 'painting by numbers' he will often work out a bespoke system, mixing and matching components from manufacturers so that he's sure to get the best performance possible.

He's very reasonably priced and very neat and tidy in his work. The first photo below is the conversion he did on my RX300. I don't know who did the other two conversions but I'm certainly glad I got Simon to do mine and not one of the other installers!

[Linas.P]

1 hour ago, IS250 SE-L said:

Hi all, I've recently purchased a 2007 IS250 and was wondering if it is possible to convert to lpg? Has anyone managed this?

No.

The longer answer - it is not economically viable. Because specifically 4GR-FSE (the engine in IS250) is direct injection only, not only it is tricky to install it, more expensive, but as well there would be minima to no fuel savings. High compression and other engine design features does not help either. I haven't seen any conversions, not saying there are none, but it would be very expensive waste of time if at all possible.

Many people have done LS 400, 430 older IS300, 200, RX300... all those are suitable. Not IS250.

 

[Spock66]

1 hour ago, IS250 SE-L said:

Hi all, I've recently purchased a 2007 IS250 and was wondering if it is possible to convert to lpg? Has anyone managed this?

Even if possible you need to work out the economics of the cost of conversion versus any potential savings in fuel costs, plus given this is a 15-year old car what is the remaining life expectancy?

I suspect you would need to cover a very high mileage before breaking even.

[Mr Vlad]

Linas is correct. Plus the availability of LPG is becoming scarse. A friend of mine with a RX350 with LPG has noticed that places selling LPG are getting less and less and its price is getting dearer too.

If you're after economy why did you go for the is250 even though its capable of 40mpg?

[Linas.P]

1 hour ago, Spock66 said:

Even if possible you need to work out the economics of the cost of conversion versus any potential savings in fuel costs, plus given this is a 15-year old car what is the remaining life expectancy?

I suspect you would need to cover a very high mileage before breaking even.

Don't even bother - I have broken down the costs in the past and people do no care. They look 2 days ahead like that 🤑 just based on 1L of LPG being cheaper than 1L of petrol and that is all - the fuel price is not direct saving! As well there are "religious" LPG converters who just convert any car to LPG regardless.

The savings on LPG can be done on specific older cars which had no direct injection... in such case benefit of direct injection in itself means that car can be run pretty much 1:1 like petrol on obviously cheaper fuel. But on direct injected car such economy does not work out at all - either car will use 40% more LPG, or it will have 30% less power. The other common saving is getting LPG system rigged-up in some backyard for cheap... In short - there is no way to economically convert car like IS250 to LPG... spending £3,000 on properly installed MPG system to have 10% savings on fuel... well the math is simple - just to get the money back on the system one has to spend £30,000 on fuel just to get the money back on the system itself and even with worst fuel estimates one will have to drive more tan 100k miles. And that is before we even think it is even possible to convert it (which as far as I know is not possible).   

14 minutes ago, Mr Vlad said:

Linas is correct. Plus the availability of LPG is becoming scarse. A friend of mine with a RX350 with LPG has noticed that places selling LPG are getting less and less and its price is getting dearer too.

If you're after economy why did you go for the is250 even though its capable of 40mpg?

As you said - economy is not too bad on IS250 for what it is. In the city it is not great, but on country road or in motorway 40MPG is easily achievable. I would struggle to think of any similar petrol car with 40MPG+ unless it is diesel or hybrid.  

[Mr Vlad]

I've done some research and found 3 companies that were recommended by the American Lexus Owners Club site.

Vialle have gone bust. GTI are more into used cooking oil. Prinns are still in business and clearly state not doable on direct injection though they are still in research and development on it but they are USA located.

Hope you find this information useful. 

 

[IS250 SE-L]

Thanks guys really appreciate the information,l think I'll just leave it as it is.

[Mr Vlad]

Wise choice Saj. Now simply enjoy your car. It's a belter I know as I have one.

[Las Palmas]

9 hours ago, IS250 SE-L said:

Thanks guys really appreciate the information,l think I'll just leave it as it is.

In a couple of years maybe some good cars are worth converting to hydrogen. Fuel-cell cars are just EV's without the noise of a real car and when it is possible to make engines run on LPG, it probably will be made possible to run on hopefully green hydrogen and get water to drink out from the exhaust pipe.

[Linas.P]

Theoretically possible... although with size of standard fuel tank one will get 50-100 miles range max. Potentially not an issue if refuelling infrastructure is sorted out, but otherwise I would not expect much take-up. Further there will be no price savings, so the only reason to do it would be air quality benefits.