Economy/lpg

[duhickey]

Elo people,

Hope sum of you lot can help me out...

Thing is... I aint actually got a lexus...yet....(drivin a '98 Astra g 2.0 sri at the mo) - but wanna get rid.

I've been ;ooking at golf GtTdi 130's n 150's - simply for the 50+ mpg

Then I thought about LPG - can I convert an IS 200 to a dual-fuel petrol/LPG?

What sort of figures do you guys get from petrol?

Problem I have Is I clock up around 1kmiles per week - rather costly

Any advice greatly appreciated

[Fidgits]

Hi, and welcome to the club..

Yes you can convert the IS to run on LPG, although i have heard mixed reports, some people have said it has run fine, although I have been told it can damage the internals..

[duhickey]

Hmmmm - wander if I can tie up an approved convertor in a contract so they're liable if it goes wrong

....... nice pug ya got there mate

...messin - like the col. of yer Lex though....SMOOOOOOOTHEE!! B)

Erics pretty cool too...lol

[tof]

I have my IS200 convert to LPG.

I have done 15000km at this moment and got no problems.

I have a Vialle LPI kit. The LPG is injected liquid in the engine.

It cost ± 2500 euros here in Belgium and the LPG is only 0.25 euros for a liter.

hope this help

[stevenage_saint]

A friend of mine had his Merc converted without a problem. WE drove from Wolverhampton to Edinbourgh and back for about £20, well worth it if you do large millage. It is also worth contacting powershift as you might get a discount, I know he is on his MG. Every little bit helps.

[ColinBarber]

Has anybody swapped the fuel tanks around so that the LPG is the one under the vehicle and the petrol tank is the small one in the boot/spare wheel well?

[Loz]

also do a thousand a week and had thought about the LPG route. Put off by horror stories but they seen some nice cars with it so it cant be all bad...

Does anyone know if you can safely have Nos and LPG sat in the back?

Loz

ps. still a little to scarce for my mileage too. I'd be still using a lot of optimax I think...#

[rhaines]

LOL @ LPG @ NOS.... Knowing you you'ld use the LPG tank to store the NOS and the NOS tank to store the LPG :D

[Loz]

WHAT RON is LPG??

[ColinBarber]

read Differences in fuel section on http://www.chrisperfect.com/lpg_ignition.html

It states about 100 RON. However you will get about a 10% performace and mpg drop using LPG.

[KSP]

Just had a look at the Lexus warranty which (if i've read it correctly!) states that the warranty will be void if the car is converted to LPG!!

[duhickey]

Cheers for all the info ppl.

still a bit 'iffy'(...a word? ) but fink I'm gonna risk it - chances are mi lex wont be a warrantied one - or will only have a few months left on it anyway (lookin' at 'W' 'X' 'Y' plates - startin a new business so my budget is 10 - 13K).

The model of choice is defo the is200 se or above (must have 'phat' 5 Spokes B) ) - even if I dont get the LPG conversion straight away... still reckon it'll give me better mpg then my astra g 2.0 sri (a miserable 28 - 30 mpg ;) )

Is there anything I should look out for on this age of car - problems, faults, badly driven, etc?

Would like sat nav if poss and the 6-speed box (are these only in the newer models?)

cheers again groovas

tarra :zee:

[ColinBarber]

still reckon it'll give me better mpg then my astra g 2.0 sri (a miserable 28 - 30 mpg  )

Don't count on it. The Lexus is a heavier car and the 6 cylinder engine uses more fuel than a 4 cylinder one.

All IS200 manual gearboxes are 6-speed. Look for tyre wear (on the inside edge), ball joint wear, poor gearchange and stereo ERR3 when loading CDs

[skhell]

I have my IS200 convert to LPG.

I have done 15000km at this moment and got no problems.

I have a Vialle LPI kit. The LPG is injected liquid in the engine.

It cost ± 2500 euros here in Belgium and the LPG is only 0.25 euros for a liter.

hope this help

Did you got any problems with the valves or valve seats? Do you use FlashLube?

I heard that this engine can give valve problems when running on lpg...

Thanks

[eXOBeX]

Just had a look at the Lexus warranty which (if i've read it correctly!) states that the warranty will be void if the car is converted to LPG!!

Don't think they can do that, unless a failure can be directly attributed to the conversion. If your cambelt snaps or the aircon compressor fails, for example, they'll be putting themselves into a very nasty (and potentially litigious) situation if they try to dodge out of it by saying the warranty's void because of the LPG conversion.

By the way, in response to the first question: my fuel costs are now about 10p per mile, instead of 20p per mile on petrol.

[Sharkman]

Friend of mine own an IS300 which was converted to a G3 Lpg installation (with Flashlube). Does approx. 1 ltr. per 7.8 km (on petrol it does 1 ltr per 9 km). So on lpg it drinks a bit more.....

Few rules you got to keep in mind: motor gets extremely hot and this is no problem but you can forget about the combination with a Supercharger.

General consensus over here is that it's possible but the heat is hard on the internals and revision after approx. 150.000 km will most likely be needed.

And last: I'm not a big lpg fan, but since Lpg has a high octane levell (up to 110) there are some unexpected possibilities. Guy I know converted his 1.8T Audi TT to LPG and it has 310 bhp on the wheels. Car is only used for track day's and so far did over 20.000 km without a major problem.....

[rakeshtak]

i had a romano system fitted over a year ago, i have covered approx 25 k with a few hiccups, now all sorted. took a while to get running right as the Romano system can be quite fussy. there is a slight power loss when runing on LPG, and also a dip in MPG but if you want a short boost, simply flick to Petrol at the touch of a button!

lpg is just under 40pence a litre in Bristol, a full tank costs me around 19 quid and i gt around 240 miles out of it, so excluding wear and tear, it costs me just under 8p per mile in fuel.

hope this helps!