Auto-LPG Conversion Thread

**topgun** · September 21st, 2006 05:30 PM

baka dilapidated na ang taxi nya

i had my solenoid valve repaired free of charge sa naiadss and my fuel efficieny shot up to 8.74 km/ liter not bad from 6.74 km/liter

medyo nawalan ng konti ng power but very negligible

its not true that you have to do a mini over haul kung sa bagay mag 3 months pa lang ako using lpg

i drive my lpg car 4 times a week qc to makati hindi naman nanunyo ang lalamunan ko hahah ano yan poisoning? hahah baka may leak ang kotse nya impossible na hindi nya maamoy dahil mayroon amoy yun sobrang baho hehehe and the fuel line is outside the car so malabong pumasok sa loob kung may leak man

**niky** · September 21st, 2006 07:00 PM

Originally Posted by badkuk

i had a chat with a taxi driver(corolla XL lovelife ung dala) on my way to
megamall last week....he had some interesting comments about LPG.

...but before we go into that, i just want to make it clear na hindi ko sigurado kung totoo ung pinagsasabi niya; i posted the comments here in hopes that someone would verify/refute what he told me

Here goes:

-- dati rati, he would use up less than 50 liters of fuel a day, usually mga 42 liters daw. with the lpg kit installed, umaabot ng 50-60 liters per day(imho, there could be a lot of factors. maybe medyo malayo ung biyahe na on that particular day, or matrapik, etc. pwede rin that maybe psychologically he thinks mas mahina hatak ng LPG, so mas madiin tumapak sa gas. dunno)

-- mas mahina daw hatak when going uphill. dati rati daw, with 3-4 people onboard, with aircon on, no problems daw. ngayong naka LPG, di na daw kinayanan even without aircon

-- kelangan daw ng "special" sparkplugs pag LPG kit. ung 'ordinary' denso sparkplugs, mga isang linggo lang daw tinatagal; nasisira daw dahil mas mainit daw pag LPG. ung kelangan daw gamitin is some sort of sparkplug that has four prongs/produces four sparks

-- most alarming of all...kelangan daw mag mini top overhaul every so often. me namumuo daw na layer of soot on the cylinder heads, which needs to be cleaned out regularly(parang months ata ang pagitan?)

-- finally, and strangest of all, mas madali daw nanunuyo ung lalamunan niya when he started driving an LPG converted unit. i'm not really sure what to think

don't shoot the messenger peeps, just trying to get opinions from the people who spend the most time driving LPG cars. Sana'y meron pong magclarify nitong mga issues ;)

Sounds like the same old complaints levelled against old LPG conversions way back when.

I think his installation was improperly tuned. The only reason he'd need new plugs and a top overhaul so often is if his kit were tuned too lean.

**toyotaboy** · September 21st, 2006 07:51 PM

Hello People,

I'm very much interested to convert my Corolla to LPG. Anyone who has an experience using this fuel, a toyota corolla user is definitely a better info.

**theveed** · September 21st, 2006 07:58 PM

toyotaboy: Please read the thread from the start. Ghosthunter himself drives a Corolla.

Most taxi drivers "Tune" their systems themselves coz they think they're "better" at tuning the car, lahat ng taxi driver nasakyan kong naka LPG pinagmamalaki nilang di marunong tumono yung mechanic nila o yung nagkabit mismo... Go figure hehe...

**badkuk** · September 21st, 2006 08:18 PM

Originally Posted by niky

I think his installation was improperly tuned. The only reason he'd need new plugs and a top overhaul so often is if his kit were tuned too lean.

hmm...pagkasabi kasi niya, madami na raw mga units na pina top overhaul na...then again, di natin alam, baka ung general practice ng drivers is to make the system very lean, kaya they all ended up with the same problem

come to think of it...di ba dapat mas malinis ung combustion ng LPG kesa gas? how would soot form on the cylinder head then?

btw, i once spotted an F150 parked at NAIADSS. nasakitan na siguro sa mileage B)

**ghosthunter** · September 21st, 2006 11:10 PM

Originally Posted by badkuk

-- mas mahina daw hatak when going uphill. dati rati daw, with 3-4 people onboard, with aircon on, no problems daw. ngayong naka LPG, di na daw kinayanan even without aircon

Improperly tuned system (too lean or too rich) will result in low power. The problem with NAIADSS is they do not have any equiptment to properly tune the LPG kit. I have adjusted my LPG kit to give more power.. still not the same as gasoline but more than enough power to go uphills with A/C on and four people in the car.

-- kelangan daw ng "special" sparkplugs pag LPG kit. ung 'ordinary' denso sparkplugs, mga isang linggo lang daw tinatagal; nasisira daw dahil mas mainit daw pag LPG. ung kelangan daw gamitin is some sort of sparkplug that has four prongs/produces four sparks

sounds like lean burning engine here...

-- most alarming of all...kelangan daw mag mini top overhaul every so often. me namumuo daw na layer of soot on the cylinder heads, which needs to be cleaned out regularly(parang months ata ang pagitan?)

??? ... engine running too rich part of the time? I have that problem at the moment, I can't seem to properly tune the idle a/f ratio, still running rich at idle.

-- finally, and strangest of all, mas madali daw nanunuyo ung lalamunan niya when he started driving an LPG converted unit. i'm not really sure what to think

he might be becoming diabetic... maybe.

**chuaed** · September 22nd, 2006 04:32 AM

i haven't have those kind of problem mentioned and i've been using my car everyday using lpg for morethan four months already... even my previous problem (hard starting when enging is cold) is gone... sadly the fuel consumption hasn't improved and it was averaging around 6.5 kilometer per liter for city driving only...

i haven't experienced a lost in terms of power during up hill i even left the gear in "D" mode, one of my frequent route is passing a short cut so called "bituka ng manok" at/near St. Ignacious Village comming from Marcos Highway, to Katipunan, going to Ateneo/UP... (sorry don't know the exact name of the road)

i haven't changed my spark plugs, still using OEM factory installed AC Delco spark plugs in my car...

been busy with work lately and should i have the time i would visit Chevy Libis, to have them reprogram my ecu, and check the belt timing mentioned before by ghosthunter... hopefully this will improve my fuel consumption...

one thing is odd, my last fulltank has reached 65 liters... (* Petron Marcos Highway) topgun, ghosthunter have you experienced this?

furthermore, the cost of fuel (gasoline/petrol, diesel, and kerosene) has been going down this past couple of days except LPG which the price remains the same... BAKIT??? Like diesel, lpg is also a buy product comming from petroleum refinery (same banana diba)... kaya bakit mahal pa din ang LPG??? tapos the government will impose a 3% tariff on all types of fuel starting October daw...

**KoKoNAT** · September 22nd, 2006 10:31 AM

As I understand, converting to LPG doesn't mean that your consumption will go down thus saving you money. On the contrary, your consumption will go up. Your savings will come out of the fact that LPG costs a lot less liter-for-liter than gasoline.

Here's a write-up of Ford Falcon with dedicated LPG system:

All gassed up

Falcon E-Gas looks just like a standard petrol Falcon, but uses considerably less fuel.
11 May 2006

Peter Barnwell

Filling an LPG car is like looking at the bowser upside down because the price and litre meters might well transposed.

When you buy petrol, the dollar metre is far and away the greatest, when you buy LPG, it's the other way around.

Twenty dollars gets you roughly 40 litres.

It throws you at first.

But at under 50 cents a litre, LPG is looking better and better as an alternative to petrol even factoring in the price of LPG conversion.

However, if you commit to LPG up front when buying a new car and opt for a "dedicated" LPG model, conversion cost is not really an issue.

Ford's E-Gas Falcon XT sedan (automatic) retails for about $37,000 and offers plenty of reasons to go gas.

E-Gas is also available on Futura, Fairmont, ute, cab chassis and wagon. A sporty SR Limited Edition sedan is also available.

Falcon is the only locally built car with a dedicated LPG engine.
Ford modifies the engine and fully integrates the gas appliance as well as recalibrating the car's electronics and making some with internal modifications. It's all factory fitted and tuned to run on LPG.

The engine is based on a petrol DOHC, 4.0-litre Falcon six and as such, starts from a high base in terms of power and torque.

The E-Gas engine shares the same 10.3:1 compression ratio of the petrol engines.

However, the E-Gas engine maintains stronger con-rods and harder valves and seats to meet the higher demands placed on the engine by using LPG fuel.

A revised venturi providesd better air/fuel mixing, while the smooth curve of the new inlet pipe provided better flow so the gas could be withdrawn in a more controlled manner.

Some power is lost when running on gas but it takes the E-Gas car down to a still handy 156kW/374Nm output.

The tank holds from between 90 litres and 116 litres depending on the model.

Fuel consumption is heavier than a petrol version averaging around 16-litres/100km but gas is way in front when costed out against petrol.

Ford literature says the E-Gas Falcon will save up to 33 per cent of the fuel cost compared with petrol over the same distance.

That seems about right.

A tank of LPG last week cost about $40.00 while a tank of petrol cost more than $100.

There are some negatives with LPG and one is loss of power.

The E-Gas Falcon needs to be driven harder for any given application compared with the petrol car _ with predictable fuel use results.

The E-Gas cars also lose some luggage space because the spare moves on top of the load deck instead of sunken into the fuel tank. That space is taken up by gas cannister.

It could be an issue for families or commercial users who need all the load space they can get.

LPG availability is no longer an issue as most service stations carry it.

A side benefit of E-Gas is lower emissions because the engine meets the stringent Euro III regulations.

E-Gas is a $1200 (RRP) option, but this cost can be recouped within approximately a year of motoring, or even sooner if petrol prices trend upwards.

E-Gas has no effect on Falcon's 3 year/ 100,000km warranty.

Driving the car is pretty much the same as a petrol powered Falcon except you need to push the throttle harder to acelerate. Once you achieve the desired aspeed, there is no difference. Infact, the LPG car could be a tad quieter and smoother than the petrol.

Roll on acceleration is good as is torque output that gives good throttle response. It's no slug out of the blocks but still sounds like a vacuum cleaner.

Does owning a E-Gas Falcon mean you own a taxi?

Not really even if all cabs are on gas and most are Falcons.

The test vehicle was comfortable and looked to be well made. It is identical to the petrol Falcon to look at inside and out.

A six speed auto would be better than the standard four speed unit and would save fuel as well as boost performance.

E-GAS UPGRADES

Dual independent VCT

Revised camshaft profile

Dual knock sensors with individual spark control

Revised venturi, throttle body, and inlet pipe

Euro III emissions

Transient rpm limit

Improved NVH

Power output on the E-Gas engine remains at 156 kW, while torque has increased slightly from 372 Nm * 3000 rpm to 374 Nm at a lower 2750 rpm.

News Limited Community Newspapers

**topgun** · September 22nd, 2006 05:05 PM

Originally Posted by chuaed

i h

i
one thing is odd, my last fulltank has reached 65 liters... (* Petron Marcos Highway) topgun, ghosthunter have you experienced this?

furthermore, the cost of fuel (gasoline/petrol, diesel, and kerosene) has been going down this past couple of days except LPG which the price remains the same... BAKIT??? Like diesel, lpg is also a buy product comming from petroleum refinery (same banana diba)... kaya bakit mahal pa din ang LPG??? tapos the government will impose a 3% tariff on all types of fuel starting October daw...

No i have not experienced that like i said somethings wrong its a 60 liter tank it shouldnt even contain 60 liters ang maximum daw is only 48 liters mine can only fill up to 42 liters

baket nga mahal pa ang LPG???!! damn ibaba nila maski back to 23.80 !!!!