April 2002
Dear All,
Has anyone had any "bad experiences" after having an LPG conversion. I'm thinking of having my car "done" (Ford Escort). I've heard of the valve seat recession problem with Zetec engines, but, what about poorer running, over-heating etc. etc.
Any views, opinions graetly appreciated,
John Read more
nice bit in the mirror (i think) today about a guy who denied his scamera ticket for speeding because there were not enough speed signs on the road and got off with it...
it seems the police have still been operating the camera for a least a month since it was pointed out that signage was insufficient for the speed to support a prosecution
must be a case of perverting the course of justice against the police here for ticketing people they know to be innocent
hope someone complains loudly Read more
> Bully. To follow your logic means that historians talk rubbish, as they weren't there. And Einstein must have been a nutter as he was never a beam of light. (Good socialist, mind you).
No, to follow yours means that historians talk sense if they have never been trained or examined in history.
And Einstein would have been a better physicist if he'd never studied, or been tested in, physics.
But that his expertise in physics made him the ideal socialist minister (social policy areas only, barred from any input into science, technology, education or other relevant areas).
A few months back I asked which of the following 4X4s, backroomers would opt for given the same condition, price (10K) etc - Shogun, Trooper,Land Cruiser or Patrol?
I've whittled it down to a 4.2TD Land Cruiser VX (heart) or the Shogun (head - they seem to be widely available on the 2nd hand market at that price). I know that no one buys a large 4X4 for economy... but does anyone have "real world" consumption figures for the 3.0/3.5 Petrol V6's in the Shoguns?
My reasoning is that as £petrol=£diesel (+/- 3p) fuel costs may be the same for a 3.0/3.5 ltr Petrol and a 4.2 ltr diesel. What about the servicing and other running costs long term (I'd be keeping the car for a minimum of 3 years) - would there be much difference?
....and finally just to add the cat among the pidgeons .......has anyone had experience of LPG conversions for the Shogun 3.0/3.5 V6's ?
Thnaks in advance.
Chad.R Read more
Andy,
Thanks for that info - I've heard that Cherokees are particularly good for gas conversions which seem to agree with you.
I'm not "worried" about the running costs and am aware that it will be considerably more than a "normal" car. However we're running 3 cars in the family now a '90 BMW 535i sport, '96 Xantia TD estate and a '95 Punto75.
If/when we buy the 4X4 the 535 and Xantia (or Punto, have'nt decided) will go. I know that running costs for the 4X4 may exceed the combined costs of all 3 but as long as within reason that doesn't bother me.
Cheers,
Chad.R
I have received the DTLR Highways Agency response to the consutlation process on continuing the tolls after the legal remit had expired.
It runs to six pages so I can't copy it all here, but will e-mail it to anyone who is interested.
Surprise, surprise, the scheme will go ahead almost unchanged despite a two to one majority of the comments being againt retaining the tolls. The only changes are to exempt buses, military vehicles and un-marked police cars.
The main ground they give for retention is still to form an impediment on the M25 to discourage traffic. As was pointed out, this could be achieved with less effort by a line of cones to reduce it to two lanes or a single lane without collecting tolls.
Apparently the scheme will be reviewed when the ORBIT study is completed, which looks like recommending much more extensive tolls or road-charging, therefore the Crossing would simply attract a higher levy and the booths could be removed.
The whole thing still stinks! Read more
Also received the HA document.
The crossing is an absolute goldmine & as one driver interviewed for the telly said "she thought it was cheap to use", well what chance is there to get the tolls off.
The place also keeps 200+ people gainfully employed, plus the contractors! I could go on & tell you about all the company cars the managers have but it still winds me up.
Message to hj time clock to adjust. Read more
Tomo has got it right, and we are in good company here: for simplicity and ease of reference signal traffic in the Royal Navy throughout the world is based on GMT (Time Zone Zulu, aka Zulu Time).
Ronnie
Found the right car wrong car excellent last night , it made Driven very hard viewing , top entertainment. Read more
sorry to mislead about the Terrano II being replaced by the x-trail. Looks like my guestimate was wrong.
i've let everyone down, particularly myself etc...
Engine stalls at low revs i.e. when slowing down with foot off accelerator.
Also after car has stopped with auto gear still in drive, engine ticking over
at correct revs, gear shift is moved to park then revs increase to 1000 plus
for a few seconds then engine stalls suddenly. This is an intermittent problem as stalling does not always occur especially when starting from cold it could take over 20 miles (40 minutes) for stalling to happen.
It is possible to prevent stalling by watching rev counter when slowing down
and moving gear shift to third or second gear thus keeping engine revs above
1000 until car stops and engine returns to normal 610 rpm, then stalling will not occur.
All Vauxhall recommended mods have been carried including replacement of I.A.C valve, separator (filter) on crankcase breather, all breather pipes have
been cleaned or changed and new throttle position switch (T.P.S.) fitted.
It should be noted that after engine has stalled the engine starts immediately
on the key.
Can any of you technical boffins offer a solution ?
Two Vauxhall Agents in separate towns have failed to correct the problem
saying that TECH2 shows no faults. Read more
Cheers for that guys.
Peter
Just got back from the US and suffered a chevy cavalier - can anyone confirm this is actually a rebadged neon? Anyway, it was 2.2 litres and absolutely dire!!
Noisy, slow, couldn't hear the radio for wind noise and it only had 13k on the clock. I'm sure there are some good cars in the US but when you hire it appears to be luck of the draw and not based on the high brit expectations !! Anyone know how to get a "good" car for my next visit? Read more
Chevy Cavalier must have changed from the time I last hired one. T'was a V6 of indeterminate size, shell about Carlton sized and went like the bars, for a US car anyway.
Go to Hertz online site, as others say pick the biggest engine you think you can afford. If you want to push the boat out you can have Jags both X and S types, Discos even Range Rover, pricey mind, better if you have US metal.
Select the box "I was told to ask for rate code" and type in WOW. and you'll get a good prepaid inclusive holiday rate. If its for business travel its worth finding out if your company has a CDP number and get their discounted rate and inclusive deals. No I'm not telling you what my CDP number is!
Actually the Crown Vic someone mentioned is an interesting choice, especially if you get one in white. Reason is, as I'm sure Randolph will confirm, quite a lot of PD's use them unmarked for the detectives. Never sure if thats a good or bad thing but at least provides some amusement on a long journey. ;-)
Are these things supposed to be available yet?
Saw one (top of the range I think) in our local dealers yesterday. Listed at over 12K which seemed a lot!
Tall inside : dinky chrome 'ball' airvents (an idea probably nicked from another manufacturer, I'm sure) Strange 'split' boot arrangements, with a 'false floor' which seemed to be made from very cheap injection moulded plastic.
Glove box lid looked equally 'low rent' and the whole seemed to combine mixed messages as to quality of build materials.
Whilst I was there it seemed that there were at least two other customers complaining about non functioning LCD screens (in the C5?) anyone any knowledge? Read more
Saw a couple of transporters full of C3s on the M3 this morning - looked OK. Think I'll try to hire one next week when I'm in Europe.
Following yet another regular trundle up and down the mid/upper M6 today I have noticed that SPECS are back between J18/19. There are 4 each side and from the progress of the engineers I suspect they will be operational by tomorrow.
No warning signs or limit boards were in place yet hence my thinking they are not on yet.
Regular M6 users will remeber the SPECS were in almost the same location about a year ago and Cheshire Plod boasted about 1000's of NIPs being issued.
I mention their re-arrival just to alert you that when approaching this section of the M6 be aware of possible potential heavy breaking by the vehicle in front once these are spotted. Remember these are the one that average your speed through the section so there is no camera flash.
as ever
Mark Read more
I have noticed that there is no 50 speed limit sign until after the first SPECS camera on the westbound carriageway. This means that if you exit the M6 northbound and head west you do not see any speed signs until after the first camera. Hence there is a great chance that you will inadvertently exceed the speed limit and incur wrath.
I rang Cheshire police to check if that means that the first camera is either inoperational or to fidn out why the first sign is after the camera.
They said that they will look into it and I will also see if anything has been done on monday morning.
I'll keep you posted.
Jonathan
Browse
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OK - at the risk of sounding like a scratched record - here goes;
I can't understand why people think that small engines aren't worthy of LPG conversion. I run a 10 year old car converted to LPG and the kit is such that I could remove it and re-install in another car should I so wish. My car is a 1800cc Golf GTI and returns between 30-40mpg on both fuels - about 10% less on gas. Performance no different. If I wanted performance I wouldn't be driving a 10yr old 115bhp Golf would I?!!
I buy my LPG for 31p/L at Sainsburys 2 miles away (using my voucher for 4p off after my weekly shop) - there are 5 LPG refuelling stations within 10 miles of my house. At today's prices with unleaded at 76p/L it doesn't take a genius to work out the savings - regardless of engine size.
Let's assume I get 35mpg from petrol and 30mpg for gas -
Petrol - 35mpg @£3.50/gall = 10p/mile
LPG - 30mpg @£1.40/gall = 5p/mile (or 5.5p/mile @35p/L)
Installation cost of £1000 (I paid for parts only @£600) = 12,000 mile payback - or 20,000 miles at full cost.
I drive in excess of 20,000 private miles a year - i.e. it's all paid for now!
...........and the arguements against converting small engined older cars are???
It's not the size of the engine but your annual mileage that should govern the decision - larger cc vehicles simply reap the savings over fewer miles and enable you to drive that BMW 750 at 15mpg whereas on petrol the costs would be unsustainable.
Diesel - I owned a Peugeot 306 D Turbo and never managed over 50mpg and with diesel at a premium cost versus petrol never managed to justify the change from my 150bhp 16V Golf returning 38mpg to a diesel pushing out 90bhp and returning 45mpg at best - both were costing circa 10p/mile in fuel - this was when diesel was close to 90p/L. The performance was dire and the build quality appalling. The fitting of LPG to my current Golf has given me back the car I enthuse about so much with petrol performance without the costs.
I wouldn't convert a new or nearly new car as I have heard horror stories regarding fuel consumption and ECU failures - especially with vehicles such as Disco's and Range Rovers with the intelligent ECU's. My car has extremely crude EFI (Digifant) and, as such, does not suffer from switching from injection to gas fed into a venturi in the air intake. No cat, no lambda sensor. A new cylinder head would set me back beer money so there's nothing to lose - is there?