Hi All,

I just thought I wold start a thread to discuss and track my experience with converting my 2004 4.4 V8 L322 to run on LPG.

I'd made a few enquiries within the Kent area and got quotes from a few companies.

In the end I selected the most local one to me, Energyshift in Ashford. Partly because they were able to offer an almost new 2nd user system taken from another customers 'sadly' written off BMW 4.4 L322 at a substantial discount and also because the owner, Peter, and his company seems to be the recommendation of his peers in other parts of the country for service, etc. in Kent.

I spoke to Peter a few times on the phone and he agreed just on my say so to keep the kit to one side for me for a few weeks before I had the time to be without the car to have it fitted, no deposit was asked for.

Peter collected my car from home and dropped off his own personal car (which looked freshly valeted) for me to use while the conversion was being done. We had a quick chat about the system and I passed on my concerns about poorly fitting boot floors and missing or loose engine covers and he assured me none of which would happen with this conversion.

Roll forward to Wednesday afternoon and Peter called to let me know the car was done and running great and we arranged for him to drop it off at my parents house the next morning as I needed to swap vehicles about again as I had been using one of our trucks for work (as using Peters car for work didn't seem appropriate).

Peter was there exactly on time and had even taken the opportunity that morning to wash my car, including a proper job on the wheels and dressing the tyres!

He went through the system with me which looks a very neat job indeed:

Hi Clive, very interested to hear how you get on. I run a 99 SL500 on LPG and never had a problem except for trying to remove the smug grin stuck to my face at petrol stations .

I'm picking up a 58reg 4.2 supercharged on Saturday and intend LPG'ing that as well. Car is out of warranty, so hoping to use specialist in Paddock Wood for servicing of motor, therefore not bothered by LR dealers refusing to work on LPG converted FFRR.

I'm using a BRC system on the Merc and was hoping to do the same with the FFRR, what system is in yours?

Br

Gary

Gary, conventional wisdom here and in other forums says that a 4.2 s/c will definitely need Flashlube. I run a 4.4 AJV8 (Naturally Aspirated Jag Engine) which was converted by the previous owner, using a Stag 300 premium system - runs very well and am very pleased with it. Best of luck with yours, most people seem to think that the Prins system is the one to go for, followed by BRC, but i have to say the Satg system on mine seems fine - no loss of power on LPG and doesn't starve at high load / revs either.  2006 (56 Reg) 4.4 V8 Vogue In Bonatti Grey (Gorgeous!!)

Thanks Ray, flashliube defo seems the way to go, a recent post even said to look out for new updated brc equipment.

Just a quick update.

Filled it up for the first time last night after 140 odd miles of short town driving and the odd bit of motorway and an hour stationary in traffic it's done 12mpg on LPG where it would usually be 14 or 15 on petrol. The big difference is cost per mile, 40p on petrol vs 25p on LPG

It may get better because most of the above miles were done with a small potential problem with the system that could have affected the mixture.

I'm happy to say that Peter's adjustments seem to have cured the earlier problem and it's been running perfectly for the past couple of days now.

Swithins, the system is a Zavoli with individual injectors and a 91L tank (according to the paperwork) fitted in place of the spare wheel. The air compressor is to the front of the wheel compartment on AV mounts. The filler is fitted to a heavy duty bracket welded on the n/s of the removeable tow bar bracket.

On the SC you will need a flashlube system and also make sure that whatever system is fitted is capable of keeping up with the power of the engine.


Cheers





Clive

LPG on the 4.4 does make a huge difference

I have the BRC system on mine which was fitted by Capital Autogas which is now A to Z lpg near Kingston

Same as mine Cliffy, lve done 80000 miles on my brc kit with no problems. 5.0 supercharged autobiography
Gone-4.4 Vogue Lpg now unmapped
4.6 HSET Turbo Lpg mapped
Gone-Defender 90 200tdi
Gone - 3.9 Sprintex supercharged LPG
Gone - 3.9 Vogue LPG

I'm off to A-Z next week to see Warren for a BRC on my new 4.2sc which I am picking up Saturday. Already use a BRC on a 99 SL500 and it works gr8 with absolutely now power difference.

Warren is a top bloke it's funny as we're both Warrens lol

He does top work luv how near my lpg install is on vogue and it's over 2 years old now

Another update, another 140 miles.

Without tempting fate it seems the adjustments have done the trick. No running problems. No real difference in distance it takes the car to switch over to LPG.

Consumption does seem better though. This was all town driving, short journeys of 5-6 miles returning 13mpg on LPG at 22.5p per mile

I have some longish motorway miles to do this week so we'll see how it fares.


Cheers





Clive

Another quick update.

Had 15 odd local miles on the tank and then today a trip out of 186 miles on the motorway at a steady 70.

When I filled up it had used 59L (15.5mpg) and cost £38, 19p per mile or the man maths equivalent of 31mpg

One peculiarity was the OBC was reading almost 25mpg where on petrol it would read 21mpg for the same trip. I have read somewhere that this could be a symptom of running too rich on LPG. I'll ask Peter but he will more than likely tell me off again for going on that new fangled internet.

So the RR is now officially the cheapest car to run I have owned in the past 20 years!


Cheers





Clive

If the OBC was reading a better (higher) MPG figure on LPG than petrol, surely that means you are running too LEAN!! Running too rich on LPG = worse (lower) mpg figure = money wasted.

Running too Lean = better (higher) MPG figure on LPG compared to petrol = major engine damage in time due to overheating - take care  2006 (56 Reg) 4.4 V8 Vogue In Bonatti Grey (Gorgeous!!)

Hi Ray,

Thanks for that, but as I understand it if the petrol ECU senses a rich mixture based on the MAF and lamda sensor outputs, it then reduces the petrol injector timings which does sod all as they are not being used and the OBC thinks that less petrol is being used for the distance covered. Arse about face I know. Real consumption on LPG is worse than petrol, it's only on the OBC that it's the other way around.

I've spoken to Peter and apparently the LPG system works on a similar feedback loop with the lamda sensor to adjust the mixture and self adjusts as it goes.

It may well still be learning as consumption seems so be slowly improving.


Cheers





Clive

Just another quick update.

The system seems to be still learning and the consumption is improving. Last fill up was just under 14mpg, mostly shorter trips around town.

800 miles on LPG now and very happy so far.


Cheers





Clive

In case anyone was wondering...

I had to put some petrol in yesterday as the light had come on. It had done 1,000 miles since I put the last £20 in.

So for my short journeys it's using 1L petrol to 24L of LPG, or about 2p per mile.


Cheers





Clive