1996 T5 LPG conversion VS alternatives... dilemmas!

[Hollowave101]

I own a 1997 850 T5 (109k, estate, VGC, much loved). It gets around 23mpg in town and 28-32mpg on motorway. I drive about 12k per annum in it. I am considering either:

1. converting it to LPG (£1500) and keeping it for a good 5 years. I am also considering a remap if I keep the car .

2. buying a D5 (though with only about 3.5k to spend it wouldnt be a recent model and I am concerned therefore about reliability and wouldnt enjoy the significant drop in power - not that I drive it hard regularly but you know what I mean!

3. buying something already lpg converted - but they are few and far between and often of higher miles than my current car & also who can verify the quality of the lpg conversion job

4. keep the car as standard and live with the running costs!

Would anyone care to comment on -

a) which of the 4 above is best IYO

b) suitability of the model to conversion

With thanks!

[classicswede]

If you are considering a remap get that done before conversion.

The T5 has become a popular conversion and a great way of saving money and reducing your carbon footprint.

The ignition system does need to be tip top, if any doubt about the history of the dizzy cap, rotor, leads and plugs replace them with volvo parts before conversion. Only use basic plugs and never fit precious metal plugs as they will overload the coil.

As to the D5 you are the only person that can decide, have a test drive in one and see if you would be hapy with it but to me I think you have already made your mind up.

[940_Turbo]

I suggest you also read these threads before counting down the cash

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=159399

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=159255

[940_Turbo]

Originally Posted by classicswede

The ignition system does need to be tip top, if any doubt about the history of the dizzy cap, rotor, leads and plugs replace them with volvo parts before conversion. Only use basic plugs and never fit precious metal plugs as they will overload the coil.

In point of fact precious metal plugs don't overload the coil. One of the ideas behind Iridium plugs is that they enable manufacturers to run higher compression ratios. If you look at the Denso site it tells you that the energy required to fire an Iridium plug is between 3 and 5kv less than that required to fire a standard plug.

http://www.globaldenso.com/en/produc...ium/qa_12.html

[Hollowave101]

Thanks for the excellent comments & ideas so far!

[jayhl7]

Have you considered HHO? it is an alternitive that has a cost of about £800 for a fitted system using insurance approved products and a similar running cost to LPG! The installation could be done in a day. HHO is produced form dry cells, when the engine is running so there is no storage to worry about! and with some of the latest tech on the market there is no loss of power!! Jay

[940_Turbo]

Do you really need an estate? You're likely to get a lot more S80 D5 for that sort of money than you will V70. I just drove ours from the UK to Holland, back across France and home to the UK, 1400 miles in 3 days. I had it set to just a smidgin over 130kmh, 83 mph on the sat nav. Speeding in France isn't worth the bother. Doing that it turned in 52.6mpg on the lying fuel consumption gauge which equates to a genuine 44mpg when measured from fill up to fill up. That was driving it to get places. I didn't cane it but I certainly didn't pussy foot either.

It'll take you some time to get your money back on an LPG conversion, if it's done right they're great. My 940 on LPG ran wonderfully.

[classicswede]

Originally Posted by jayhl7

Have you considered HHO? it is an alternitive that has a cost of about £800 for a fitted system using insurance approved products and a similar running cost to LPG! The installation could be done in a day. HHO is produced form dry cells, when the engine is running so there is no storage to worry about! and with some of the latest tech on the market there is no loss of power!! Jay

Have you actualy tried it? Lots of conflicting reports on the net.

[jayhl7]

Originally Posted by classicswede

Have you actualy tried it? Lots of conflicting reports on the net.

Having done what I think is considerable research into HHO over the last 3 years or so, I have decided that for me it is the way forward and will be fitting an HHO system on at least 2 of the family cars my 53 D5 V70 and the wife's 52 2.0 V40, This will be at the begining of sept.
I have looked at many many systems from your garden shed pocket change product, up to the insurance backed products, and for me it's the insurance backed stuff all the way, They are more expensive but you get what you pay for most of the time!!!!
Most of my driving is distance on dual caridgeways and motorways and I will be making notes of the "tank to tank" MPG on my next run down to southern spain next week and then once the HHO system has been fitted I will be able to inform people of the benefits to my pocket!!

You will always find Horror story's about things that go wrong but never so many about the good! I have 2 LPG cars and when you say "it's LPG" oh you'll never recoup your costs and it will burn out your valves and where is there that you can fill up? With my V70 T5 it had paid for it self after 8 months!! and after 100,000 miles the 3.0 shogun is still going with the same valve's!!! and even down here in cornwall I have at least 3 LPG stations within 10 miles of home!!! some people dont like change and the fear of change gets in the way of progress!! Jay

[capt jack]

On the basis that you've a low-mileage car that you know, like and trust, the LPG conversion would seem to be the best choice - the maths do just about stack up.

If you drive 12,000 miles pa over five years that's 60,000 in total.

That's 2,400 gallons of petrol at an avarage of 25mpg. At today's prices that's £14750.

Doing the same mileage, you'll need 15% more LPG, 2,760 gallons. At today's prices that's £8,300, a saving of £6450, or just over £1200 a year. Take off your conversion costs and the 5 year saving is around the £5,000 mark.

It's not just the number of miles in total that matters, it's the average length of your individual trips too. Bear in mind that if you do a lot of shortish trips then LPG isn't so good as it take the first mile or two of every trip before the car switches to gas.

So a single 250 mile trip will use maybe a mile's worth of petrol - perhaps 25p worth, whereas 50 trips of 5 miles each will use 50 miles worth of petrol, costing you £12.50 in petrol.

Subjectively petrol cars are a nicer drive than diesel, and finding a decent diesel with a budget of £3500 is going to be a struggle. You'll be into higher mileage cars, where someone else has already had the best. A saloon as has been suggested would be better in that respect.

Finding an LPG converted car that's exactly what you want in every other way would be quite a challenge in itself. They do come up, but not in great numbers.

Don't forget too that LPG means you sacrifice your spare wheel well for the tank, and you need to check that you've a few LPG filling stations close to home. No point using up fuel to drive 30 miles just to fill up every time!

So, you could convert your current car, and in the course of 5 years save up to £5000. Or you could live with what you have and just accept that running a big powerful car comes at a premium price in fuel costs.

All the above is based on the experience of running my 97 V70 2.5 10v on LPG for the past 8 years and 220,000 miles. Hope it helps!

Cheers

Jack