LPG and the W211

[jberks]

Hi all,
toying with new ideas, as you do. I recon I will probably run the W210 E240 for another year and put another 20k on her before jobbing her in. So, I was thinking that an LPG conversion may not be such a bad idea. Especially as I will probably go for a W211 E240 next so the kit could be swapped over - otherwise I won't get my money's worth.
Anyone any experience with LPG?
I am wondering about the tank. I don't really want to lose half my boot so I thought about a wheel tank - but does the W211 still have a full size wheel well when I come to swap over?
. I am also wondering about capacity. I do 100 miles a day and don't want to be filling up daily - so anything less than 6 gallons is going to be useless. Any idea of the capacity of a wheel tank?

 

[wrichardson1999]

Hi, I've a E200, W124 on a 1994 plate, I know it's a different car engine, size, etc. but I have had LPG for the last 5 years or so. And have done 155k on lpg since installing in the car.

I've a Dougnut tank your talking about can fill with 62 ltrs of LPG that normally lasts me about 300 miles (I'm paying 33.9p a litre). This 72 ltr tank was the biggest I could fit without having a hideous, boot taking cyclinder tank.

Well worth considering, especially when I'm saving approx. £40 everytime I fill up.

Hope this helps....

 

[jberks]

Thanks Wayne, very helpful.

 

[996jimbo]

I had a previous car (Range Rover) converted with no significant issues. It had the doughnut tank as (a) didn't want to lose boot space and (b) have never had a puncture that didn't hold up to nearest petrol station / tyre depot. I got the biggest tank available at 72 litres from which I could almost get 200 miles (at about 12-13mpg on gas) and there was no noticable difference in performance (tank will only fill to 90% or is it 95%).

However, the cost of the conversion was around £2,000 and I calculated it would realistically take approx. 30,000 miles to pay for itself before saving me anything (this figure may come down a little with petrol prices having gone up). Given that around half the cost (maybe a little more) of the conversion is in the fitting I'm not at all sure it would be worth you doing the conversion for 20,000 miles. Even if you intended to take it with you to the new car there would be the slightly higher removal / fitting cost, and there may be a better system available in the future.

If you are doing the calculations bear in mind you will always start on petrol and fuel efficiency on gas is about 75% to 80% that of petrol so if you get 25mpg on petrol you can expect about 18-20mpg on gas. The more starts per mile you do the less LPG per mile you'll use.

I'm sorely tempted to do it again but at the same time reluctant to mess with my AMG engine.

Hope this all help anyway.

 

[simon morgan]

Lpg

I ran an XJ6 on LPG for 40/50,000 mls without any real problems. I upgraded it to an injection system and tranferred the old system to my wife's Micra [100+ mpg on that!]. If you do the mileage it is worthwhile, although it did not add much to the resale value. I had an 80ltr tank, enough for circa 225mls on a straight-six 4ltr engine. Good luck!