If you have had one for a while, can you tell me if its brilliant or just a whole load of grieve please?

RoyDB9 wrote:

If you have had one for a while, can you tell me if its brilliant or just a whole load of grieve please?

Well my vote is a whole lot of grief.

I rang a few people for costs with regards converting my 2005 RR SC to gas and all but one of them was not keen to do it due to glitches etc. Sort of Says it all in my opinion so i didnt bother.

I have one.

Now, admittedly, I haven't had it too long, but the conversion was carried out more than 18 months before the previous owner sold me the car, so at least he wasn't trying to punt it on due to any grief.

The system puts the gas tank where the spare wheel was, and the filler is in the driver's side rear valance.
There's a small button on the dash to turn the system on and off.
When on, it switches imperceptibly to gas when up to temperature - this varies depending on outside temperatures etc. Really, the only way you know it's on gas is the light on the dash and (in my opinion anyway) a slightly reduced volume of engine!

At the end of the day, it's an accessory which can be turned off and ignored should you wish, I've been running on petrol only for a few weeks now but will top up with LPG next time I pass a station.

Have had no problems at all, the biggest nuisance is the lack of a spare wheel really. Needs a yearly service, few filters replaced. And with gas about 60p a litre, it sort of makes sense.

I have heard some horror stories with regards the JLR V8's. According to one dealer, guy had his done engine blew, got replaced they advised him not to reconnect LPG conversion, he did naturally and after 2000 miles that engine also blew...................cost to him £16,000 with labour etc.

IMO - avoid unless you have an bulging wallet. L322 Big Daddy SUPERCHARGED 5.0 Autobiography - Here & Now!

5 series for the miles

RRS S/C factory built HST - Gone

45 others have been and gone!

Have no experience with LPG, but think it is not fully safe/developed yet for modern cars when you hear all the stories.

I do like on paper the new system from Romano called HD (found on http://www.go-lpg.co.uk for instance). What is nice about it that it can mix the LPG (85%) with gas (15%). This seems to be better for valve seats, more performance (or lets say less performance loss), and probably better for the fueling system itself in that it is used.

Not sure what I would do given the choice, I may go for it, but I have my doubts in how well the LPG ecu works together with the engine ECU, with all its safety features. If they would have some more powerfull systems I could be tempted to go for a RRS SC as you can the vaporiser to cool down the intercooler charge .

Another thing I would want is ignition control, as gas timings are not optimal for lpg and visa versa, so the LPG system must also be able to control it.

Probably better to stick with diesel for now... RRS SDV6 HEV Dynamic
XKR 700 BHP with Twin-screw and LSD

I have the normally aspirated 4.4 V8, running on LPG and it's fine. Having had a very long discussion with JE Engineering about the conversions (mine wasn't done by them, I just called in for a chat) I'd say that the S/C is a bit of a can of worms when it comes to LPG. JE will not do an LPG conversion on them without modifying the exhaust valves & guides, due to the excessive wear that the higher burn temperature of LPG introduces onto the exhaust guides. They may not even offer the conversion anymore. Others will install a flashlube system to get round this wear issue, personally I think that's a workaround, it's not a fix. They've also had a number of occurences with the LPG system firing off the engine management light and if you've just spent a shedload on the conversion, the last thing you then expect is for it to then run with the EML illuminated.

If you're considering having it done, speak to JE about it, they were very candid. From a personal perspective they gave an unbiased description of the conversion and as they did some investigation work for JLR on a load of failed S/C engines (run on LPG) I'd say they're speaking from experience. The same wear issue can and does crop up with the normally aspirated 4.4 version of the engine that I have, it's not just confined to the S/C.

There are many 'experts' carrying out LPG conversions of these cars, so it's certainly buyer beware. Ex-G4 Challenge RRS HSE, BV55 YZE. Subtle shade of orange ! Now registered YZE481 G4RRS in Melbourne.

MikeS wrote:

I have the normally aspirated 4.4 V8, running on LPG and it's fine. Having had a very long discussion with JE Engineering about the conversions (mine wasn't done by them, I just called in for a chat) I'd say that the S/C is a bit of a can of worms when it comes to LPG. JE will not do an LPG conversion on them without modifying the exhaust valves & guides, due to the excessive wear that the higher burn temperature of LPG introduces onto the exhaust guides. They may not even offer the conversion anymore. Others will install a flashlube system to get round this wear issue, personally I think that's a workaround, it's not a fix. They've also had a number of occurences with the LPG system firing off the engine management light and if you've just spent a shedload on the conversion, the last thing you then expect is for it to then run with the EML illuminated.

If you're considering having it done, speak to JE about it, they were very candid. From a personal perspective they gave an unbiased description of the conversion and as they did some investigation work for JLR on a load of failed S/C engines (run on LPG) I'd say they're speaking from experience. The same wear issue can and does crop up with the normally aspirated 4.4 version of the engine that I have, it's not just confined to the S/C.

There are many 'experts' carrying out LPG conversions of these cars, so it's certainly buyer beware.

How long a run did you take it for ? I find with mine it'll sometimes illuminate the EML after a long motorway run if I then get stuck in slow traffic at the end of it, or if I'm just doing stop / start driving in a town so it's worth doing one of those just to see if the one you're thinking of displays the same traits. 3 cycles of the key and the light usually goes out. I've had the faults downloaded before now and it's always the same things, none of which are harming the engine, it's just the super sensitive sensors realising it's not running on petrol.

I don't run on LPG religiously, probably using 2-3 tanks of LPG to one of petrol. Apparently this does help in regards to the valve wear, but we'll see. If / when my valves do fail I'll put it into JE for a pair of modified cylinder heads and that'll be it then, problem solved. Ex-G4 Challenge RRS HSE, BV55 YZE. Subtle shade of orange ! Now registered YZE481 G4RRS in Melbourne.

I have had LPG conversions on a X5 which was a cheap conversion massive drop in power a F150 5.4 ltr and a 5.4ltr supercharged with Prinz sytem which is fantastic. No loss of power and you wouldnt know if on petrol or lpg. If you are going down the lpg route pay the extra fo a Prinz system, well worth the extra .