Volvo XC70 2.5t LPG conversion....should I?

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Background: I've owned her for a few years...bought as a 1 owner with 80k on the clock...now 90k. I've done plenty of work on here as I was intending on keeping her.

Love the car...210bhp means it ain't slow for a big car but it has a bit of a drinking problem especially around town.

Getting around 30mpg on a good run...round town I don't look!

I've been thinking about LPG for a while...I think it would need a valve saver kit on this model. There's plenty of LPG stations within 5 miles of my house.

I'm inside the M25 and the car is ULEZ compliant...swapping it for a cheap diesel isn't an option for me.

Anyone got an LPG vehicle...or better still got an LPG Volvo?

I've been looking at hybrid and EV but this is a second car and very practical. I don't want to be dropping £40k on a car and using it to collect an engine!

 

[stuvy]

Lpg runs hotter and does heads from the two Iv had

Everyone keeps telling me to get it fitted to my discovery v8 but I know it’s only going to end up the same way the other two did

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Cheers @stuvy ...did the kit have the valve saver thingy or you reckon that won't help.

I was worried this Volvo engine just isn't really suitable for the conversion and I'd be just paying £2.5k to ruin the engine!

 

[stuvy]

Cheers @stuvy ...did the kit have the valve saver thingy or you reckon that won't help.

I was worried this Volvo engine just isn't really suitable for the conversion and I'd be just paying £2.5k to ruin the engine!

It was fitted to a Range Rover classic and discovery I owned a while back

Two different brands but did the heads on both cars

I know some one that had a kit fitted to his civic and it did the same

 

[Parm]

How’s that big engined Volvo ULEZ compliant?

 

[knighty]

you've only done 10k miles in a few years.... is the cost of an LPG kit really worth it?

if it was LPG when you got it.... 10,000 miles at 25mpg = 400 gallons of fuel, about £3,000 at £1.50/litre

so you've spent about £3000 on fuel since you got it....

LPG is bout half the price or petrol?

so with £2,500 soend on the kit you'd have to keep it for about twice the time you've already had it to break even.... and that's without any extra costs that creep up

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

How’s that big engined Volvo ULEZ compliant?

Yea because the system is insane ...my 2.5t 210bhp Volvo is exempt ...but my 998cc 80bhp Figaro isn't!

The economics don't add up for LPG on past mileage...but we are now using the Volvo a lot more since I'm mostly up north with the main car (Tucson)....plus 10k city miles is expensive in that car.

...I'm also getting moaned at about the cost of fill ups. Throwing £2.5k at a conversion would save a bit of ear ache. Other option is a more efficient ULEZ compliant estate...but for a junk car I don't want to be spending more than say £10k I think.

 

[CompoSimmonite]

I DIY converted my old Volvo 240GL and had no problems over many tens of thousands of miles. Wouldn't hesitate so convert another petrol car but now have (4 !) diesels

 

[Gareth J]

How’s that big engined Volvo ULEZ compliant?

Based on composition of emissions, which is related to what EURO spec a vehicle meets (or used to meet) rather than size of engine.

 

[Bladevane]

I had a Volvo S70 converted to LPG some years ago. The fuel was considerably cheaper but….. because the calorific value of LPG is lower you get less miles per litre and slightly less ooomph. Also the tank takes up a huge space and I was constantly looking to plan my route to ensure I was near an LPG filling station when I had done about 200 miles. The conversion was done by a firm near Bath.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

because the calorific value of LPG is lower you get less miles per litre and slightly less ooomph.

Cheers @Bladevane...that's just the sort of real world experience in after.

I was going to fit a doughnut tank where the spare wheel goes...but I'm wondering if that's not going to give me much range?

Don't mind losing power...it's got loads to spare and where I live in London it's all 20mph anyway.

 

[Windy Miller]

I had a Classic Range Rover with an LPG conversion. Started it up on petrol and it automatically switched over to gas a fly about 1500rpm.
Very smooth running but a slight drop in performance. With a 3.9 V8 under the bonnet I didn’t really notice tho!

 

[Beanwood]

I had a Classic Range Rover with an LPG conversion. Started it up on petrol and it automatically switched over to gas a fly about 1500rpm.
Very smooth running but a slight drop in performance. With a 3.9 V8 under the bonnet I didn’t really notice tho!

Same here - in fact I've had several - and never a problem. The last one had a pair of gas tanks replacing the existing fuel tank, with a small 15 litre petrol tank in the rear wing to ensure I never got stuck without fuel.

 

[Cobbler]

my son has a 110, with a 4.6 in it running on LPG runs fine apart from smelling like a one of those gas bottle heaters when it starts. My wife’s step father had several Jags, all converted & never had a problem, he used a doughnut tank in those & ran without a spare.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

he used a doughnut tank in those & ran without a spare.

That's basically what I'm thinking of. I'll need somewhere to do the conversion...I've heard there's a place near Peterborough.

Anyone know of a reputable fitter...along the A1 from London to Sheffield would work for me.

 

[minimutly]

There was a guy in Ludlow I would use but I think he's retired. I converted my MGZT v6 myself a few years ago, it's not hard and there ia a set of gudelines to follow - all about clips on the gas line, mounting the tanks etc. Bought a new kit, with manual, add a comms cable and away to go. I did over 100k miles on lpg. Some engines you must use valve saver, otherwise valve seat reccession kills the head - the "runs hotter" is neither here nore there...
Buy a good kit, have a look for the guidelines, look up tinley tech, and don't buy the cheapest kit or ecu. You have to drill the inlet manifold, reroute the coolant heater hose, fit the ecu (intercept the injector wiring), fit the vaporiser and hoses, tank with multivalve. Sometimes on cars with returnless fuel lines you have to fit a return or the ecu throws a code (Jaguar v6).
A kit used to be sub £1k, fit it yourself whilst doing a service, 2 to 3 days work, less if the fitting of the vap and water hoses is easy - my zt was murder - just one place to fit it, and the coolant wouldn't run in parallel, so I had to run it in series. Once set up it would start in petrol, change over in half a mile or so. Biggest downer is it takes a while to fill the tank - sometimes 5 minutes.

 

[Cobbler]

Seeing above, it was a Tinley system fitted to my son’s 110, when he bought it, it was fitted with a 3.5 injection engine fitted with a mixer ring on the intake of the manifold. When we fitted the 4.6 we updated it to the more efficient multi-point system. It wasn’t difficult to do & from what I recall the ECU set itself up. There might still be the evaporator & mixer ring in the shed. Tinley were helpful with saying what was required.

 

[Bullet2012]

These peeps (formerly Tinley Tech) give them a call and speak to Mick

LPG Auto Supplies

Tinley Tech is the largest supplierof LPG conversion equipment in the UK. Shop from over 1,600 LPG & Autogas products.

lpgautosupplies.co.uk

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Cheers @Bullet2012...I'm serious about getting it done.

I'd love to DIY it...but at the moment I've just got too much on. If I did it myself I'd need to do a load of research...easier to just pay someone...but it's finding someone good!

The Volvo engine is a 5 cylinder fuel injected lump. It definitely needs a valve saver kit from what I've read.

 

[Blobber]

I had a new Astra Van with the factory conversion, I dont think I would bother having anything like it again as the tank took up a lot of room to get the range I guess, filling was a faff queuing for the only LPG pump in the station, standing there with your finger on the fill button until you felt it was going to snap off!