Is it cost effective to convert a diesel MPV to run on LPG?

Question:
I have a 8 seater MPV so have been stung by the new road tax (thanks Gordon), it runs on diesel which is also the dearest fuel available. I only do about 5,000 miles per year but with road tax going up to £400 next year, wonder whether its now worth converting to LPG if that's possible with a diesel car. And how much lower is road tax for a LPG vehicle?

Answers:

BMW or Mercedes?

LPG conversion is only available for petrol engines so that rules you out. Environmentally friendly solutions for your car are to run on bio-diesel which is derived from rapeseed oil or similar, however this doesn't solve your tax problem. Are you sure your tax will rise to £400? this applies to quite a small number of cars and only those registered in the last year or so. The highest tax bracket generally encompases very expensive vehicles such as Aston Martins where tax is not so important given the cost of the car, although I admit there are some vehicles which will lose a shed load of their resale value such as a V6 2.5 Mondeo or W32 Golf!

Could I still tell the police and make an accident claim UK?

A diesel. No. If it were petrol, then perhaps.

What to do on a 3-point turn-around?


Diesel to LPG would require an engine change (to petrol) and then conversion to LPG (£1000+).

Horsepower vs. other cars?

Would really need to know what you get to the gallon, but at that mileage I would say probably not. Assuming 40 to the gallon you use 125 gallons and would therefore save about £350 on fuel costs and about £200 on VET. Conversion costs £1500 - £2000 so you would need to keep the thing for 3 years minimum to get a return on your investment assuming you can't get any form of grant from your local council.

What is the best way to find my local salvage yard?

In a word No.
It is possible to get a diesel to run on LPG but the costs involved and your low annual mileage mean you won't be saving anything, If anything I suspect you would still be out of pocket some years down the line even taking into account the reduced road tax.
Also the price of LPG is slowly creeping up. The average is about 42p a litre.
Suggestions, Have a good hunt around the net for LPG conversion company's. Ebay also is a good place to look to get a rough idea of costs.
Ultimately I would look at selling/trading in the diesel and going for a petrol that has already had the kit fitted.
Good luck.

Do you like the sound of a Jake Brake??

Never say it cannot be done.. There was once a fellow in Cyril, OK who converted several Cummins diesel engines to LPG. It was not an easy chore, as compression had to be lowered by increasing the size of the combustion chambers and dishing out the piston tops. The injectors were pushrod operated, the holes were resized to accept 14 mm sparkplugs and a six cylinder Ford distributor was added in place of the diesel pump.
He had his own machine shop, so the conversion was relatively cheap for him, however, electronic fuel injection systems would be daunting to perform, and not cost effective.
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