Omega Owners Forum
Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: V6mac on 14 January 2007, 14:06:35
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would it be worthwhile me having LPG fitted to my 2.6 :question
don't do mega miles, do alot of short journeys though :-/
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Lots of short trips no - as it takes a while from cold to switch to gas
Anyway give us a list of your trips so we have an idea
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car has to warm up to 40 ish before it will switch to lpg...
if you fill up more than once a week its worth doing...
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Work out how much you spend on petrol per month, and half it. That gives an idea of your monthly savings by converting (LPG is less than half the price of petrol at the moment, but slightly less economical so it works out roughly half). From there you can work out how long your "break even" time is, depending on how much the conversion costs.
To be honest, unless you plan to keep the car for a long time it's not really cost effective for lower mileage drivers. Hence why I bought my car pre converted, it's more expensive than an equivalent petrol only MV6, but nowhere near what the conversion cost would have been.
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car has to warm up to 40 ish before it will switch to lpg....
Not necessarily, this depends on how good the install is, and what the electronics settings are. Cars can start and run on gas when it's below freezing no problem. Unfortunately my Omega can't, but that's just poor routing of the coolant pipes (which I may rectify when replacing my HBV), I've driven other dual-fuel cars that run just as well as on petrol from stone cold.
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car has to warm up to 40 ish before it will switch to lpg....
Not necessarily, this depends on how good the install is, and what the electronics settings are. Cars can start and run on gas when it's below freezing no problem. Unfortunately my Omega can't, but that's just poor routing of the coolant pipes (which I may rectify when replacing my HBV), I've driven other dual-fuel cars that run just as well as on petrol from stone cold.
I stand corrected :y
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i do 13 miles round trip to work, do another 5 -10 miles to shops and school run.
doesn't seem alot, about £100 p/m
i do put my toe down when poss
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car has to warm up to 40 ish before it will switch to lpg....
Not necessarily, this depends on how good the install is, and what the electronics settings are. Cars can start and run on gas when it's below freezing no problem. Unfortunately my Omega can't, but that's just poor routing of the coolant pipes (which I may rectify when replacing my HBV), I've driven other dual-fuel cars that run just as well as on petrol from stone cold.
How are you changing the pipes?
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i do 13 miles round trip to work, do another 5 -10 miles to shops and school run.
doesn't seem alot, about £100 p/m
i do put my toe down when poss
13 miles = 11 roughly on gas so you could reckon each week on about 55-60 on gas and 15 on petrol
Short runs are the killer.
That would be around 1 petrol and 3-4 gas - save about 25-35 a month
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car has to warm up to 40 ish before it will switch to lpg....
Not necessarily, this depends on how good the install is, and what the electronics settings are. Cars can start and run on gas when it's below freezing no problem. Unfortunately my Omega can't, but that's just poor routing of the coolant pipes (which I may rectify when replacing my HBV), I've driven other dual-fuel cars that run just as well as on petrol from stone cold.
I dropped mine to 22 to 24 (can't remember) all I have to do is remember no booting until car is warm or if I throttle of it over pressures the injectors
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i'm not changing any pipes, get someone else to do it ;)
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car has to warm up to 40 ish before it will switch to lpg....
Not necessarily, this depends on how good the install is, and what the electronics settings are. Cars can start and run on gas when it's below freezing no problem. Unfortunately my Omega can't, but that's just poor routing of the coolant pipes (which I may rectify when replacing my HBV), I've driven other dual-fuel cars that run just as well as on petrol from stone cold.
I agree my dual fuel Veccies switch to lpg very quickly.....i havent looked at where they tap into the water pipes...but from cold probably on gas in about 30 secs just idling not even driving them....so water temp must be still very low. And interestingly they switch to lpg without the need to rev them to about 1800rpm like i need to on my omega.
I think Tunnie might be remembering on Sat when i told him that my omega wont switch until about 40C.....which is correct for my omega.....and then it can be lumpy when idling until its got hotter still
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car has to warm up to 40 ish before it will switch to lpg....
Not necessarily, this depends on how good the install is, and what the electronics settings are. Cars can start and run on gas when it's below freezing no problem. Unfortunately my Omega can't, but that's just poor routing of the coolant pipes (which I may rectify when replacing my HBV), I've driven other dual-fuel cars that run just as well as on petrol from stone cold.
How are you changing the pipes?
It's currently just teed into the pipe that goes into the bottom of the header tank, which probably explains why it won't run on gas until fully warm. Ideally it should be in parallel with the heater matrix, but the HBV complicates this. I'm thinking the best approach is to tee one side at the intake to the HBV, and the other at the return from the matrix. Thus there should be flow regardless of the position of the HBV. I've not seen the physical layout though so don't yet know if this is possible.
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Hi, this interests me as well as I am planning to convert mine, just as soon as I get working software. Another forum on the web, www.lpgforum.co.uk has plenty discussion on LPG, but it tends to be answered by installers. However there are some good bits of info. One chap suggested taking the hot water feed from the hose that goes into the top of the expansion tank. Does anybody else know the water circulation arrangement on the Omega ?. Which bit gets hot first and can you tee in to it ?. :)
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car has to warm up to 40 ish before it will switch to lpg....
Not necessarily, this depends on how good the install is, and what the electronics settings are. Cars can start and run on gas when it's below freezing no problem. Unfortunately my Omega can't, but that's just poor routing of the coolant pipes (which I may rectify when replacing my HBV), I've driven other dual-fuel cars that run just as well as on petrol from stone cold.
How are you changing the pipes?
It's currently just teed into the pipe that goes into the bottom of the header tank, which probably explains why it won't run on gas until fully warm. Ideally it should be in parallel with the heater matrix, but the HBV complicates this. I'm thinking the best approach is to tee one side at the intake to the HBV, and the other at the return from the matrix. Thus there should be flow regardless of the position of the HBV. I've not seen the physical layout though so don't yet know if this is possible.
Search this forum - you may need to see if the picture is still available.
Stuff it I have shoved it on line
(http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k286/martinimber/lpg-back-of-engine.jpg)
Tee into the thicker pipe block to HBV and then return into the heater to block.
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Hi, this interests me as well as I am planning to convert mine, just as soon as I get working software. Another forum on the web, www.lpgforum.co.uk has plenty discussion on LPG, but it tends to be answered by installers. However there are some good bits of info. One chap suggested taking the hot water feed from the hose that goes into the top of the expansion tank. Does anybody else know the water circulation arrangement on the Omega ?. Which bit gets hot first and can you tee in to it ?. :)
Do this !
(http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k286/martinimber/lpg-back-of-engine.jpg)
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Hello Paul - you have been on that forum as well I notice - I recognise two other posters one who certified my DIY and one who fitted to my last car.
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Thanks Martin. Yes I have been on that forum for quite a while, although I only pop in occasionally. There are certainly some knowledgeable folk on there, likewise for the newsgroup uk.rec.cars.fuel.lpg
Can you suggest a good source for pipes and tee pieces? If I'm going to change the coolant routing I want to make sure I have all the right stuff beforehand as it's such a pig to get to the necessary parts on the V6. I don't actually know the diameter required :-[
Cheers.
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Thanks Martin. Yes I have been on that forum for quite a while, although I only pop in occasionally. There are certainly some knowledgeable folk on there, likewise for the newsgroup uk.rec.cars.fuel.lpg
Can you suggest a good source for pipes and tee pieces? If I'm going to change the coolant routing I want to make sure I have all the right stuff beforehand as it's such a pig to get to the necessary parts on the V6. I don't actually know the diameter required :-[Cheers.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pair-Universal-Water-Tees-for-lpg-autogas-conversion_W0QQitemZ220070516018QQihZ012QQcategoryZ36631QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item220070516018
Like these!
You also need about 2m of pipe which fits the evaporator and plenty of jubilee clips
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Thanks again Martin. I just had a look at your picture (had images switched off earlier, d'oh!) and that's exactly how I was thinking of doing it. I just wasn't sure how the input to the HBV is connected hence I didn't know if I'd be able to tee into it. Hopefully it's not too bad a job reaching round the back of the engine.
Do you know the diameter of hose I need? The vapouriser is currently plumbed into the pipe that goes into the bottom of the expansion tank from the metal pipe that runs along the side of the block, so I reckon that diameter will be ideal. It looks the same diameter as the pipes connected to the HBV.
Cheers
Paul.
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Thanks again Martin. I just had a look at your picture (had images switched off earlier, d'oh!) and that's exactly how I was thinking of doing it. I just wasn't sure how the input to the HBV is connected hence I didn't know if I'd be able to tee into it. Hopefully it's not too bad a job reaching round the back of the engine.
Do you know the diameter of hose I need? The vapouriser is currently plumbed into the pipe that goes into the bottom of the expansion tank from the metal pipe that runs along the side of the block, so I reckon that diameter will be ideal. It looks the same diameter as the pipes connected to the HBV.
Cheers
Paul.
Diameter - nope - measure the external diameter and take off say 4 to 6mm, I would guess and 16 or 20mm internal.
I had the scuttle off wipers out and plenum off