LPG convesion for Mercs

[SteveW124]

Have seen Andy Gayles horror at any hint Re. LPG conversions on Mercedes.
(on the Mercedes Owners Assoc.website.)

No doubt about it he is definately the Daddy on Mercs, but he hasn't given any info given as to why LPG is not a good idea,

Does anybody know why, and if so what models & years are they definately not reccomended?

I'm wondeing ,as a mate over in france has an E class (93 I think) which he had converted before emigrating and he's very happy with it.

The financials seem to stack up OK for newer, grant-eligible ,or high milers, not to mention the environmental investement.

Thoughts?

Steve

 

[GregE240]

Well, when I was up in Durham on business recently I took a ride in a C200 taxi which had over 200K on the clock, most of which was on LPG. The driver said the boss had got the local dealer to do the work (I assume they outsourced it to a third party?) and he said that all cars (MB exclusively) in the fleet ran on LPG and they hadn't had a single problem with any of them. Cheaper than diesel to run (unless veg oil power is your bag), slightly worse mpg but start from cold with petrol and switch over to LPG when warm.

I think the cars were out of warranty BTW.

 

[Satch]

Have seen Andy Gayles horror at any hint Re. LPG conversions on Mercedes.
(on the Mercedes Owners Assoc.website.)


Thoughts?

Steve

If it runs on unleaded or diesel, LPG or LMG should normally be possible (although with earlier models best to get confirmation from MBUK)

Lots of MB taxi drivers in Frankfurt & Munich cannot be wrong, although you do seem to get a damn great cannister taking up half the boot space.

 

[Shude]

The financials seem to stack up OK for newer, grant-eligible ,or high milers, not to mention the environmental investement.

I read that the government intend to increase the tax on LPG over the next 3 years, unless you know by how much I'd not bother with LPG!

 

[jaymanek]

Have mostly heard the problems with LPG have been on the S class 140 models. 124's tend to respond ok on the whole, but as shude points out its a big investment if the government are going to change their mind about it being tax free.
Also you have to be doing astronomical mileage to make it pay within a yr or two...

Jay

 

[Steve_Perry]

The other issue that I have read about on other forums is that when there is a problem with the engine running, the LPG specialist will say that the car is at fault when running on petrol and the garage mechanic will come to the conclusion that the LPG conversion is at fault and the poor owner is caught in the middle with neither side wanting to sort said problem out, no matter what the source of the problem is.

S.

 

[kusanku]

I considered an LPG 124 (the red one, which came up on ebay a while ago). It seemd to run fine when switched to LPG, but terribly on petrol. Lacked performance and had a bizarrely unstable idle. Never got to the bottom of it, as the owner was evasive about the issue, and I was advised to walk away. That car was originally up for £8k, had only done 67k and looked to be in good overall condition. But it didn't shift, and eventually turned up on ebay a year after it was first advertised, with a price of about £5k, which is way below book. I tried it after it had sat in a brokers for months, and was the first person to take it out. So, I get the impression that LPG conversions make resale much more difficult.

 

[NormanB]

I believe Steve is right here and it is along the lines at what AndyG was aiming at. Fault diagnosis possible being more fraught with 'undocumented' components. At the end of the day I suppose it boils down to the quality of the conversion and expertise of the installers.

 

[jimmy]

I know a garage who do LPG conversions, they have done several MB's that I have seen, I drove a S500 conversion and it was really good, automatically switched to LPG and ran fine. The LPG tank was where the spare wheel should be and the spare wheel was loose in the boot.

From what I hear the early conversions were a bit of a bodge, simply using a 'ring' to mix the gas into the air inlet pipe. This can lead to problems particularly if you get a backfire. Have seen a few LPG V6 Galaxy's with all the manifolds hanging off!! The later conversions have proper gas injectors and are much more reliable.

I think Shude has summed it up really, the government will not keep the tax cheap for much longer and they will have you by the short and curlies after spending so much on a conversion, you lose space and a bit of performance too and after spending £1500+ your car will be worth less.

 

[Shude]

I think Shude has summed it up really, the government will not keep the tax cheap for much longer and they will have you by the short and curlies after spending so much on a conversion, you lose space and a bit of performance too and after spending £1500+ your car will be worth less.

I saw loads of cars in NL with the little black LPG filler caps, all kinds of cars - mostly old bangers! This leads me to believe that in NL, if not the rest of continental europe, the price of conversion is low and the tax break must be good as well, maybe it's easier to get a grant towards the conversion over there. As for the UK, it was fun while it lasted but I suspect the Gov't will push the tax back up to somewhere near normal fuel, after all, LPG users are only like other motorists and therefore a previously tax-sheltered minority in the eyes of the Gov't!

 

[robertjary]

I had my (now the wifes) Audi A6 estate 2.0 auto converted to LPG nearly 3 years ago, with a 75l toroidal tank in the spare wheel space under the estate floor. Its now covered 180k and going well. LPG is 30 ppl at Morrisons/Asda - compared with petrol at 75 ppl she gets the equivalent of over 50 mpg. It starts on petrol and automatically switches to LPG when the revs first fall below 2000, usually well under 15 seconds of driving. Previoulsly I travelled all over the country without any problems finding LPG. The only drawback is that you can't use the Channel Tunnel.