W124 LPG conversion??

[chodecz]

Hi,

I am looking to buy a W124 (either a E220 or E280), and would like to convert it to LPG. I have lived and have family & friends in Poland, and I know conversions there are much cheaper. Driving over there an converting seems more viable than doing it here in England.

What experience and recommendations do you guys have on this subject? Does the W124 benefit from a specific type of conversion, etc.? I don't know much about LPG at all and what conversions are on offer. Is it worth converting a W124, do they run well on LPG and keep original performance figures? What savings on fuel costs will I typically see?

I have looked at http://www.w124.co.uk for info on LPG, and the spare wheel compartment conversion seems much better than a typical gas tank (all conversions in Poland I have seen have the typical tank). Btw most petrol engine cars in Poland are converted as people have less money/income, it's got to a point where it's silly to ask people if they still run on petrol! There are gas stations everywhere in Poland, even farmers/individuals setting up dedicated gas stations on highways, etc.

Seeing as not many people have LPG in England, I'm assuming the government hasn't taxed the hell out of it yet, so seems like a good idea for me. Maybe even to get a E320 and convert it to LPG if running costs are greatly reduced???

ANY advice will be most appreciated.

P.S. Sorry if this topic has been covered already, but I didn't have enough time to scour the forum If this is the case, can someone point me in the right direction, thanks.

 

[SimonsMerc]

Witam serdecznie. I'll write this post in English since it's an English board, but it's good to see another Pole here Like you, I travel often to Poland - I'm half Polish (although born and bred in West London), and my wife is Polish, so we tend to go at least once a year. My Mercedes is a diesel, but I've just bought a second car (an E38 BMW 728i) which I am going to convert to LPG.

Like you, I've been considering driving over to Poland and getting the conversion done there. Over here I'm looking at between £1500-£2000, but in Poland it will probably be closer to 3-4000PLN (about £5-600). There are a couple of things that have stopped me so far:

1) My insurance company over here have said that they need a certificate to prove that the installation was carried out professionally. I need to look into what certificates Polish installers can provide, and whether the insurance company can accept them.

2) Getting the conversion done over there is going to make warranty repairs difficult if any are needed. So I'm trying to find someone (family or friend) who has an installer they trust to do things properly (sam wiesz, ze jak ludzie widza samochod Angielski to od razu cena idzie w gore i jakosc w dol).

I think LPG is great, and the W124 is a very solid car; I'd say it will be a good candidate for conversion. Hopefully our resident 124 specialist and all round mechanical genius Ian will weigh in with an opinion on which engine is best to choose.

Incidentally, searching the forum is easy; you don't need a lot of time, just type some text in the 'search' option at the top and let the board do all of the work for you.

Cheers,

-simon

Hi,

I am looking to buy a W124 (either a E220 or E280), and would like to convert it to LPG. I have lived and have family & friends in Poland, and I know conversions there are much cheaper. Driving over there an converting seems more viable than doing it here in England.

What experience and recommendations do you guys have on this subject? Does the W124 benefit from a specific type of conversion, etc.? I don't know much about LPG at all and what conversions are on offer. Is it worth converting a W124, do they run well on LPG and keep original performance figures? What savings on fuel costs will I typically see?

I have looked at http://www.w124.co.uk for info on LPG, and the spare wheel compartment conversion seems much better than a typical gas tank (all conversions in Poland I have seen have the typical tank). Btw most petrol engine cars in Poland are converted as people have less money/income, it's got to a point where it's silly to ask people if they still run on petrol! There are gas stations everywhere in Poland, even farmers/individuals setting up dedicated gas stations on highways, etc.

Seeing as not many people have LPG in England, I'm assuming the government hasn't taxed the hell out of it yet, so seems like a good idea for me. Maybe even to get a E320 and convert it to LPG if running costs are greatly reduced???

ANY advice will be most appreciated.

P.S. Sorry if this topic has been covered already, but I didn't have enough time to scour the forum If this is the case, can someone point me in the right direction, thanks.

 

[chodecz]

Dziekuje ci bardzo! Ciesze sie ze znalazlem polaka na tym forum.

I hope someone can add to this please, with previous experience, etc.

Yes, I figured the same thing with it being an english car. But my uncle owns a garage and LPG station, so his advice will be valuable.

I was also considering a re-spray in Poland as I want a black W124, but may have to buy a different colour if I find a nice one. Some of my friends have had their cars resprayed for SILLY money over there. One paid i think it was £300 for a full respray (granted the resprayed colour was the same as the paint had just simply faded, and it wasn't sprayed in a booth). But I looked at the finish, and it was nothing to grumble about!

I think you can save money having work done in Poland, but you have to proceed with caution. You may pay half the price, but you might get half the job!

 

[silverarrow]

i had a c180 on lpg ok for about 80 k then 2 fuel regulators leaked and also had fuel pumps 2 break in winter and lpg is a pain to start when its cold
cost me £1200 and that was a few yrs back.
it was like mad max when the fuel strike occured except no diesel for the wagon that delivered the gas lol lol.
i think if you tank uo with gas at truck stops its about 36/37 a litre,so saving to be made however i found it hard to get a garage that was happy to do a service on the petrol side. i think with a auto gearbox the lack of power was felt at times,i think diesel cdi is a better bet for me.
i would not go back to gas i had a 120 litre tank and boot space !!!
the small tanks mean your are driving round to fill up
OH and you can not go on ther euro star with lpg
price up a diesel and lpg you have to be doing the miles But what is lpg per litre in poland !!! compared to diesel
i am not sure if the power shift grants are granted anymore and is lpg nil for congestion charge,this may be the saving ie convert to lpg and claim back the congestion charge !!!!!!!!! if i was in london then a lpg may be what i would use if still nil on congestion charge

 

[Howard]

Remember , if you convert it to LPG , the only way you will be able to cross the Channel when you start your drive to Poland will be on a ferry ....

 

[Seamster15]

I got my ML320 converted to LPG, at first it was great the savings were inpressive, However the niggles then started. Because the tank was underneath the car it got too cold in the winter mornings causing switch over problem, the car would run on gas as if it was running on only 5 spark plugs.

One way to get around this was to hold off the switch over until the engine reached 85c, this ment running the engine for about 2 miles on petrol first.. expensive when you have spent 2k on the conversion.

Then there is the case of the small tank, approx 130 miles worth, not fun when you regularly do 200 mile trips and have to find LPG gas stations!

My advise is get the conversion done during the winter months and make sure the tank is big!

good luck, I now have a diesel!

Cheers!

 

[mbz 6]

I have a Subaru converted to lpg and I have not had any problems in the 6000 miles since conversion. I get 18mpg around town and about 22 on a run.
I pay 38.9p litre or £1.77 per gallon.
The most upto date systems use the cars ecu to control the fuel and work much better than the older and cheaper systems.
I havent had any starting problems, it starts on petrol and when the engine is warm enough it switches over to gas. You need to keep about a quarter of a tank of petrol because the petrol pump runs even when you are on gas and can overheat if you do not have petrol to cool it
With the gas conversion I paid 6K for a 60,000 top of the range Subaru Legacy estate with leather and all the toys. I did look for a diesel 4x4 estate car but could not find one for the same price as the Subaru.
I have just been to Belgium in the Subaru and LPG is 47cents which makes for very cheap motoring.

 

[chodecz]

silverarrow: Yeah I drive my dad's van on LPG in Poland in the winter when temps were -15 and below, didnt run too smoothly. But UK doesnt get that cold anyway. Yeah the tank size worries me, as I need a big boot !!

Howard: I don't use the eurostar anyway, I'm a cheap skate

mbz_6: You paid 6k for the car with gas conversion alreay done? How much as the actual conversion??

I'd like to chat with someone who has converted a facelift W124. See what benefits they have seen.

I see it as viable, especially if the conversion if done in Poland would cost me less than £600 in total. Not much to lose really.

 

[mbz 6]

I paid 4k for the car and 2k for the conversion. I need to do around 15k miles to get the cost of the conversion back.
I haven,t had any cold weather problems but it has been mild. My tank takes around 50ltrs and is in the spare wheel well, it would not be difficult to insulate the tank if low temps became a problem.
I have been told that some tanks are better than others when it comes to fuel delivery. It could be worth spending a little bit more on the best equipment to avoid some of the problems lpg owners get.
You ignition system needs to be in tip top condition for the lpg system to work properly