2002 Ford Transit low roof - LPG/PETROL

[bongoboy]

i am going to look at a van tomorrow it's a 2002 Ford Transit low roof - LPG/PETROL, just wondering if anyone has one of these that runs on LPG/PETROL of a similar age, i don't know anything about a vehicle that runs on both just wondered if anyone has any views on them and any tips of what to look for when i give it a test drive tomorrow.

any advice would be gratefully received.
thanks

[DTCwordfan]

LPG is really good for high mileage vehicles - it burns at about 90% that of petrol - you will sense a little power difference when you press the accelerator. Generally Autogas is what we call field gas, rather than refinery gas and hence burns to CO2 and water - there are no isomers in it (for example normal butane (n-butane) has 4 carbon molecules in a row with 10 hydrogens off them whereas an isomer butane (i-butane) has a chain of three and one carbon hanging off the central carbon - when this burns you get some carbon monoxide.

Now the reason that LPG is good for high mileage vehicles is that in being clean burning it doesnt put the stress on the engine that petrol does and hence there is less need for maintenance and engine life is far, far longer....It is therefore non-toxic and corrosive and no anti-knock elements are needed in it. Mileages of over 250k miles can easily be achieved. And price wise it is pretty good - at 80p a litre you cxan soon get a paybakc on any conversion or additional charge on the price of the vasn for being duel-fueled. The disadvantage is that not all stations have Autogas, especially in the centre of towns......however Shell (main marketer) and others have maps and information of where their outlets are.

[cazzz1975]

Dont forget to look at what saving you are going to make overall with LPG, sometimes its not as much as you think, also autogas has been creeping up in price quite alarmingly recently.

[AlBags]

How good this Transit is on LPG depends on how it was converted/what kit it has on it.
Originally, many Transits were converted down at a Winchester Ford Dealer .. they used a kit using pumped liquid LPG which was injected. All parts were propriatory to that kit, which would be Vialle.
Aftermarket kits .. could be one of many .. vapour with lambda control, or vapour injection, and some liquid injection. Need to find out what kit is fitted really.
I used to work in LPG Fitting, design and development.

[bongoboy]

thank you for all your answers, i will have a look at it tomorrow

[chas2008]

having driven a few LPG vehicles i have found little or no difference in performance,obviously there are good and not so good kits. A good indication is how tidy there are fitted and if theres a certificate with it. As regard MPG it usually works out about the same but as it costs less you get more miles for your £