Subaru & LPG Conversion

casperfromholland

Forum Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2011
Messages
267
Location
Amsterdam Holland
Car Year
1999
Car Model
forester sf
Transmission
manual 5speed 4.44 end h/l 1.59
When you tell other people to look at your subi's odo meter who shows nearly 400.000km with LPG conversion and 1 engine with no rebuild and nobody believes it.
 
Casper, I have often wondered about Subarus on LPG. Where is the gas tank in your car?
 
Scooby2 said:
Casper, I have often wondered about Subarus on LPG. Where is the gas tank in your car?
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The LPG tank is mounted were the sparewheel normaly is. Only 45 liters and brings me 350km far. It saves me 1.10 euro per liter. Lpg cost 0.68 petrol 1.80 euro per liter. I drive around 40.000km p/ year so that's not a difficult choise.
I carry a small special spare tire wich is mounted under the car just behind the rear axel. If i go serious offroad then i leave the special spare at home and take a fullsize with me in the trunk or on the roof.
Here in holland it is cheapest way to drive a car, even cheaper then diesel. A lot of carbrands have troubles with lpg due to the higher temperatures in the combustion chamber, resulting in burnt valves. SF, SG non turbo fozzy's do very well on lpg.
 
Casperfromholland thank you for your answers! I have one more "wonder" about Subarus running on gas. Do you have dual fuel (where your car will run on both petrol and gas) or is your gas conversion a straight gas conversion?

Maybe this part of the thread should have its own title?

Thanks heaps Casperfromholland :ebiggrin:
 
The normal petrol tank is still there. For me a must because lpg is nearly not for sale in germany. The car uses petrol to start, after 1 minute (depending on outside temp) it switches over to lpg.
 
So now Casperfromholland, armed with information provided by you... begins some more research. I will wonder out loud if anybody has a gas conversion on the 2.5 engine? Ya just neva know unless you wonder! Thanks again Casper :ebiggrin:
 
2.5 is also possible. I only know that on younger types of subaru's you have to adjust the valves every 100.000dkm. But for doing this the engine has to be removed from the car.. smart he?

With my engine i adjust them every 30dkm. Which is a simple job. On UK sites you can find a lot of info. Lpg is populair there.

What is the price differance between lpg and petrol in AUS?
 
Casper, today I saw LPG @ 61c/litre, & petrol at the moment is fickle. For Premium unleaded it can be anywhere between $1.30/litre to $1.60/litre... depending on the day of the week, mood of the servo owner, phase of the moon..... ! Usually when you are on dead empty it is $1.60/litre
 
Scooby2 said:
Usually when you are on dead empty it is $1.60/litre
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That is just so, so true :twisted:

I saw LPG for 64c/ltr yesterday & unleaded petrol for $1.27 a litre today (cost me $1.46 for 98 octane though)

So the prices here in NSW are pretty much on par to what you are paying Scooby2.

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
2010 subarup impreza

Hey everyone,
I have a 2010 Subaru impreza and am thinking of converting it to LPG but am unsure of a few things. First off, is my car compatible? And if so, I've read that you have to adjust the valves every 10,000km, is this something that will be costly and time consuming? And finally, do the air filters have to be changed also?

Any feedback is much appreciated! :)
Tom
 
You have the option of LPG injection now. They put injectors into the intake runners & use a LPG ECU in conjunction with the Subie ECU. It gives virtually the same power/torque as petrol, but check that for your individual model. Its also more reliable with zero backfire which can damage the diaphragm compared to a standard LPG mixer setup.

Its critical to get a good fitter. I converted my last car, an AU Falcon, which should have been simple, there's literally 1000s of dual fuel Falcons. But the guy didnt have a clue & stuffed a few things up. He initially was ~$200 cheaper but it cost me ~$400 to get it fixed! :shake:
 
mr turbo said:
That is just so, so true :twisted:

I saw LPG for 64c/ltr yesterday & unleaded petrol for $1.27 a litre today (cost me $1.46 for 98 octane though)
Click to expand...

I know this quote was back in April, and I don't want to start a price comparison war in here, but STREWTH! I wish we were paying that much for fuel.

Here in Shepp our prices have been over the $1.50 a litre for regular unleaded for the best part of 6 months. The last 8 weeks at least hasn't moved lower than $1.54 a litre for regular. Add another 14 cpl for premium!

LPGas seems to hover around the 79.9cpl, I've seen it as high as 87.9cpl.

Subarus will do well on LPG as their valves have the hardened valve seats - something needed in an alloy head for longivity, so half the work is already done there. Add a good cooling system that subarus seem to have and it's a winning combination.

Because Gas burns so clean you have very little wear over a period of time. Dad's ol' classic rangie was converted at 68k km, at 500k km we did an engine rebuild, didn't even need a head gasket in that time - the builder had trouble finding half a thou wear on the bore in any cylinder. The only worn bits were the cam and the timing chain. Otherwise we could have kept that engine as it was - would've been cheaper!

Keep on cruising Casper!

Cheers

Bennie
 
El_Freddo said:
Subarus will do well on LPG as their valves have the hardened valve seats - something needed in an alloy head for longivity, so half the work is already done there. Add a good cooling system that subarus seem to have and it's a winning combination.
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Good to know :biggrin:

There's also specialist oils for gas, you could also add Morey's Power Booster Lubrication System . It works on vaccuum & is pretty simple to install. I'm not sure if its needed with a modern gas injection system though
 
Thanks for all your feedback! Much appreciated! I have done a bit of research on the Orbital systems vs the JTG systems and although the JTG seem to be for drivers that want to customise their cars (not something I am interested in) there have been a number of cases that have come in saying that after an hour or so of driving, the tank becomes really hot (due to it only having 1 pump apparently) and this resulting in the driver not been able to fill up the LPG tank. So that doesn't sound too good. I have contacted Orbital LPG regarding any kits that will come our for Subaru and will post what they say here.

Again thanks for your help!
 
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I know a few people running LPG in their subies. Since learning a huge amount about how they work I'd consider doing it in my foz. The new systems Srebrenica far more advanced than the old LPG goes and work well.
All our work vehicles are dual gas and fuel. They mainly run on ss and on the odd occasion petrol. Costs almost half the price to fuel uo with LPG for the same km each week.

I will sponsor be going for mg LPG ticket so I can then install the systems and work on them as part of being an autp sparky. ..
Diesel and LPG mix works extremely well together.
Here I only use premium fuel and pay at minimum $1.85 a litre. WA is spare expensive for everything..
 
Can blame the resource boom for that taza, last ten years cost of living in WA had surpasses Melbourne cbd!

I've been looking at lpg as well cheaper fill and carrying extra fuel. Would be great to have the lpg full as a reserve out bush
 
tomg said:
I have done a bit of research on the Orbital systems vs the JTG systems
Click to expand...

What are the differences? Is this gas injection or mixer?

there have been a number of cases that have come in saying that after an hour or so of driving, the tank becomes really hot (due to it only having 1 pump apparently) and this resulting in the driver not been able to fill up the LPG tank
Click to expand...

You'll never be able to completely fill a gas tank. If its a 90L tank you'll get about 85L into it even if cold.

Not sure why a gas tank has a pump, its under pressure & I thought that was what forced the liquid LPG through the system :shrug:
 
that's true Luva of the Nacha, and also your kms per litre of gas are not as many as you get from petrol. My dad's costing on his gas conversion paid completely for the conversion in 20,000 kms. That was 10 years ago. It would be interesting to see how prices today compare.
 
Anyone know what the average cost of an lpg conversion is these days? or if there's still a government rebate
 
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