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LP Gas and Camry engines

Hi all,

I've got more of a generic question this time. I've got a '99 manual Camry model, 4 cylinders, Australian model. I wonder if there are any counter recommendations on installing LP-Gas on it?

The main drive behind this is that with the price of petrol not going to go down any time soon, and with the fact that I'm actually moving further away from work now, I'm bound to spend some serious money on petrol. If LP-Gas is going to do the trick, I don't see why not bite the bullet and put one in.

So again, are there any advices for *not* installing such a system? Oh, yes, I know I'll lose some space in the boot where the gas reservoir will stay, but I'm cool with that.

Thanks, Bogdan.

--
I have seen things you people wouldn't believe.  Attack ships on fire
off the shoulder of Orion.  I watched C-beams glitter in the dark
near the Tannhauser Gate.  All those moments will be lost in time,
like tears in rain.  Time to die.
Reply to
Bogdan Iamandei
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How much gasoline can you buy with the money spent on the conversion?

And what *is* the price of the conversion for a car with all the electronic engine controls that car has??

--

- Philip @ Maximum Torque RPM
Reply to
Philip®

You wont get an 18 mo payback or an 18yr payback. Here is a clue , look at any fleet, what do you see. The big Co beancounters would have everything propane in 5 minutes if it was worth it. Someones been lian to you.

Reply to
m Ransley

Might be better to pick up one of the newer LPG-enabled Camry's:

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Reply to
Travis Jordan

I own a 98 Camry 4 cyl. driving on LPG, as we call it here in Holland. I bought the car new including the LPG-installation. I 've driven about 280,000 km so far without any problem. One litre of gasoline costs about ? 1,30 in our country. One litre of LPG costs about ? 0,35 The equipment including installation did cost about ? 2,000.- The installation I have injects the fluid propane in the intakemanifold with

4 injectors (like with gasoline).

With these numbers you will probably know, what my next car will be driving on....

Jan

Reply to
Jan Siepelstad

Well - If I recall well, pretty much all the buses and latest utes Qld. gubmint buys from Fnord are LPG. Buses have been LPG for years and years, though the Fnord utes have only recently been bought with LPG-powered engines.

The only major problem is that LPG is not as readily available in the bush as it is around any largish town/city. If you're aware of this, then you should be set.

Besides, beancounters (or accounting trolls) don't really give a flying fsck about this, as long as all expenses are justified, and at the end of the day, there's no dollar un-accounted for. Especially if said beancounters are part of a bigCo. which doesn't care how much it spends on petrol anyway, there are much more important spendings on something else *than* petrol.

Cheers, Bogdan.

Reply to
Bogdan Iamandei

Im in the US where prices are different , I didnt think about your situation - pricing , when I posted, sorry. Here in the US or every country for that matter Gas- Propane- Gasoline are all different as to their price -tax structure. So yes it may be benificial to you. You should talk to a fleet manager though for insight and consider the weight , difference. Propane is harder on the upper end of a motor , less lubrication qualities, Camrys have Valve seal - guide issues which will be affected . The lower end will last longer though.

I hope it works well for you.

Reply to
m Ransley

Figure total weight of the setup plus propane weight and get sand in bags to equal that weight , put it in your trunk and look at rear springs , sag, front end lift , and drive a week like that. Your lights will need re-aiming camber will be off, handling , breaking, all will be afected. I coulnt put even 200 lb in the trunk without problems.

Reply to
m Ransley

LPG is not nearly as profitable in an economical car (like the Camry) as a juice-guzzling V8. If it were not for the LPG conversion on my 351 Ford, I could not justify driving it around at 10 mpg (city). Gas is 1/2 the price of petrol here, and the conversion paid for itself in about 18 mths.

OTOH, the Camry 2.2 already costs little to drive the few hundred miles a week I do,...so $2000 for an install is not good economics.

Jason

Reply to
Jason James

That's what I've been told around here too, if it's a 6-cylinder, yeah, maybe. A 4 though it's not really worth it, if anything, you lose too much power. So there. I guess I'll be thinking of it when the superglue I used to stick another 2 cylinders to the engine dries. :)

Bogdan.

--
I have seen things you people wouldn't believe.  Attack ships on fire
off the shoulder of Orion.  I watched C-beams glitter in the dark
near the Tannhauser Gate.  All those moments will be lost in time,
like tears in rain.  Time to die.
Reply to
Bogdan Iamandei

a
I

price

a

Re: losing power. It is a fact that the energy yield of LPG is lower than petrol, hence power loss. Engine ignition timing needs regraphing also to optimise available power. A special 'chip' for the computer probably is available.

Jason

Reply to
Jason James

With the LPG injection system which I have, you don't notice any difference between LPG / gasoline. The car always starts on gasoline. After half a km or so, it automaticaly switches over to LPG. But you even don't notice it's switching over to the other fuel. Because at the moment that a gasoline injector stops, a LPG injector comes in.

And wheather investing 2,000 Euro's is profitable or not, completely depends of the prices for fuel in your country. As I described, gasoline costs E 1,30 a litre and LPG only E 0,35 in our country. And after 270,000 km and about 27,000 litres of fuel I know what I saved.....:-)

as

Ford,

miles

Reply to
Jan Siepelstad

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