I was considering buying a second hand volvo 850 T5 which has LPG fitted. Should this car be ok on LPG, bearing in mind it has a turbo? Is there anything I should be aware of? Not sure what to look for when inspecting a car with LPG fitted.
Are these cars reliable and capable of high miles?
Not seen a T5 with an LPG conversion but generally they are reliable and well capable of huge mileages - some of the high mileage club have >250k on the original clutch.
The main thing to look out for on a T5 is a fairly big oil leak under the engine sump.
The engine rear main oil seal has a tendency to blow out on pre1999 cars. The seal is only a few quid, but costs a days labour to have fitted, you then need to get the breather system checked.
These cars really need 5k oil changes with fully synthetic, anything else and the hybrid turbo just eats it up and spits out black sludge!
The GAS system on turbo's is a closed loop type system with LPG injectors, extremely reliable and reasonable performance. You loose a fair bit more power than petrol though I have heard with the turbo gas conversion.
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I have an 1995 850 T5 - only on 137k miles at the moment which is not much for these cars. Never seen a gas one, but understand if properly converted should be good. T5's are very quick and great fun to drive, although may be a bit slower when running on gas. Full service history is reasonably important I'd say, for proof the car has been serviced regulally.
I've just renewed my insurance and found huge differences in premiums between different companys. My previous insurer (used for ~3 years on previous Volvo) was Norwich Union Direct who wanted over £940 fully comp. Elephant were £398! Seems the word "T5" scares some companies.
Alan.
I am on the lookout for an MR2 Turbo ( agood one!!!) which I will convert to LPG ( same as my 3.9 V8 Discovery). LPG and turbo are fine, and you can up the boot significantly more with LPG.It's good idea to have a multipoint system fitted if you have a turbo though. eliminates blowbacks.
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