Rough cost of removal of lpg system and refitting
 

As you may have seen in my other post I have a prins lpg system fitted to my V70 and the car has now had a major engine mishap and is going to be scrapped.
I have an 850 with 58,000 miles on that is also petrol and I’m considering having the old system removed and fitted to the 850.
I’d have to get it trailered to the lpg guy who does my servicing,about £150 then after removal scrap it so that would cover the cost of the trailering.
So my main question is what we looking at labour wise for removal and refitting and being put on lpg register etc .
I’m going to get lpg on the 850 anyway so I’m guessing all I would save would be the price of the parts I already have.It’s about £1500 for a new system supplied and fitted so I’m wondering what % of this is labour,40 0r 50 % ?
Just trying to see what best thing to do is.
Thanks for any help.

I may be biased against LPG? Or experienced I don’t know? But 20 years ago when I was younger I had a big land rover that I off roared all the time (it was a second car - I had 2).

I went diesel and everyone else went petrol with LPG. I don’t remember one of them (of many many) ever working properly. There was always an EML on (which is an MOT failure now a days), mis firing, smells in the cabin etc etc etc. It was so bad I wouldn’t even put it past an LPG system to ruin a can and I would certainly not have one fitted.

For me it would simply not be worth the excercise. That was in the days when lpg was available at most filling stations, most of the big guys now are phasing out lpg so for me I would advise you look into it and make a decission as to if it is even worth it now?

Worth it….yes
 

I get what your saying but LPG is certainly worth it financially to me personally.
I’ve been doing 800+ miles per week at between 62 and 69pence per litre up until last week.
I get on average 220-230 miles for around £27-£30 per fill.
Car does around 30mpg as my 120 mile round trip daily is 90% motorway.
In short every litre of lpg gas I put in car saves me £1 per litre,remember I pay less than 70 pence per litre instead of £1.70(due to current political/greedy oil and gas producers using war to profit )soon to be well over £2 a litre minimum.
I pass 3 lpg stations that are on my direct route so that’s not an issue.
Yes they are getting phased out slowly but on a car that costs around £1500 to convert it it would only take me around 4 months to cover cost of installation so unless lpg gets phased out in next 4 months it’s winner winner chicken dinner for me.
The v70 lpg that just died paid for itself a while ago in fuel savings and I still have option of recycling/transferring it to the 850 and get the scrap value for it too,say £200,more if I broke it.
Also it was quite a relief when we had the scaremongering earlier this year over non existent fuel shortages and people panic buying and petrol stations selling out.I could drive up to the LPG with nobody using it ,no queuing and fill up for a discount.
What’s not to like about LPG?
People say it wrecks the engine,my car died because of snapped cam belt I’m pretty sure,well AA patrol thought it was that anyway.
Also let’s remember we’re talking about a car I paid around a grand for,it’s not a financed up £30,000 motor that I don’t even own outright (that’s not a dig at you obviously 🙄)

Eight50

You're wasting you breath explainibg how LPG works to our friend... to the issue:

Unless you're minded to find some bloke under a railway-arch to lash it in, why? Near, save a very few bits. this is a fresh install.

It seems you 'drive' thus for you LPG works. If you'd said you were going to do you own install, maybe a parts migration would work well. But you're not.

The work here is in the plumbing/wiring/config etc. You want to drag all that from the old car? The cost is the labour, not parts. You'll lose as much as you gain.
Over doing it yourself, if you're expecting to pay for the work, its set to cost you as much or more, and very likely be worse for the trouble.

You'll finish-up with a mess, the sort of thing LPG gained a reputation for. We've all heard of them - yet another lousy on-the-cheap install that never quite works.

XC90Mk1 has past-form knocking LPG, however on this route you'll set to confirm every 'my mate said' urban-myth. You're set for tales of woe, and to prove him right - stuff of XC90Mk1's wet-dreams.

It dosn't sound like it's a option for blokes like you, it's a complex subject - yet on your miles and if you are that way inclined, throw some spanners and look to CNG? Either way, on LPG you do miles like me. And as me,you've been doing this for 10-15 years, you're £15-20,000 in pocket over other fuels. I can't think, apart form my house-purcahse of any other time I've had cash shovellled in large anounts my way for being sat on my fat backside?

Not least when we sailed past queues in the 'shortages'

By all means, migrate the tank and mountings, maybe the reducer/vapouriser (likely not)/doubtful the ECU/ maybe the inlet manifold and injectors - the rest new.

Get the install 'right' , thus do enough work on finding the right installer, on a car that can't depreciate, and carry on.

8 to 10 hours labour at best to carefully remove and properly install in a new car, plus the cost of new pipework and any mixers etc that don't directly fit the recipient car, plus VAT.

For such a low mileage car it doesn't make any sense, although if you have plans to massively up the mileage you do in it then it may still pay over time.

Nice one
 

CNGBifuel
Thanks again for a no nonsense answer,after reading your thoughts I’m going for a brand new spanker install.
Fed up with filling up 4 times a week and in not too bothered about boot space so can I get a 100ltr tank that sits in back across the load bay?
Or should I get a donut tank in spare wheel well and another in load area, what you think?
My local installer AVONAUTOGAS near Bristol is doing a lot of trade and booked up for installs well into next month so it can’t just be me and you who realise the benefits of Lpg.

Familyman90
Your also right I think,get it done with all new parts.
As it’s such a low mileage Volvo I think there is a very good chance I can stick a couple hundred thousand miles on it so it’s a keeper and I might as well give it half a chance with a new kit.
3 to 4 months and it’ll paid for with the saving on lpg anyway.

Thank you both for your advice lads 👍

I suppose it's possible to have this done in 8-10 hours, the railway-arch crowd used to promise it done in a day - and this was sold as a good thing? I did my own CNG install recently - on advice from 'classicswede' of this parish, I suspect like me you'll want a KME Nevo base. More involved than LPG, but electrically the same, it was 7-8 day's work. LPG would have shaved two-three days off that.

Sounds liek you alrady have these, else: I do have a Stako Toroidal which'd be good for your spare-wheel well + filler + vaporiser. Came out of my V70 before I did the swap. It's still full of LPG, that alone is worth the £30 I ask for it.

Collect LU6 - bit too far from Bristol, then again, empty, it'd cost you £160-170 to buy new?

If you're not worried about boot-space, the ability to drive past rip-off priced LPG to cheaper sources; forced to use petrol; means long range wins all day long. Mind though, keep weight down. You still need to stop. Have petrol limited to just off empty. Save for the weight, I was considering Tri-Fuel using the tnak I offer you. Went for a larger CNG instead. Used LPG tanks are cheap enough, and 'condition good', ie not soem rusty nonsense, one of the things you can buy used.

In an LPG install, wiring is where a lot of the work sits. I have an electronics/ telecomms engineering background, i was the bloke found down manholes in my 'trainee gets the carp-jobs youth'. I'm past manholes these days, nonetheless I've not forgotten how and wiring mine took me a good two days. Your installer is required to 'Tee-in' every joint, this by soldering and shrink-wrapping each joint, preferably with silicon-grease. Access is the problem, and where the work is. The install looks 'factory' such that you'd struggle to see where I've been. It would have an amateur leaving a mess or take still longer. If I'd done that part of the job in 10 hours, it'd be 'f**&*d-in and an ocean-going abortion.

For example, achieving a fill-point not c**ted-on; rather it hidden adjacent the petrol filler-cap (under filler-flap) took best part of a day - siting the changeover switch to the right of the gear-lever, over 'nailing' it on the dash where it'd look cowboy incongruous, was another 4-5 hours.

It seems you've got the message, do it right: Pre-COVID I would cover galactic miles, thus it makes sense for me. Your case sounds similar. Looked after these cars do massive miles, mine do.

I hope the above gives some idea of why a 'proper' install is unlikely to be done in 8-10 hours or be much less than £1500-2000? It will be lots of work, which is why I won't offer... Your set-up will match the value of the car which to many can't make sense. My set-up costs 2-3 times more than i paid for the car? We must be idiots?

Clearly you've seen the light... good luck.