To gas or not to gas this is the question?

Hi all,been looking at a lot of disco's and made my mind up I want a V8. Around a 52 ~ 54 plate my only dilema is that I would need one on gas to make it viable for me.
Only trouble is I went into a LR specialist the other day and got chatting about the pro's and cons of TD5's,V8's and LPG conversions and in his experience the only problems they have had with V8's have been with LPG conversions such as burnt valves and cracked blocks!
So would like to hear if anyone on here has any views/experience/horror story's they would like to share?
Thanks

we had a 1994 Disco and had it six years from 2002-2009 and had no problems. Just bought a TD5 2003 and already had several frustrating repairs.

I also had a Peugeot 406 which did 100,000 miles on LPG without any problems. Get it done by a LPGA approved garage and it should be fine.

Cheers hobsher

ive had my 96 3.9 V8i LPG for over a year now and no probs so far! passes the MOT emmisions test effortlessly. (also i think you might get cheaper tax with LPG if its after 2004 but i would check on that)

skidmarks said:

Hi all,been looking at a lot of disco's and made my mind up I want a V8. Around a 52 ~ 54 plate my only dilema is that I would need one on gas to make it viable for me.
Only trouble is I went into a LR specialist the other day and got chatting about the pro's and cons of TD5's,V8's and LPG conversions and in his experience the only problems they have had with V8's have been with LPG conversions such as burnt valves and cracked blocks!
So would like to hear if anyone on here has any views/experience/horror story's they would like to share?
Thanks

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I've got a 96 es 3.9 LPG converted that has now covered over 218.000 miles and still going strong, she runs perfectly well on gas (multipoint system) returning 300 miles to 75 litres of gas solo and with my caravan (Abbey Spectrum 520) about 240 miles to 75 litres.

Recently had to change the transfer box, autobox was overhauled at 180,000. My son who is what is now known as a vehicle technician, services it for me and states the engine is in better condition than many petrol only engines that have only covered 50,000 miles.

The only problem (beside the dreaded tin worm) the car has is unreliable electrics and it don't like running on petrol ( very lumpy) but is really smooth on gas.

Hope this helps. Dave

All the above info is for a D1 so N/A for your D2 V8 when you get it. First look at the mileage you expect to do each year and look at the costs Gas V Petrol and the conversion costs before u go ahead.

That said, burnt valves would/can be cause by lean mixture and a split block as a result of overheating by ie. the lean mixture.
So if you are going LPG then make sure the company knows the Land Rover 4.0 engine as fitted to your disco and you get a cert..

Let us know what happens ok.

Cheers for replys still trying to convince the missus at mo but hopefuly not be long.

hi, I got my disco v8 with the intention of converting to gas,brought it from a L.R.agent in Oslo,sales man had know objections to my idea.But my land rover mech.goes balistic every time I bring the subject up--- apparently 4.6& 4.2 like gas but not the 4.0.I`ve heard of L.R.norway refusing to replace engine that went bang whilst running on gas.Have read about a d2 on gas driving across Australia with out problems.Perhapes there are some L.R.mechs.out there who can give us some good advice? mike.

My D2 4.0 has been running on gas since I fitted a system 18 months ago, and no problems so far..... In fact I have a problem on petrol which I suspect is faulty injector because as soon as she kicks over to gas (with its own injectors) the problem goes. Prior to that, 3 years with a D1 on gas was also trouble free. Only problem now is gas prices have crept up while petrol has crept down, so not so much of a saving now.

not much of a saving??????

petrol 89.9 at the lowest, more like 92.9 really.. gas 54.6... how is that not much of a saving??????????

mjltigger said:

not much of a saving??????

petrol 89.9 at the lowest, more like 92.9 really.. gas 54.6... how is that not much of a saving??????????

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You've got to factor in your installation cost and at the moment for me there isn't enough of a saving to warrant it so I'll keep running on petrol til it creeps back up or I start covering more miles.

Medusa said:

You've got to factor in your installation cost and at the moment for me there isn't enough of a saving to warrant it so I'll keep running on petrol til it creeps back up or I start covering more miles.

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Yeh you hear a lot of quotes saying "equivalent to double mpg!"' it is a good saving 1-if you get a LR already gassed up or 2-your doing big milage; like you say.

In reality you get more like 90% of your petrol miles per gallon when running on gas so if you are getting 16 mpg on petrol you'll return around 14.5 on Gas

i bought mine already with gas and it's single point so it isn't as efficient as the new multi point ones so I get probably less than the 90% figure.. but it's still saving me a fortune...


if you haven't already had the conversion and you don't do many miles then you'r right.. it probably isn't worth it

mjltigger said:

not much of a saving??????

petrol 89.9 at the lowest, more like 92.9 really.. gas 54.6... how is that not much of a saving??????????

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Well said, just filled up at local Asda 46.9 ppl gas, 87.9ppl petrol. Dave

daven2695 said:

Well said, just filled up at local Asda 46.9 ppl gas, 87.9ppl petrol. Dave

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where are you cos thats loads cheaper than round here..

mjltigger said:

where are you cos thats loads cheaper than round here..

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The Asda is Derby. Dave

just reading thru this thread and ive noticed that quite a few gassed V8s seem to run well on gas and a bit lumpy on petrol which i suppse mine does a little if i think about it, do u think this could be a compression problem? i was just gonna buy some injector cleaner and renew sparkplugs. mine def feels a little quicker when driven on petrol mind.....

do you need special/different sparkplugs for LPG?

mjltigger said:

where are you cos thats loads cheaper than round here..

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The last time i filled up i paid 46.9 pence per litre, flow gas @ Saltash, Bristol is about the cheapest around i think.