V6 lpg?

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reggie59

Member
Posts
26
Dear all,

We have a Freelander v6 2002 with 55k on the clock. We bought it new and the car has been surprisingly reliable. Only issue is I have to top the coolant up regularly. About a small glass very 200mi. The oil is fine and the car has been like that for a good 10,000mi.

Our circumstances have changed and we will be driving it about 10,000mi a year instead of 5,000mi a year. At the cost of petrol, this is not ideal.

I have two options:
Get rid of it and buy a more economical hatch
LPG it.

My wife would love to keep it as she loves it.

Any advice? Really keen to hear from v6 owner who LPG theirs. How reliable it has been and how many miles did it take to pay itself

Many thanks,
Reg
 
Coolant leak will invariably be the thermostat housing, I'm amazed that at 55k you haven't had to have it changed 3 times already lol just keep an eye on it but around 180 to change it all as the housing is in the middle of the vee under the inlet plenum!

As for lpging i know a couple of guys who had their zs180's (same KV6 engine) but they were going to be doing alot more miles than you will be so it was a bit of a no brainer for them. You've got to factor in the intial cost, the extra servicing costs (sparklugs need changing every year instead of every 4 years etc) and no matter what these lpg fitters will tell you you don't get as much mpg out of a tank of lpg than you do out of a tank of petrol, around 2 mpg less I seem to recall....
 
Another popular cheap fix for loosing coolant is to replace the header tank cap. your's will probably be the old design, so you'll have to change the tank too. Quick and easy. they often split at the top. Could also be the heater matrix. Check for a wet carpet under the dash.

You'll need one of the top lpg kits. It's a multipoint sequentual injection engine.
 
as above and check header tank itself, as it is prone to cracking.

As for LPG - not advisable on any K series as LPG tends to run hotter than petrol and increases the chances of HGF.
 
hmmmm....kv6 hgf very very few and far between.....

heres a link to the mg xpower site from someone who had it done on his kv6...

http://http://forums.xpowerforums.com/showthread.php?t=37506&highlight=LPG

and also a quote from a later post on another thread....

"..............My car was converted at 19k and has now done over 90k miles. The only issues I have with the car are the rattly plenum (definitley not LPG related) and the LPG vapouriser diaphragm failing, but this is a well known issue with Prins sequential systems. Otherwise, the car has been thoroughly reliable......"
 
Last edited:
The Mad Hat Man said:
:hysterically_laughi:hysterically_laughi:hysterically_laughi:hysterically_laughi:hysterically_laughi

:doh::doh::doh::doh::doh::doh:

:focus:
Click to expand...


ok mhm...discussion for another time/thread maybe lol but if your losing coolant get it checked out!!! it doesn't just 'disappear' and topping up won't make the problem go away either!

now then.. :focus: before we have a :hijacked:situation :p
 
The Mad Hat Man said:
yu are talking MG - Not freelander - in a freelander the KV6 is ****e.
Click to expand...

true, true...and I'll bow to your superior LRV knowledge. pretty bulletproof in the zeds apart from plenum, clutch slave cylinder bracket and thermostat housing!

back to topic tho, garythesnail has now covered 89k miles in his mgzs with no major issues...
 
markyzs180 said:
back to topic tho, garythesnail has now covered 89k miles in his mgzs with no major issues...
Click to expand...


unfortunately that isnt back to topic - find me a Gaylander that has had it done succesfully for 89K miles.

in fact - find me a petrol gaylander thats done 89K miles without HGF........
 
If yer kv6 is coming up to 72k miles, then the cam belts will need changing. Thats a big service. 3x belts is 5.1 hours labour. Just as easy to take out the engine/auto/ird as one peice, as it is to do it in the engine bay. Time is no different either. Took me a little longer to do mine...

The first thing would be to sort out the coolant problem. If this is a simple cheap fix, then and only then can you start to think about conversions to lpg. Fact is if you were to swop it for a td4 auto, it would pay off sooner than you think. The conversions were about £1800 for parts + fitting last time I looked to get mine done. Would be cheaper if you could do it yourself. Factor this against the possible coolant repair if it's expensive, and the value of the kv6 as it currently is, and your close to the cost of a diesel. The diesel would get nearly twice the mpg, and future reliability would be betterer.

Now the subject of lpg - never had one myself, but have learnt from many others on the web that lpg will find a problem with your engine, sooner than petrol will. I didn't bother to get mine done as I only do 4k miles per year. If I had of done, it would have paid off by now. If I were to get anohter Freelander, it would be a diesel. Betterer mgp and reliability to fewer risks.
 
Hippo said:
If yer kv6 is coming up to 72k miles, then the cam belts will need changing. Thats a big service. 3x belts is 5.1 hours labour. Just as easy to take out the engine/auto/ird as one peice, as it is to do it in the engine bay. Time is no different either. Took me a little longer to do mine...

The first thing would be to sort out the coolant problem. If this is a simple cheap fix, then and only then can you start to think about conversions to lpg. Fact is if you were to swop it for a td4 auto, it would pay off sooner than you think. The conversions were about £1800 for parts + fitting last time I looked to get mine done. Would be cheaper if you could do it yourself. Factor this against the possible coolant repair if it's expensive, and the value of the kv6 as it currently is, and your close to the cost of a diesel. The diesel would get nearly twice the mpg, and future reliability would be betterer.

Now the subject of lpg - never had one myself, but have learnt from many others on the web that lpg will find a problem with your engine, sooner than petrol will. I didn't bother to get mine done as I only do 4k miles per year. If I had of done, it would have paid off by now. If I were to get anohter Freelander, it would be a diesel. Betterer mgp and reliability to fewer risks.
Click to expand...

Thanks all. I agree, coolant should be fixed but land rover had the car when is was 5 years old for the very reasons. Changed lots of stuff on it (£1000) and guess what? Still losing coolant. I would need to check invoice but pretty sure it involves all the components you mentioned. Lr paid 50% by the way so only cost me £500.

This is the only cost occurred on this car for the 9 years we had it.

Looks like LPG would be a be daft now from your expert feedback.

How much is it worth now? Car is immaculate inside out. The sunroof packed up year ago and do not open anymore (does not leak). One rear window does not work and the auto folding mirrors, well do not fold down!

Colour is white gold

Many thanks
 
reggie59 said:
Dear all,

We have a Freelander v6 2002 with 55k on the clock. We bought it new and the car has been surprisingly reliable. Only issue is I have to top the coolant up regularly. About a small glass very 200mi. The oil is fine and the car has been like that for a good 10,000mi.
Click to expand...
reggie59 said:


Our circumstances have changed and we will be driving it about 10,000mi a year instead of 5,000mi a year. At the cost of petrol, this is not ideal.

Check the passenger footwell for dampness. At almost 70k miles the only thing we have ever done is fit a new heater matrix to cure a very small leak. Probably do belt, pump, plugs and thermo housing soon. Car is an 03.
Click to expand...
 
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