V8's with LPG in hot climates?

I am considering a late model 3.9 V8 RRC as a car for weekends, greenlaning and also a trip to Morocco next year.

It's is a 3.9 V8 with an LPG conversion (100 litre tank in the boot).

Firstly, is it true that engines run hotter on LPG than they do on petrol? And secondly, if this is true, do they run at normal temperature if running on petrol or are they set to permanently run on hotter when the LPG conversion is fitted?

Just wondering if taking a V8 (particularly one with LPG) to Morocco is going to lead to all sorts of overheating troubles! The car has done 130k with a good service history.

Cheers!

heres a good one for you mike, I have been looking at 80 sries cruisers a lot (ahem)

most fitted with lpg systems have an upper cylinder lubricator fitted which is a little resovoir of special fluid a pump and an ecu. this runs lube into the inlet to keep the valves and rings cool and lubed on the dry lpg. bloody good idea and I wonder if a lot of the lpg probs we hear about on rover v8s is due to lack of this sytem. its called flashguard or flashlube or summit. might be worth thinking about.

Im pretty sure you had a late rrc I told you not to sell

How could you, fett - traitor!!

Seriously though, that flashlube looks reasonble if it works - about £75 fitted. Makes sense what they're saying given that LPG is dry, compared to petrol at least.

I did sell a late RRC...but this is a later RRC, a soft dash no less, and one with LPG too! Woohoo!

go for it then buddy!

When I did some research on whether this was worth fitting to mine the general consensus was no, you only really need it if your engine doesn't have harden seat valves or for certain modern jap engines and Ford Zetec engines apparently!

I would expect it would be fine in the hot country as long it can cool itself.

Buy a new bearmach hd radiator and make sure your viscous fan is fitted and working. I wouldnt like to rely on electric fans to pull enough air.

If the cooling system is healthy you've got no worries. A 3.5 would definitely be more reliable though, even just in case if you know what I mean.

i agree

I'll take a look at the HD radiator - it's had a new oil cooler and the viscous fan is fitted and working.

if the cooling system is tip-top working, you'll be fine

I was recommended to use a water wetter/ race cool coolant additive in LPG RRC....not that I felt it needed it, but I guess if it helps.

joe1972 said:

if the cooling system is tip-top working, you'll be fine

I was recommended to use a water wetter/ race cool coolant additive in LPG RRC....not that I felt it needed it, but I guess if it helps.

Click to expand...

What's that?

Never been but do they have LPG there???

sible88 said:

Never been but do they have LPG there???

Click to expand...

No, but my intention is to run it on LPG through the UK, France and Spain and then on petrol in Morocco - where petrol is only 75p /litre at present anyway!

So my next question is why are you worried about it running hot on LPG in morocco if they don't have LPG lol

sible88 said:

So my next question is why are you worried about it running hot on LPG in morocco if they don't have LPG lol

Click to expand...

I'm just worried about it running hot full stop, being a V8 and all, and wondered if the LPG would have any adverse effects even when not being used...

MikeV8SE said:

What's that?

Click to expand...

The Redline product is the most commonly available on the UK high street;
Red Line Synthetic Oil - WaterWetter® Coolant Additives - WaterWetter®

...and, unlike those oil additives/wonder products, this stuff is actually does do what it says. More of a preventitive product than a fix for those who have blocked cooling systems, which I think is where people expect it to flush the system too
Another product called 'race cool' is even better, but I can't remember who makes / distributes it,sorry.:doh:

We've not had any cooling issues with ours after the rebuild, still has the original radiator, we took the oil cooler off when we did the rebuild. New thermostat and new hoses.

37k now in just over 2 years, and we do a lot of towing.

LPG combustion temperature is slightly higher than petrol, and you don't get the cooling effect of evaporating petrol on LPG, but we've never seen the temp gauge move above its normal running point in two years.

One to note, having two bl**dy gtreat spotlights, a nudge bar, engine oil and gearbox oil coolers all in front of the radiator doesn't make for good cooling!

We also run with the correct OAT coolant at just over 50% mix.

Peter

I ran lpg in Range Rover and ford 4ltr in Oz with no issues including towing in 40C+ ! The main problems that arise with running lpg is the extra heater hose runs and t pieces plumbed into the cooling system , for the evaporater . Poor fitting, and lack of maintenance results in water loss and a boil up which gets blamed on lpg . If your hoses are good and the rad is in good condition you should have no more probs than a petrol set up.

You can eliminate the T-pieces completely: run the heater output pipe from the engine to the vapouriser, then vapouriser to the heater inlet, then heater outlet back to the engine cold return.

Vapouriser gets heated more quickly, doesn't affect heater performance either.

Most heaters are mixed air these days, so no problem with leaving the heater feed on in the summer.

Peter