propane conversion. Thoughts?

[hengda]

Hey guys,

wanted to hear some of your opinion regarding propane conversion.

A little back ground on the situation. I will be based out of Vancouver, Canada and our gas price is double if not more than the price down in the states. 5.5 to 6 per gallon.

A friend of mine had his Ford Expedition converted over and according to him the money saving made a big difference.

I did my own research, but the result really varied depending if the source was pro gas or propane.

From what i can gather is the conversion may result in lost of HP and also possible engine damage.

Can anyone share their experiences on this? thanks

 

[CallMeBill]

I too have been curious and have looked into this, found a system that would cost $6500-7500 that is direct injection and can switch between fuels by a switch on the fly, haven’t pulled the trigger yet. Would like more information from other truck users.

 

[Camelot]

Works fine, does not do any engine damage. You will loose about 10% HP when running Propane if I recall correctly. This was very common about 20 years ago in some countries I lived in. I had a switch on the dash to go from Petrol to Propane, switched seamlessly at speed.

 

[mikeru82]

I wouldn't hesitate to do it on a truck that's no longer under warranty. If I knew I'd be converting before buying a truck I'd definitely go with used instead of buying new.

 

[theblet]

Many folks did this on TBI engines in the 90s. I haven't seenany since direct injection with coil/cylinder ignition came out. Curious if it could be done

 

[Trooper4]

I too have been curious and have looked into this, found a system that would cost $6500-7500 that is direct injection and can switch between fuels by a switch on the fly, haven’t pulled the trigger yet. Would like more information from other truck users.

Generally propene is a much cleaner burning fuel. Less contaminants go to the oil end cleaner exhaust. The down side may be loss of bed space and load capacity.

 

[RAM Patriot]

Propane is a clean burning fuel and very stable, however the BTU is half the energy of gasoline.

So, you will have to burn more than double the quantity of pump gasoline.

After paying for a conversion for the truck I do not see how you would save money.

The last time I filled up my propane tank at home the price was $3.09 per gallon.

Gasoline	116,090 Btu/gallon	1.00 gallon
Propane	84,250 Btu/gallon	1.38 gallon