LEowner

Hello boys and girls,

After active whole year of usage of Lexus GS300 1998 i decided to share experience. I live in Europe eastern part. I bought this car from Germany with 112 000 miles ride. Technical inspection was passed in a blink of an eye, everything worked and no need for repairs. So just bought winter tyres , changed timing belt and bearings for belt, oils and thats it. Some time ago in 2008 i bought new car Subaru Legacy with 20 miles ( fresh new car from authorised dealer ), also had a chance to drive some other new type cars like Honda SUV and i am shocked how fracking good this 20 year old Lexus is ...it's unbelievable. That new Subaru was crap as Honda SUV . This Lexus oldy gives such a comfort , is silent, suspension is very gentle and absorbs great bad road.... Of course...engine...mmmm ...it's a bird song .

I do not get a lot of salary, so driving 3.0 liter engine on petrol would not be possible for me. So i converted Lexus to Automotive LPG ( liquid petrolium gas ) user ... I use petrol only for starting and warming up to 25 degrees celsium and then LPG system automatically switches to LPG usage. Now you wonder how expensive this LPG system is ? It's most modern 4th generation LPG fuel system , it injects not only gas to cylinders , but also like very small percentage of normal petrol , so you get mixture of gas and petrol. I do not feel power loss, nor any other effects , the only diference i have additional GAS baloon in place of reserve tyre. This LPG system costs 1345 USA dollars . After whole year of usage it already pays off, as i've driven 68 000 miles per one year. 100 km ( 62 miles) costs me 7 euro ( 8.6 dollar ) . So it's very cheap. One litter of petrol in eastern Europe is around 1.59 USA dollar, so for me it's very expensive to drive on petrol. This is the reason of conversion to LPG. One litter of LPG costs 0.65 USA dollar . Average usage per 62 miles is 13.20 litter of LPG.

During year no problems, only maintenance . Changed battery, bought new sparkles ( iridium type as temperature of burning in cylinders is a bit higher when driving on LPG ), also charging of battery went down a bit, so generator was renovated ( 3 diods from 7 were dead. 60 bucks for this procedure ) . Front and back braking pads and disks were changed , totally new braking fluid and thats it. One year more and again timing belt with bearings and together with water pump ( i do not want to wait til it will go off in the middle of travel ) . Also would like to renovate engine starter due to same reason : don't want any surprises.

So far so good. If you'de like, later will post some photos of car, LPG system.

Cheers.

P.S. Sorry for my english, it's not my language.

Mr Jokster

iTrader: (8)

How did you convert so cheap? A tank alone here in the states is like $10k alone, not to mention all the mods under the hood... Or is this a different mix of LPG? And what about the tune? maybe I'm missing something here You make it sound like the conversion is an easy and inexpensive thing to do

LEowner

Ok, let's talk first about what is LPG in Europe. LPG - liquid petrolium gas is a residue product from making petrol, diesel. We drive with mix of gases ( propane + butane ) and it's called LPG for cars.

I installed this system in authorised LPG system service with all guarantees and passports. I could instal much cheaper system, price would be about 900 bucks, but invested more due to very high quality fast gas injectors which are able to work for 100 000 km. without maintenance and due to very precise fully automated LPG computer which enables to inject not only LPG into cylinders , but also any amount you want of petrol. By mixing two fuels i get lower temperature of burning gases and by doing it i preserve my valves for longer life. My tank sitting in reserve tyre place is 50 litres, i do not see it, it's fully covered. Please do not be mistaken - it's 4th generation and LPG is injected in form of gases before cylinder, not directly to it.

Now, we have 5th generation of LPG car conversion systems, it's most modern , price of that is around 2000 USA bucks ( 1600 euro ) . http://www.dzukijosdujos.lt/vialle/ , you can examine pictures . Here, LPG is not evaporated, but is directly injected being liquid into cylinder using petrol fuel line , using this 5th generation system you get fuel economy and don't loose even bit of power .

Maybe you talk about CNG conversion ( nature gas - methane , which is liquidified for efficient transportation ) . If you talk about this, it might be very very expensive, because in order to make it liquid, very high pressure must be used. Automatically CNG gas balon is very heavy and thick to maintain such a pressure . These CNG systems are not effective as are extreemly expensive and very heavy .

Europe is using LPG quite wide, so conversion is cheap. My countries each Petrol station has LPG to buy as it is very popular to have large older motor car and drive with LPG cheap having comfort and pleasure.

LEowner

LPG computer:

https://imgur.com/mrfzpUh

LPG Reductor converting liquid to gas:

https://imgur.com/Qpd7EvB

LPG Injectors :
https://imgur.com/n4k4bv6

General view:

https://imgur.com/X4S0JUC


Sorry it's very dirty inside, we have nasty wheather already for 4 months, dirt everywhere )))

Mr Jokster

iTrader: (8)

I was under the impression that propane and butane had to be under pressure as well. Evidently my thoughts were wrong.

LEowner

Hello again,

I started having poblems with temperature of coolant. Situation simple: few weeks ago i was driving home around 70 mil/hour speed and temperature started rising , it went around one reading up , i stopped, opened engine compartment and saw radiator spilling coolant under pressure , but after like 30 seconds temperature dropped , coolant system sucked coolant liquid from reserve and i finished journey home without problems. I visited my mechanic and we changed thermostat to new one , poured new cooling liquid , it was clear that thermostat needed to be changed , car is 20 year old and it can't live forever.

Today i was driving en route around 55 mil/hour and temperature started rising again, i've did same: stopped , engine was idling and temperature dropped to normal standart lexus reading . Before temperature dropping radiator was leaking a bit of coolant due to build up pressure in cooling system. I poured again 200 grams of coolant and fnished my journey to job. I've tested engine o all engine revolutions and speeds, no temperature rising, stable like hell . Temperature gauge and sensors work great , system full of coolant, thermostat is clearly operating as it must .... can't understand what is the hidden problem ...
Does anyoe had experience with that?

a) Coolant-water pump? Can it make such a rare and acidental breakage?
b) Some circulation way jam with garbage i coolig liquid in engine?
c) Or worst case scenario - engine gasket leaking exaust gases to cooling system. But if this variant , then why i can still drive without problems at all speeds without temperature and pressure rising....

Thank you for your insights!

P.S. Visiting mechanic i the evening.

LEowner

All became clear: chemical test was made to see if cooling liquid has CO2 gases, it came up positive and it means HEAD GASKET FAILURE . All work will cost around 1000 bucks and engine will be ready to live without this problem .

TY for reading guys. We shouldn't be surprised, because car is 20 year old and it's not made of stars, it's common problem for all cars, no exceptions .

LEowner

Hello,

Few moments about Lexus usage. Now spidometer shows 161 600 miles. After head gasket repair , already made 21800 miles. Recently had mainetanace: new spark plugs ( old ones already degraded ) , new belt with bearings, new original water pump ( old was till good, but i do not like to risk ) . Car shows good and realiable usability, it's amazing feeling that almost 2 tons car can be quick and responsive. I am planing to keep it and probably will invest into professional anticorrosion works ( car underhood is washed with hot water, then all places are sprayed with special chemistry ). Engine burns around 0,5 liter of oil for a 9300 miles. Whole car usage time i fill XADO 5W40 , few times used XADO STAGE ONE .

Thats it for now. Story continues...