LPG Rebate???

[boatboy50]

Hey Guys,

Saw little Johnny last night talking about cash back for LPG installation.

Considering it for the 100 Cruiser, anyone know anyhing about the rebate or how it works?

I phoned about 10 gas installation places today, and not one of them knew anything about it??? :-?

I missed most of the reports on it, so only got the idea that there would be a $2000 rebate on that sort of car. Is that correct, and how is it to be refunded.

P.S. What is a fair cost for this conversion on a 4.5L Petrol Cruiser? Anyone had it done, and have comments about performance or otherwise??

Regards

Darren

[ar-we-ther-yet]

After you pay for the install you take the recept to centrelink or medi care fill out a form and they post you the $2000 cheque.
Costs seem to range from about $2600 for a carbi car through to $3600 for the latest vapour injection system for late model cars.
It all depends on your set up.
I booked mine in yesterday (navara v6) and will be waiting 8-10 weeks and the installer said his phone is running off the hook with people making bookings.
The only problem i've got is the rebate only covers private use cars and im a tradie and use mine for work i just got to see if there is a way around that.
Also parts may be a problem because there running out off certian tanks and install kits.

here is a link to a RACQ report on LPG


http://www.racq.com.au/cps/rde/xchg/racq_cms_production/hs.xsl/Motoring_Maint_Repairs_Foun_factsheet_lpg_ENA_HTML .htm

[blaze]

did he also remind every one of the 12% excise due to go on lpg soon, with less mpg than petrol plus a 12% price increase it then dosnt look quite as atrractive
cheers
blaze

[ar-we-ther-yet]

did he also remind every one of the 12% excise due to go on lpg soon, with less mpg than petrol plus a 12% price increase it then dosnt look quite as atrractive
cheers
blaze

It gets taxed at 2.5% in mid 2008 and then in 2012 it goes to 12.5%


http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2003/s1011376.htm

[fish2eat]

I find it hard to believe that 10 gas installers knew nothing about it cause the TV crews were interviewing several of them yesterday and they were complaining that the phones were so busy they could't get the work done.

how bout thanks to Johnny for once as well

[Spaniard_King]

Darren,

$2000 rebate for new cars and $1000 for second hand, upgrading are you ::)

Still debateable if its worth the trouble.

I had a falcon on gas, supposed to be the ideal vehicle for gas ::) yeah it went fine oin gas but blew a head gasket every 2 years due to the extra heat :'(

Garry

[akman1]

Hey,Garry its $1000 new cars,$2000 old cars and yes you owned a falcon-
they apparently blow around 100k anyway,on unleaded,everyone I've talked to said this is common.
the wife had a 05' falcon wagon which she put 80k on and every time you got in it you'd find another bolt or screw on the floor so I'd hate to know what else was missing.I do'nt know whether you know about the ford explorers but ford techs have nicknamed them "exploders",100k new engine please ;D

[Streetkid]

Will consider it for my patrol but I must say that alot of people that I know that have cars that are duel fuel or gas only have had quite a few problems related to lpg like cracked heads and short engine life and if this is of particulr risk to the model car that I own then it may not be very ecenomical in the long run. It sure is tempting though with a $2000 rebate.

[boatboy50]

Thanks Guys,

By 2012 and 12.5% I will have recouped a few times over, and more than likely will not have the vehicle any more. I've had gas before on an old XE and it went well.

The guys I spoke to today were all on the Gold Coast, and knew of it, but had no idea how it worked or understood the finer details of the deal. They did say ther phones had been running hot, but only were speculating as to the details.
The more expensive guys could have done it today, and the others were taking orders for a couple of weeks delivery. Not too many dramas yet.

Garry, It is the other way around. Cheaper deals for new cars, more money for gas guzzling used cars!!! ::)

It seems to me like it would be worth it, as the best deal I got today was $2900 fitted, giving me the job done for $900.00 and 210 Litres of fuel in total, hopefully providing a range of around 1000kms.

I think im sold, now, to find the money? Maybe more overtime!!! :-/

Regards

Darren

[stevedemon]

Hi all
hope i do not place a dampener on this rebate system but if you listen to what is going on yes $2000.00 rebate is great and the savings maybe fine but in the next few years even the Government has stated that L.P.G will cost the same as Fuel if you look at the differents in the milage between Gas and Fuel there is no savings me i drive a Deisel and get good milage out of this even around the city but it is a case of is the Government try to get us all on gas so they have a good reason in which to place the prices of gas up with fuels :'( :'( :'(

Cheers ;D ;D
Steve 8-) 8-)

[ar-we-ther-yet]

I had an old valiant till about 18 mths ago that ran on gas did over 200000 kms on a reco engine, and appart from having to change the valve guides once, didnt have any problems and its still going.
Economy on gas depends on how you drive it and what set up you have.
I wasn't using much more LPG around town than i was using in petrol. You used more LPG when you make the engine work harder.
With the new Vapour injection system they have for modern cars the economy is even better.
As for the price off LPG well 7 years ago you could buy it for 18 cents a ltr but it has been around 55 cents for a couple of years now.
Australia producers its own LPG and exports it, but it imports most of its light crude oil for making diesel and petrol.

[part_time]

Have had two patrols on Gas now,the latter being a 4.8 lt ,would not be without it.Speed is not the factor here so GO GAS.

The old patrol 94mod 290000klms never missed a beat.

[2iar]

I've got a 1999 GXL 4.5 Cruiser (not the V8).

I bought it already converted so can't say exactly how much it cost.

I only get 3/4 the mileage typically on LPG than on gas. No power loss that I've ever noticed, but I don't tow a BIG rig.

1000k range is probably a bit optimistic - you'd need to be doing a lot of highway driving at economical speed. I'd suggest it's probably nearer 850-900.

You also need to get the LPG system serviced independantly, unless you're lucky enough to find a place that does both. Having said that, I've only ever had it done once in the 5 years I've owned it.

It's also recommended that you run some petrol through it from time to time, and my particular EFI and LPG setup means I can't run it with the petrol tank empty, but this isn't the case with every installation as far as I can tell...

Hope this helps in your decision.

Good luck,
Mike

[bonka]

I have an old Rangie. 84 model. Been on gass for 8 years. Never caused any issues and I still smile when I fill up. 60 litres, $35 thanks. My VN Commodore costs a heap in petrol by comparison. Go Gas if you can.

Brent

[boatboy50]

Thanks 2iar,

Thats the info I was after.

My 1000k range was based on 600km from the two petrol tanks on board, which is what I currently get now, more on the highway.

Surely 75l of gas will get another 400km??

What size is your gas tank? Is your rear wheel on the back of your vehicle, or tucked away underneath?

I will be towing a big boat, but doubt there will be a big poerformance difference. Servicing is not an issue locally.

Seems a good deal to me.

Regards

Darren

[boatboy50]

P.S.

Thanks Johnny ;)

[Streetkid]

Johnny will be thanking you in the long run, wont take him long to make his 2g back.

[RCG008]

Go gas if you want by all means...just a couple of things to remember.

-Mechanics can only work on gas if there trained to (nsw) and theres not many of them.
-If you cant mount it under the car you will loose lots of boot space.
-Gas is not sold at every servo. City is ok... Country gets a bit different.
-You will be filling up more often on bigger trips, especially if your use to dual tanks.
-A lot of guys talking about heat problems, saying there ok. Had cars that had solid cast iron motors, including the heads. Nearly every motor car for the last 7 or so years have had alloy heads at least if not a complete alloy motor. These motors arnt as tough as the old ones and dont like changes like extra heat..etc

Just something to think about... Good luck with your gas.

[RCG008]

Just in case your wondering the first point was aimed at when you get services, breakdown, get regos etcccc. You need a specialists mechanic. ;)

[2iar]

Thanks 2iar,

Thats the info I was after.

My 1000k range was based on 600km from the two petrol tanks on board, which is what I currently get now, more on the highway.

Surely 75l of gas will get another 400km??

What size is your gas tank? Is your rear wheel on the back of your vehicle, or tucked away underneath?

I will be towing a big boat, but doubt there will be a big poerformance difference. Servicing is not an issue locally.

Seems a good deal to me.

Regards

Darren


Hi Darren,

No worries, glad to be of help.

I see what you're saying with the range, and I'm not sure what you've got planned, but my setup replaced the sub-tank with the LPG one, and moved the spare wheel onto a bracket at the back. Therefore I've now got the 100l main petrol tank, and a 100l gas one. I doubt you'd have room underneath for 2 x petrol tanks, a large LPG tank and the spare wheel. I still only get about 400km's from the gas tank on the highway, but I must admit I haven't had the LPG tuned in a while.

The mileage certainly isn't great (is it ever in a Cruiser?), but when I did the sums and LPG was 1/3 the cost of gas (originally 30-odd cents a litre), I was still well ahead.

I'd tend to agree you won't see a significant loss of power, even towing a bigger rig than mine.

I'd be interested to hear how you get on if you go ahead with it.

Good luck,
Mike

[boatboy50]

Thank Mike,

The latest way they do the installation is to add two extra gas tanks, somewhere under the side of the car. You maintain both the sub and main petrol tanks, and get an extra 70 odd litres of gas.

This should see a very good range, of I expect 1000 km's.

The spare stays under the rear as from the factory.

Regards

Darren

[2iar]

That's a good idea mate - I guess you'd have a heap of fuel to be carrying around. If you're not intending to use the range too often, you could lighten your load significantly by not having the petrol tanks full. It might also be worth checking how safe they are offroad - mine has a metal plate underneath the LPG tank.

Do you need to preserve some petrol in the tank to run the car when on LPG? This is a slight pain for me as I never get to completely empty the main tank - I run out gas, switch to petrol for a bit and re-fuel the gas...

Good luck,
Mike

[2iar]

I meant to mention, my truck's an auto so you might get better fuel consumption in a manual.

Good luck,
Mike

[Dave]

I am a courier driver with a 2.6L holden rodeo 2x4 1 ton ute. This thing does a lot of k's sometimes 500 - 600 a day. I get 380k's to a tank which is 80L usually takes 58 - 59 to fill, around the $30 mark. No noticeable reduction in power even carring 1000Kg around.

The thing to remember is if it is going to cost 2k - 3k to have installed and the average driver does about 500km a week, the saving will be (using my fuel economy) about $30 per week. I base that on 6.5Km per litre on gas and about 10km per litre on unleaded. Using those figures it will take around 2 years for the gas to pay for itself and you actually start saving money. With the high k's that I do it took a little over 3 months for the gas to pay for itself. Do the sums for youself using those figures (as that was the figures from petrol and gas on mine from 10k per litre down to 6.5k per litre) to see how long it will take to pay for itself.

Dave

[Chimo]

Hi Darren

Trip still on?

Chimo (back on deck)

[Dave]

2iar - depends on the vehicle,and the setup on gas. Cars with electric internal fuel pumps such as late Commodores etc need the fuel to cool the fuel pump as they are not shut off with certain gas installs. They keep running pumping fuel but the injector pulse is stopped and the fuel returns to the tank. If the tank is below 1/4 the fuel pump runs hot and can fail. found this out the hard way with my ute. Since keeping 1/2 tank fuel never a problem.

Dave

[boatboy50]

Thanks Guys,

Anyone wanting more info about the rebate check this out.

www.ausindustry.gov.au

Gas is definately happening, booking it on on Monday.

Chimo, the trip is off to Airlie at the moment due to a few reasons. Maybe slip in a quick trip to the sandy straits as time is a big issue.

Regards

Darren