Omega Owners Forum
Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: stoner on 08 April 2012, 14:12:32
-
hi all new to site just want opinions on omega my father in law recently passed away he had a omega elite 3 ltr 1997 i have driven it a few times and is a nice car looking at the re sale price is a bit dissapointing and seems a shame to get rid of it i would like to keep car lots of work done on it and a lot of money spent but a 3 ltr is a bit big for me can it be converted to lpg and at what sort of cost
-
Hi and welcome , same car as mine ..... :y It can be converted to lpg , someone will be along soon to inform you of installation costs ..something to which im also considering ;)
-
It can, several of us have diy'd a conversion to dual fuel.Depends how handy and confident you are with the spanners tbh.
Professional installs, quality can be hit and miss at best.
...and welcome BTW. :)
-
Welcome to OOF :)
iirc, a new lpg set-up, sourced on here by a fellow trusted member, is around £700 ish :y
-
Awaits post from Lazy
tinker docker. :)
-
Welcome :y toying with the idea of converting mine to lpg also :y
-
Welcome :)
Like others, I've converted both of mine with help from fellow members. Its not difficult if you are handy with your hands, although I always get a bit scared at the drilling bits.
Savings, for me, approx 9p per mile, installation costs well under £1000 by a good margin. I get about 250-290 miles from 80l tank (which fills to 66l), but do not drive particularly economically. 300m on happens on a good motorway run. At 78.9p per litre (last fill), I'm not bothered about driving economically ::)
-
That's the "problem" with LPG. I feel no need to drive economically... :-X
-
That's the "problem" with LPG. I feel no need to drive economically... :-X
If I'm honest, I wasn't economical pre-LPG though ::)
-
That's the "problem" with LPG. I feel no need to drive economically... :-X
If I'm honest, I wasn't economical pre-LPG though ::)
You might be at current petrol prices though...? ... And iirc, there was mention of buying something more economical prior to converting your first car? And as the op suggests, and as I've/we've said before, LPG makes the car I want, and the way I (we) want to drive it less expensive.
We could all buy a diesel roller scate or convert I twingo to gas, but who on earth wants to "arrive" in one of those? Because as we all know, it's not the destination that's important, but the getting there. I do love my omega.
-
Nicely put Chris :y
-
That's the "problem" with LPG. I feel no need to drive economically... :-X
If I'm honest, I wasn't economical pre-LPG though ::)
You might be at current petrol prices though...? ... And iirc, there was mention of buying something more economical prior to converting your first car? And as the op suggests, and as I've/we've said before, LPG makes the car I want, and the way I (we) want to drive it less expensive.
We could all buy a diesel roller scate or convert I twingo to gas, but who on earth wants to "arrive" in one of those? Because as we all know, it's not the destination that's important, but the getting there. I do love my omega.
;D
Yes that explained it quite well :y
-
Hello and welcome... As others have stated. A decent DIY kit should come in under £700 (perhaps a little more if you want a toroidal tank instead of a cylinder) and can be fitted in stages :y
Have a look in the maintenance guides for some LPG fitting guides :y
-
thanks all anyone know the best place to get conversion in southwest
-
Pm LD. He'll sort you out I suspect. ;)
-
Hi and welcome :y
-
Pm LD. He'll sort you out I suspect. ;)
I can sort the details for a DIY kit, but not fully fitted ;) Whatever you do, don't be tempted by a cheap, fitted in a day company in Wales :-X
-
... so how does fitting it yourself affect your insurance??
I was under the impression that insurers now require sight of some sort of certificate from the installation to show it was done by a 'competant' person. Will insurance be more expensive if you do this yourself or will they just decline??
I am also interested in going lpg and have three different companies within 5 miles of me here in south wales.
-
Thats the old system....Any LPG install must be certified, by a registered uklpg installer. You'll need a safety certificate. Can cost anything up to £150 potentially.
Once passed your car reg will be entered onto a web site data base. Rather farcical, but you only get a receipt in effect. The insurer is expected to go to the web site and look up your reg as proof of certification. ...yeah, I know. ;D
-
Thats the old system....Any LPG install must be certified, by a registered uklpg installer. You'll need a safety certificate.
Thats not necessarily correct. The industry body tries to make out it is a legal requirement, but its not.
However, its advisable to do, a) to get an 'expert' (ie, someone who makes a pigs ear doing professional installs) to cast an eye over it; b) gives insurance one less route to wriggle out of.
To OP, my insurance just states it must be fitted by a competent person, and on the MV6, there was no increase in premium. The Elite increased by around a tenner. Incidentally, both mine are on the UKLPG register.
-
Aviva didnt even ask about certification etc.I filled in the relevant section in the online application to state the car is fitted with LPG and they insured me.Seemples.
Hastings Direct on the other hand (who I was with for years) wont insure LPG,d cars under any circumstances.
-
Sorry yes, as TB says. It's not required, it's not law. But you knw what insurers are like.
Process with insurance is flakey at best on average, IME.
Dual fuel cars aren't popular enough for call centre jobsworths to know what's required. They often have no idea, and you'll have to tell them what's "required" yourself.
-
can a 2.2 have lpg
-
Yep. Tunnie and others have duel fuelled theirs.
-
who are others. i think i want lpg. looks like mega saving
-
Bear in mind that the car will give less mpg on LPG (10-15%) than on petrol,so savings may not be quite as high as they appear at first glance. Do plenty of research before jumping in. ;)
Lpg prices in this area havent risen recently (yet) but petrol has,so LPG is looking a little more worthwhile than it did a while ago.Not sure how long the price differential will remain at current level though.
-
I wouldn't say mega.
It's about a third cheaper. But only after install costs.
...also depends where your nearest LPG station is.
-
I've long considered an LPG conversion as like many of you, we all like big engined powerful cars, but don't like tip-toeing round in them. (Kinda defeats the object...) so LPG might be the answer. But I didn't know that it affected your insurance at all? Or that some won't even insure it. This is odd.
I used to have a Nitrous bottle in the back of my carlton, and you could argue that this is more dangerous than LPG but never had an issue insuring that. (Mind you, it was a high premium regardless, so I think it probably didn't affect it that much anyway..)
-
LPG ...
no difference at all to my Insurance
£10 a year less road tax (WOW)
38% savings on fuel costs over 40,000 miles
no difference in performance whatsoever
Whats not to say LPG to .. :)
-
Just to add, there is no increase in premium, and don't buy any if that sur charge for paperwork nonsense either. ;)
-
I suppose the thing that initially put me off was the lost boot space and the inability to use the thru-load with the back seats. Sort of defeats one of the reasons for having a big saloon.
I am now deciding if I could run the risk and more regular refuling of just using a doughnut tank instead of the spare tyre. I also like the idea of mounting the filler behind the reg plate as mentioned on another thread...
-
I suppose the thing that initially put me off was the lost boot space and the inability to use the thru-load with the back seats. Sort of defeats one of the reasons for having a big saloon.
Thats the reason I didn't initially do mine for 5yrs... ...I *need* the boot space 2 or 3 times a year...
...my solution, I got some roofbars and a pikey roofbox for those occasions.
-
First omega I converted, I fitted a an upright donut in the wheel well for the exact same reasons you mention on a saloon.
I would not recommend that set up to anyone tbh. The range is too short and spent too long driving on petrol to get to my usuall LPG station.
The tank valve was not accurate enough, it kept clicking off back to petrol triggered by bumps, and the level valve rattled on the tank wall...
Although more steady driving would not show most of the downsides of that system, it was my first install so put that one down to experience.
Way those issues against the number of times I used the through space, cylinder tank wins. Depends on the individual's situation though. :)
-
First omega I converted, I fitted a an upright donut in the wheel well for the exact same reasons you mention on a saloon.
I would not recommend that set up to anyone tbh. The range is too short and spent too long driving on petrol to get to my usuall LPG station.
The tank valve was not accurate enough, it kept clicking off back to petrol triggered by bumps, and the level valve rattled on the tank wall...
Although more steady driving would not show most of the downsides of that system, it was my first install so put that one down to experience.
Way those issues against the number of times I used the through space, cylinder tank wins. Depends on the individual's situation though. :)
Refuelling is not an issue - there is a station on my estate that I pass every day in and out and as I do a tank of petrol every week I would not be adverse to 2 or 3 stops for lpg if necessary - the use is only motorway driving. Boot space and through load IS required though. Pikey roof box is already consideration without losing the space to a tank!
Hmmmmm.....
-
First omega I converted, I fitted a an upright donut in the wheel well for the exact same reasons you mention on a saloon.
I would not recommend that set up to anyone tbh. The range is too short and spent too long driving on petrol to get to my usuall LPG station.
The tank valve was not accurate enough, it kept clicking off back to petrol triggered by bumps, and the level valve rattled on the tank wall...
Although more steady driving would not show most of the downsides of that system, it was my first install so put that one down to experience.
Way those issues against the number of times I used the through space, cylinder tank wins. Depends on the individual's situation though. :)
Refuelling is not an issue - there is a station on my estate that I pass every day in and out and as I do a tank of petrol every week I would not be adverse to 2 or 3 stops for lpg if necessary - the use is only motorway driving. Boot space and through load IS required though. Pikey roof box is already consideration without losing the space to a tank!
Hmmmmm.....
No idea why, but I find short filling ruins the economy, I now only fill if I've done over 230 miles (I get 260-300 miles for a tank normally). Tank size 80l, fills to 67l 65l
-
First omega I converted, I fitted a an upright donut in the wheel well for the exact same reasons you mention on a saloon.
I would not recommend that set up to anyone tbh. The range is too short and spent too long driving on petrol to get to my usuall LPG station.
The tank valve was not accurate enough, it kept clicking off back to petrol triggered by bumps, and the level valve rattled on the tank wall...
Although more steady driving would not show most of the downsides of that system, it was my first install so put that one down to experience.
Way those issues against the number of times I used the through space, cylinder tank wins. Depends on the individual's situation though. :)
Refuelling is not an issue - there is a station on my estate that I pass every day in and out and as I do a tank of petrol every week I would not be adverse to 2 or 3 stops for lpg if necessary - the use is only motorway driving. Boot space and through load IS required though. Pikey roof box is already consideration without losing the space to a tank!
Hmmmmm.....
No idea why, but I find short filling ruins the economy, I now only fill if I've done over 230 miles (I get 260-300 miles for a tank normally). Tank size 80l, fills to 67l 65l
well if 250+ miles was possible from a tank fitted to the spare wheel well then that is fine - wouldnt short fill just for the sake of it, just I am never too far from LPG station on my usual routine.
-
Could the tank be mounted transversely in the boot, down the right hand side adjacent to the storage (no great loss?) and the jack cubby (could be relocated to the spare wheel?). I appreciate this would eat boot space in one way, but it would allow for the drop down to be used. In part anyway :-\
I'm sure there are reasons why this wouldn't work though :(
-
If someone rear ended you the tank would be like a missile coming through the car. ;)
-
Yeah I thought of that, but there's bound to be a 'workaround' for it?
-
Yeah I thought of that, but there's bound to be a 'workaround' for it?
Not really. They're extremely strong ;) In the early days they "collision tested" a tank with a train and it was only scratched with a small dent :o
It is also extremely hard to get it to pass an inspection like that because of the force it has to withstand without moving ;)
I had a tank mounted lengthways in my Range Rover (3rd tank giving me a 115L usable capacity) and was never 100% comfortable driving around with it behind me
-
Fair enough. Personally I would rather have the tank mounted as normal behind the rear seats, but for those who need to retain the drop down facility it must cause a bit of a dilemma ???
-
It is annoying loosing the through space tbh, but the use and position of a cylinder tank far outweighs the loss of boot space and through space. The range of a bigger tank is needed constantly. The through space isn't, or you need an estate. :)
-
does anybody here just run the small tank?