Citroens and LPG...
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Alan White
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Citroens and LPG...
Has anybody ever had a Citroen converted to run on LPG? I have heard stories that some cars experience valve/head promlems after conversion and wondered whether Citroens fell into this category? There seems to be shedloads of late petrol Xantias around going for silly cheap money and I guess that buying one and having it converted would be an option to buying a diesel one?
Don't know if this will help but found this site earlier tonight. I believe the kit was about £380.
www.lpg-kits.com/citroen.htm
philip.coffey@ntlworld.com
www.lpg-kits.com/citroen.htm
philip.coffey@ntlworld.com
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geoff_old
Hi all.
This may be of some help or at least a pointer.Some years ago a certain large firm in Bristol had a fleet of F**d vans, these were all supplied coverted to run on LPG, they did not last very long and all were returned with valve trouble ( valve recession -- burning out.)Just like the problems with unleaded petrol when used with older vehicles.Much more recently ( with in the last year. ) a very large operator of vehicles went to LPG and the vehicles spent more time off the road than on,once again valve trouble etc.It looks to me that you need very hard seats and valves to cope with the fact that LPG has no lubrication properties. If a car can run on unleaded petrol then it looks as if it stands a chance of being OK.Perhaps some one familier with Citroen's could throw some more light on the subject.Sorry for the long post.
Cheers
Geoff.
G Gould
This may be of some help or at least a pointer.Some years ago a certain large firm in Bristol had a fleet of F**d vans, these were all supplied coverted to run on LPG, they did not last very long and all were returned with valve trouble ( valve recession -- burning out.)Just like the problems with unleaded petrol when used with older vehicles.Much more recently ( with in the last year. ) a very large operator of vehicles went to LPG and the vehicles spent more time off the road than on,once again valve trouble etc.It looks to me that you need very hard seats and valves to cope with the fact that LPG has no lubrication properties. If a car can run on unleaded petrol then it looks as if it stands a chance of being OK.Perhaps some one familier with Citroen's could throw some more light on the subject.Sorry for the long post.
Cheers
Geoff.
G Gould
We've had this discussion several times on other lists, so I know a bit about it based on other people's experiences.
Basically, the difference between Citroen, Jap stuff (particolarly early model stuff), Fords & the like is that Citroen have been using alloy heads for around 40 years. They also have hardened seats & valves to go with it. As with the leaded/unleaded debate where the octane rating has a bigger bearing on the damage factor than the lead (which in many ways just hides a symptom & doesn't cure the complaint, it's a bit on par with putting barrier cream on your hands before you start working on the car; reduces but doesn't eliminate the problem.) Octane rating plays a much bigger part with the wear factor due to higher octane burning quicker, whilst the lead coats the valve seats & helps to retard the recession. Providing the car is ULP compatible, I'd say the LPG conversion would be no problem, but if it was an earlier model then I have heard it suggested that a lead additive or a tankful of leaded petrol run through occasionally could be a wise precaution.
Check out this webpage where this guy speaks of his brothers BX 16V that from memory had about 380,000 klms untouched and still going strong (at the stage he wrote the text) and has been on LPG most of its life. I have heard of this before & all with pretty outstanding results.
http://drive.to/jorik
Hope that helps explain it.
Alan S
Basically, the difference between Citroen, Jap stuff (particolarly early model stuff), Fords & the like is that Citroen have been using alloy heads for around 40 years. They also have hardened seats & valves to go with it. As with the leaded/unleaded debate where the octane rating has a bigger bearing on the damage factor than the lead (which in many ways just hides a symptom & doesn't cure the complaint, it's a bit on par with putting barrier cream on your hands before you start working on the car; reduces but doesn't eliminate the problem.) Octane rating plays a much bigger part with the wear factor due to higher octane burning quicker, whilst the lead coats the valve seats & helps to retard the recession. Providing the car is ULP compatible, I'd say the LPG conversion would be no problem, but if it was an earlier model then I have heard it suggested that a lead additive or a tankful of leaded petrol run through occasionally could be a wise precaution.
Check out this webpage where this guy speaks of his brothers BX 16V that from memory had about 380,000 klms untouched and still going strong (at the stage he wrote the text) and has been on LPG most of its life. I have heard of this before & all with pretty outstanding results.
http://drive.to/jorik
Hope that helps explain it.
Alan S