LPG - where to put the fuel tank

Hello Gcouture,

My initial reaction to that, would be in the boot, depending upon the sizes available of the tanks, I am thinking, perhaps two cylindrical tanks, side by side. The tanks would be the width of the floor but no higher than the wheel arch height.

The tanks could be covered by a substantial top sitting on the top of the wheel arch, giving you, your covering and storage space. All you would have lost is a little depth. The idea of small tanks tucked away like the long range tanks fitted on the W460's may not sit well with the LPG fitters, firstly, the connections in between the two tanks could be messy and the more connections you have, increases the risk factor of possible leaks.

My only concern is, accessibility to the battery, which is at the nearside rear wheel arch, some models moved this to under the rear seat.

Cheers,

Hi Gcouture

I bought a small petrol tank intended to sit next to a gas tank under G300 ges some time ago and didnt have the lpg conversion done. It will hold about 25 lts I think but was designed for the g300.I'd be happy to sell the tank but it would be worth checking whether it'll fit a 500. It was supplied by tinley tech in Cambridgeshire.

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LPG conversions are only worth considering if you are likely to do over 10,000 miles in a year, other wise you do not recoup the cost of conversion in the fuel savings you are likely to make.

Cheers,

 Did you tell him to buy a Diesel Spider?

Hi Peter and GC,

Agree with you that running the 500 is a little on the expensive side regarding petrol.

When I bought my 500, it was my full intention to gas-convert it as I did this with my Range Rover, Chevy Suburban and Toyota Landcruiser with good results. However, in the long run, certain Gas conversions are not as reliable as manufacturers' fuel systems, especially multi-port injection systems which one would have to fit into a post 1997-built 500. After about 40k, problems start cropping up: mainly injector issues (which are expensive to fix as one has to replace the whole bank to get decent results) and software updates for the fueling. We ran our Suburban with a mult-port system for about 130k miles so certainly got the pay-back.....but it did NOT offroad and I had to replace the injector banks and heaters/evaporatos twice. The Range Rover had a very hard life under my ownership: everyday use as well as a LOT of offroading. It ran with a single-port injection, so might not have been as economical as a more sophisticated multi-point system but was VERY reliable. That car eventually suffered from other issues and I sold it with 165k miles on the clock - LPG system still functioning well. Again on the Landcruiser, a multi-port system was fitted: I didn't have the car long enough for issues to have cropped up and it was only offroaded very lightly. I did have uncertainty over reliability of the system, purely bred from my experience of our yank tank. 

My point is, I decided NOT to fit an LPG system to my 500 because it is so reliable and IS offroaded all the time. Why mess with a good thing, even if it is expensive to run...........I have only had to change oil and filters and the car just keeps running faultlessly. Although the car obviously uses a lot of petrol, it has cost me MUCH less in maintenance than the other big-capacity cars that I've owned. Overall, as long as I don't use the 500 for everyday-pop-down-to-the-shops-type runs, running it doesn't cost as much as most people would think (and thankfully I am no longer 16, so insurance isn't stratospheric!). So, Gcouture, think about it before having to chop holes into your car because Gas systems are quite invasive.

Hope this input helps and good luck,
Ph

 I'll pitch in on this. I ran a '93 300 GES which had already been converted to LPG when I bought it. It had two tanks under the chassis (40l & 30l).

The exhaust had to be rerouted and there was the additional expense of servicing the LPG components not to mention the extra weight on an already heavy  truck. 

I would advise you to save the money, the tank can only be filled to about 80% capacity and although it burns cleaner is not as economical as petrol. Just make sure the V8 gets regular oil,fuel and air filter changes.