Help! Diesel V Petrol

I was a die hard petrol head as well.I went across the simpson with a couple of diesels we all towed our campers,I used approx 140 litres of ULP for the trip across and the deisel used 69 litre's about half.The deisel seems to use a lot less fuel when towing compared to the petrol.By the way both vehicles were Pajero's.It's converted me I thought I would run over the top of the deisel when over taking trucks but it was not the case.I struggled to keep on his tail when overtaking.

Cheers Scoof

I agree with Moose on this one...... I recently towed a 1.8 tonne boat for my cousin as his car was stuffed that weekend. I can tell you from the expierence, my GQ worked fine.....didnt even know the boat was there most times.....UNTILL......i reached some steep hills !!!

As much as i love my GQ as it does everything I need it to do without any problems, They are NOT the best vehicles for towing heavy loads behind them. Heading up hill with 1.8 tonne behind me was hard yakka. I hav never had to drop gears down from 5th to 4th..to 3rd climbing a hill. Also note that temperature guage was climbing. I must point out here that my GQ does not overheat, I fixed that problem over a year ago, but it did climb almost to 3/4 up hills with the boat behind me.
I am not trying to change ur mind on what vehicle to buy, I just want you to know that the GQ4.2 Turbo Diesel is a fantastic motor..second to none IMHO...BUT....wack a heavy boat behind it and add some steep hills in ur travels and you end up with a slug.

I did read last week that there are some people out there that havea gas kit for diesels now, I am trying to justify a 3,500.00 cost for a 30 ltr gas tank installation, but from what i have read, It definately does add some nice ponies to the turbo diesel 4.2. But 3,500.00 bucks is way too steep...some people want to get rich overnight. So i wll investigate the setup closer over time and probably try making a kit myself as i still have contacts with LPG suppliers from my taxi days. I recon around 1200.00 might be my all up cost to set my baby up with one, first i will road test one to see if that quoted horsepower is justified witha load on the back of the vehicle.

Do some homework before you buy, take a GQ fora road test with the boat hooked up..see what you think, but make sure you do it with lots of hills, that way you will get to see and feel how the GQ reacts both power wise and temperature wise. Just remember 1 thing, every GQ runs at different temperatures ok...some r maintained well..others are not, so dont think if the one you try is too hot, that they all will be. You need to know how good the cooling system is on the car u test drive.

Ange

this is true, my mate burned out his car parking it in long grass after a drive. Also diesel exhaust is around 200 deg C cooler than petrol exhaust. One last intersting point that could be seen as an advantage, if you accidently gas yourself with pertol exhaust you will die, if you gas yourself with diesel exhaust you will get severe nausea and maybe vomit but you wont die, i see that as a +

Hmm,

How about comparing horses for courses Marquis.
Your figures compare a petrol Rodeo with a Turbo Diesel Paj.

Care to quote the fuel comsumption on a 3.0L TD Rodeo???

After the problems I had with the 2000 Petrol Rodeo (gearbox died, gearbox leaking oil big time on a trip around aus near Port Headland WA, various electrical problems) and a price tag for an equiv. in TD of $47k - no thankyou.

Then what was the point of your original reply?

Very unbalanced comparing a 2000 V6 3.2l petrol with a 2005 TD anything IMHO.

Just as an aside, The 2005 3.5l petrol Rodeo has a marked improvement over the old 3.2l and I would suspect the 3.2l turbo diesel would be even better still.

Marquis, based on your reply, what you should have said that based on your personal experience the 2000 v6 3.2l Rodeo was a heap of bleep and that the TD equivalent is too dear.

That would have been a more acurate (in your opinion) reply.

Have a good day.

13,000k trip around Aust

Bugga! Which way did you go? Must be a very special shortcut :)))

Rodeo is a manual
Pajero is a automatic

Also the petrol rodeo (60Lt), I was forever re-fuelling:
200 - 250km (city)
300 - 350km (h/w)
Trip with equipment (not towing): (h/w only) 600km - 95Lt at 100km/h
(carrying two 20L jerry cans)

TD Pajero (90Lt):
700km (city)
900km (h/w)
Only 1 decent trip so far (with equipment, not towing): 800km - 83Lt
100 to 110km/h

How much is the conversion to LPG going to cost you and how long will that take to make up the cost with fuel savings?

I have also heard a rumour that the Federal Govt. is going to increase the price of LPG soon to get another finger in the pie. If they don't, everyone will be driving LPG Falcons soon :-)

Sky pilot,
LPG installation for a GQ 4.2 Diesel...yes diesel.....is 3,500 bucks.

Here is the reply i received from them in regards to installing LPG to my GQ Diesel....

Ange,

Generally with Patrol wagons we need to remove the centre muffler and
fit a 30l tank there. The exhaust is modified to fit. This isn't
enough gas to do both tanks (especially with the long range one)(I
assume it has twin tanks) but the biggest we can fit without sacrificing
ground clearance.

Price is $3500+GST (plus the cost of any exhaust work). If you think
there is space underneath without modifying the exhaust, call me for
tank dimensions.

Regards,

Brad
DieselGas Technologies

30 ltr tank wont get u far. And not to mention modifying the exhaust, does this mean the modifications will affect the turbo ..? being mandrel bent pipes and all ..?
Add GST and you will almost hit 4 grand PLUS the cost of ANY EXHAUST work.....sheesh !!!!

Its gonna take a hell of a long time to recover $4,000 with the difference in fuel prices. What would the range of the vehicle be with 30L of LPG - about 180km?

Hey Sky Pilot, what is the average difference in price of same model Turbo Diesel versus petrol? You will see it is about $3 to $4K, so it actually will take you no time to recover the gas fit cost. In the case of the Toyota Cruiser price difference T/D Diesel and spark motor is over $10K.
As for cokeaddict's mention of Diesel/LPG conversion, this is a completly different conversion with the LPG being mixed with the Deisel as it is burntat about a 20% rate, so the 30ltrs will actually last the time it took to burn 120ltrs of the oily stuff, and the other benifit is that you burn cleaner and with better KW's, average increase is over 18%. So by the time you run out of LPG from the 30ltr LPG tank you will have travelled the same distance you would have travelled on 160ltrs of diesel, but with improved power and of course out of that 160 ltrs, 30ltr's of it has only cost the price of LPG. If the LPG tank runs out between fuel stops the vehicle just goes back to original situation of a standard oiler, burning the oily stuff. Stacks of truck companies are running their rigs on this mixed fuel combo. We seriously thought about this option and keeping our Turbo Diesel but of course with all the other figures I mentioned above, (Services etc) Duel fuel (ULP LPG seemed better for us.

Hi Blaze,
Thanks for the info you posted. I didnt realise that the LPG was mixed with the diesel fuel. Now that does make good sence. And YES...much cleaner burns which keeps engine oil much cleaner for longer. From what i have read over the past few days, It is definately a way to go if you plan on keeping the 4B for a long time ..which i do.
Ange

My experience , 4.2 petrol lifespan 300,000km 4.2 diesel 500.00k plus! dont worry about gearbox probs , it may never happen.
Regards Ken.