80 Series Petrol/Gas or Diesel????

Hi Mark,

When I bought mine the Diesel model was much more expensive so I went for the petrol and fitted gas, the consumption is a bit more with gas but the gas is half the price.

The diesel is good for serious off road work but I never had a problem with the petrol with the work I did.

I had to pay for fuel on the trip to the Cape so it cost a couple of hundred more for that trip but I saved ten grand on the purchase price so I was still front.

Regards
Geoff

Hi Mark ,
Here are my figures for my 91 1HD-T, have a look through my profile for links.
When towing our very heavy camper, 16-17L/100
Empty on the highway as low as 10L/100
Around town about 12-13L/100
4wdriving depending on about the same.
Here is my Fuelly Account.
Hope this helps.

Hi Mark,
I had a succession of dual fuel vehicles and the last was a 1HD FT diesel 80 series which had gas over diesel. Fair bit of experience in other words.

I found that while you use more litres of gas in your dual fuel vehicle it works out cheaper than diesel power provided the price of gas is half the price of diesel, or there abouts. Either way it works outs much cheaper than petrol.

Gas is cheapest in the southern parts of the country and dearer the further north you go. It is also harder to locate the further north you go. This is why dual fuel is the way to go for touring. Or a diesel vehicle

As regards the choice "dual fuel or diesel" I would suggest it comes down to your pocket and personal prefference as the long term ownership of either choice is line ball.

With dual fuel you pay as you go where as with diesel you will eventually fork it out in big lumps when the troubles start. This has been my experience.

My prefference is petrol or dual fuel as you do not have to worry about exhaust gas temperatures when towing up hills and all the other things you need to worry about with diesels such as regular frequent servicing.

One thing about the 80 series petrols is that they eventually develope oil weeping past the valve stems. This I found to be n advantage as it performed the task of upper cylinder lubrication and acted as a valve saver so I never bothered doing anything about it as it was an advantage.

When comparing fuel consumption it is best to relate to the "kilometres per dollar" not the "litres per hundred Ks" as the former is a truest comparison of consumption, one fuel to another.

As regards gas over diesel,
the advantage is slight and when calculating benefit versus cost it fails as the conversion costs are somewhere around $4,500 from the information I have gleaned. It may have comedown in recent times but that was what my investigations showed. At those figures it would take many many years to recover costs.

Converting an 80 series petrol to gas is a good idea provided gas prices do not climb too much especially if the vehicle has low kilometres. You will recover the outlay withing a few years in fuel cost savings.

Petrol 80 series are a good value buy these days. If it is already on gas then doubly so.

Cheers, Bruce.

Mark,
The other question I would ask is are you going to tow a larger van say a 21' Tandem in the time that you will own the LS 80. If so I would consider a late 80 series from memory after 96/97 as I underatnd that can tow bigger vans the same as the 100 series.

I would confirm this also, prior to the purchase.

Peter

I can't speak for a diesel 80 series Mark but the '98 GXL 40th Anniversary we had returned 22l/100km on petrol & 30l/100km on gas towing our 2t van.

With our current TD diesel Triton I get 13 - 15l/100km towing the same van, it also tows it with more power to spare than the 80 did.

I can't give you figures for not towing as I never bothered to check.

Cheers Neil

Thank you everyone for your feedback and it is greatly appreciated. I suppose I picked the 80 Series as I have had 100's in the past as well as a Prado and now have taken up photogrpahy and just want something to get me to THOSE hard to get places for some nice photos. I was originally interested in an Isuzu MU Diesel but being only a 4 seater kind of limited me a bit. Plus I really only wanted a 4x4 under 10K to keep the Minister of War and Finance happy.
Towing is another story and I once towed a 16' van with my GXL 100 to the Far South Coast and once I did the numbers with petrol added to van park fee's it added up to the price of an onsite cabin. So maybe a smaller van one day and maybe the dream of THAT big trip where ever it may be. :-)

So happy trails folks and thanks for your great advice.

Mark (Newcastle NSW)

I had a bad experience with petrol/gas http://www.exploroz.com/Forum/Topic/27303/LPG_problem_backfiring_in_80_series_landcruiser.aspx?ky=&sn=&p=%2fForum%2fDefault.aspx%3fwt%3d1%26pn%3d1

Would definitely check out the age of the LPG system, and follow the tips in that thread.

Pedro

OK, as luck would have it a 92 Petrol 4L 80 series Cruiser has popped up close to my home. The good news it is only $3,500 with some faded paint of the bonnet and roof but I have not inspected it yet and hopefully tomorrow. The bad news, and yes for that price there has to be which I expected.....it has 416,000 k's on it which scares me somewhat. But what should I look for when I inspect it or should I just walk away now??? I don't mind spending a few $$ bringing it up to spec but don't want the hassle of big engine problems? Any advice would be greatly appreciated?
Thanks Mark