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100 Series, Petrol v Diesel

Hello,

New to the forum but do have views on the subject.
My last 100 series was brought to run for the business dragging trailers and my tools of the trade. We had it for three years and ran on LPG for around 100,000 miles. The main issue was the conversion, knowing what I do know would change the direction I would take. I am whole heartedly behind the LPG route, but would be very careful whose conversion I would use.
My previous tow truck was a Land Rover Discovery2 commercial. This was great, did what I needed and towed well enough, this also did around 100,000 in three years. Unless in a real hurry this would do 26MPG, which made it dearer to run than the Toyota, due to the price of the fuel. The Toyota is by far and away the best tow car I have ever owned, did not cost a fortune to keep on the road, unlike the Discovery! And did all it was asked of, in fact much missed.
We have run various other LPg vehicles and feel this is the best way for our business to run in the current climate.
The Toyota used to do between 13 & 18mpg on LPG, at that time the gas was far less than half the price of diesel and hence the car was cheaper to run than the Discovery van. I think this would still be the case if you brought the car with a quality conversion.
At present I am not allowed to work after major surgery to my back so have to make do with my wifes Freelander i6, which is lovely and smooth, but not a Land Cruiser! Look forward to when I can get another of these great cars!

Thanks
 
chugga90 said:
My last 100 series was brought to run for the business dragging trailers and my tools of the trade. We had it for three years and ran on LPG for around 100,000 miles.
Did you use any form of valve saver and did you have any valve issues?

chugga90 said:
The main issue was the conversion, knowing what I do know would change the direction I would take. I am whole heartedly behind the LPG route, but would be very careful whose conversion I would use.
I'd be interested to hear more of your thoughts about that :)
 
Initially I had no additional lube to prevent valve wear, due to the installer saying it was not needed! But did get the flashlube kit done sooner after, just the base version as I did not know of the electronic version at the time.

On the conversion, this was the first one we had and just thought all were alike. Had Egas one fitted and had a lot of parts fail and nothing but trouble with the installer and the Egas importer! Had the front end changed to a Tartarini when the warranty ran out of the Egas item, to be honest the set up on Egas was better than this as this developed a stall which would happen at anytime, the last straw was 60mph on the M40! But when it was running well it was the best. Not sure whose I would go fo next time, but will most definately look for a better service than the two who dealt with this one.

Hope that helps?
 
I can't fault the Bigas system I've installed from Tinleytec and I know the other John (Dark Dude) is happy with his Prinns install.
 
Jon Wildsmith said:
I can't fault the Bigas system I've installed from Tinleytec and I know the other John (Dark Dude) is happy with his Prinns install.

Amen to that! :D On my previous motor, a Vauxhall Frontera, I ran a simple single point LPG system from a company called Emmergas. The original conversion was done by a company in Preston and it had been done VERY well. For the 2.2 Ecotec Engine it was the perfect partner and never missed a beat and because it was a basic nuts and bolts system it was pretty easy to maintain and very reliable. On the down side, it was pretty thirsty on the juice (and this from a 2.2 which didn't have enough grunt to pull granny out of bed).

I think I've been pretty lucky with my LPG experience, so far , having known Billy of Hilton LPG, Wolverhampton for years and by chance coming into contact with Neil (Medway Dual Fuel) Billy's counterpart in the South East. Both of them have given me loads of free advice and kept me safe and far away from the clutches of the many con-artist and scumbags who are currently doing the rounds. BTW: Both Billy and Neil are NOW recommending the use of Valve Saver Systems on the LC100. It'll cost £150 but better safe than sorry. Right now I can't afford to do it, so once in a while I switch over to petrol and give the car a quick "burn". There is no doubt that the Prinns system is one of the most expensive LPG conversions out there for the LC100 at the moment but hand on my heart, it's also one of the best. The following is the spitting image of my current car, except it's alot cleaner (inside) and a year younger.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2001-Y-TOYOTA ... 2a134c2ed9

At £9000, it's a steal! Whatever system you go for, it's the quality of the actual conversion itself that really matters (as well as parts availability). Pay peanuts and you get monkeys and a monkey's workmanship. £2500 is a lot of bullet to bite (and a bitter pill to swallow) but you should see the smile on my face now. On a run it stretches from Morrisons (Walthamstow) all the way to Featherstone, Wolverhampton, with plenty left in the tank to spare. Sometimes my smile is so broad, you could see it from outer space.:D

The Other John

The Dark Dude
 
Valve seat erosion is what stopped me converting my 4.7, I know that it was experienced on some large lexus engines, never heard of it on a LC but I'm easily scared :mrgreen:

If you can get used to the not so refined diesel engine, it has bags of torque and can be run on biodiesel and WVO. Which means that you can eliminate those visits to the tax station!
 
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I've now had a full year of ownership of my LC100 and come April, it will be a full year of driving it on LPG and so far so good. In one year, I've had to recondition a starter motor and retrofit a set of suspension spheres on the front end. That's it! As regards my Prinns LPG VSi system which I had fitted from new (apart from the fact it took sometime to bed in), it's been flawless, unlike the cars cooling system, which simply couldn't take the added strain. My biggest singular piece of advice I would give to anyone considering going down the LPG route (especially if like me you're truck in over 10 years old) is to check and if needs be replace any component of the cooling system including all pipework which has gone past it's sell by date. I had to call out the RAC not once but twice because of burst pipework within a month of having the LPG system installed. The 4.7 V8 powerplant is truly a thing of silent beauty. Seamless power, loads of torque all wrapped up in a tidy package. This truck has been the first auto that I've ever owned and it took sometime for me to re-educate my left arm and left foot to the new order of things. The steep learning curve has been worth it. Obviously, you can't drive the Amazon like a normal car but once you know the rules, oh man what fun can be had. So for the past year I've enjoyed the best of both worlds. V8 power mated the LPG economy. On a motorway run this means I can cruise at 70mph and still get 260 miles out of a full tank of LPG which has cost me about £60 approx. You do the maths! My truck might not be the cleanness example around but it is now a mechanically sound workhorse which is fully capable of transporting me, my wife, my staff and ALL of my gear to where ever we are needed, safely, securely, without fuss and in ALL conditions. Better still, I haven't had to break the bank in doing it and I have no regrets of my original purchase both of the truck and of the LPG system. Now that's what I call a result! My LC100 LPG has been, to date, one of my better investment decisions. :D :thumbup:

John
 
I have to agree with Dark Dude on the V8 matter.
I have not owned a diesel, but have driven one and I prefer the V8.
My last one I had for three years, it was run on LPG for that time. I had no issues with valve wear, did have issues with rubbish gas conversion and other items worn out along the way, but did 90,000 miles in my time with it, when sold it had around 170k on it and the engine was just fine. It worked for a living towing trailer and carrying tools for a building firm and did so very well.
I have just brought another one with just over 100k miles, had the gas fitted and getting it how I want it for the next three years or so. I missed not having one over the past two years and can now justify having this one.
Be bold and get one and run it on gas and have the best of both worlds, great economy in a round about way and seamless motoring!
Not to be missed out on :thumbup:
 
chugga90 said:
I have to agree with Dark Dude on the V8 matter.
I have not owned a diesel, but have driven one and I prefer the V8.
My last one I had for three years, it was run on LPG for that time. I had no issues with valve wear, did have issues with rubbish gas conversion and other items worn out along the way, but did 90,000 miles in my time with it, when sold it had around 170k on it and the engine was just fine. It worked for a living towing trailer and carrying tools for a building firm and did so very well.
I have just brought another one with just over 100k miles, had the gas fitted and getting it how I want it for the next three years or so. I missed not having one over the past two years and can now justify having this one.
Be bold and get one and run it on gas and have the best of both worlds, great economy in a round about way and seamless motoring!
Not to be missed out on :thumbup:

Yo Chugga

You didn't happen to get that nice example I first pointed here on ebay?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2001-Y-TOYOTA ... 2a134c2ed9

Whatever! I'm glad that you've come round to my point of view. Currently I've only got TWO problems with my truck:

1. The motors in the adjustable steering column is shot to pieces and
2. The excessive wind noise that comes into the cabin when my truck is at cruising speed.

Otherwise I've got no complaints. As for the matter of rubbish gas conversion, I'm afraid to say there are plenty out there, ready to trap the unwary. I can't stress the importance of getting a good quality LPG system (with easy availability to spare parts) as well as the installation of that chosen system RIGHT! That means doing your research and asking the right questions of the right people. It also means, thinking in the medium to long term and resisting the urge to base a short term decision on PRICE and PRICE ONLY. I once came across a beautiful LC100 ( with all the toys and gadgets) which had been fitted with a single point LPG system. I simply could not understand the mentality of the person who fitted it and walked away without even lifting the bonnet. The Toyota Landcruiser Amazon is a quality bit of kit which demands a quality bit of LPG kit to go with it. I went for the Prinns because (hand on heart) I've NOT come across a single bad conversion done with it but that does not mean that there are not other quality and cheaper LPG multipoint systems out there on the market. Jon Wildsmith got his system from Tineytech and fitted it himself and ended up a very happy bunny. Alas I'm no Jon Wildsmith and that's why I went to the experts at Medway DualFuel to get the job done. What I'm trying to say is that there is always more than one way of getting to the same destination but what both Jon and me had in common was that we chose quality components, backed up with quality service and parts and a quality installation over that of cheap and not so cheerful. As a result both of us ended up with quality LPG converted trucks.

John
 
Don't know what the seller did wrong to incur the (often irrational wrath of Ebay), but they've removed the listing!
 
One question about that one - the ad says "under-boot LPG tank". Now I thought that meant the spare wheel would need to be moved to a rear carrier?
 
Hey Dude,

No I brought a different one on ebay a few weeks back, its a 2000 W plate.
I brought it knowing it had some issues, the main of them now fixed. It is in having the exhaust manifold gaskets done as one is blowing and whilst it is there I thought I may as well do them both.
The last thing to do is some UJ's on the front prop as they have a bit of play making a clunk up front.

Then it is off to the bodyshop as some fool reversed into it last Friday and has made a right mess of the passenger side! Apparently they did not see it!!!!!!!!! :shock: How much bigger does it need to be for them to see it?

On the subject of LPG, my last one was the first gas car I had, I went to the local "Expert" relied on there experience and knowledge and got disappointment with the first installation. This was changed when the 2 yr warranty expired for a Tartarini front end which did not need so many new parts but was far from satisfactory. Based on this knowledge I have had three other gas vehicles for me as toys or for the business so have not been put off.
It is my hope that this current 100 will be just right for my needs when it is all back together and how I want it again, certainly I am pleased to be back behind the wheel of one, although it is definately different to driving the Freelander 2! Surprisingly I prefer parking the 100, which is bigger than the LR, but just seems much better and thrusting into parking spaces.
I am hoping the suspension is all good on this one as it has some new spheres from the last owners maintenance so fingers crossed.
I am also experimenting with an electric fan rather than the viscous unit, to see if that makes any difference to economy. It does improve warm up time and change over to gas, but if I stick with it longer term I am going to change the fan as I only brought a cheap one on ebay and it is not very well balanced and does vibrate a bit.
 
chadr said:
One question about that one - the ad says "under-boot LPG tank". Now I thought that meant the spare wheel would need to be moved to a rear carrier?

And you'd be right........No big deal, I had one fitted onto my truck and I'd rather have a spare wheel hanging off the back of the motor instead of that stupid run flat foam thing you get in a can.

Chugga

Don't be worrying about your suspension spheres. One trip to Sawtry will sort them out, trust me!

John
 
So where is the spare wheel on that motor then? :?

It doesn't have a wheel carrier - so unless they have devised a way to have a LPG tank AND a spare under the boot floor, it's carried loose in the boot?
 
chadr said:
So where is the spare wheel on that motor then? :?

It doesn't have a wheel carrier - so unless they have devised a way to have a LPG tank AND a spare under the boot floor, it's carried loose in the boot?

And? What's your point? I had mine in my "boot" until I grabbed a bargain OEM example off JW. Like I said, having a spare wheel carrier fitted onto your truck ain't no big deal, it wasn't for me and they can be easily sourced: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOYOTA-FJ100- ... 3c9e1dde68

Or you could go for something like this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Toyota-Land-C ... 415ac6c207

It's not a AMAZON but it is a Land Cruiser and this one was designed from the off to NEVER carry it's spare in the boot.

John
 
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