Citigo LPG Part 2

In part 1 I described how my Citigo was at Bewick Mobility in Blaydon being converted to dual fuel having been booked in on the Monday on the understanding that they would have the car for 5 days. 

But firstly here's a thought. Assume the LPG conversion costs £1200, you have an annual mileage of 10,000 and average fuel consumption of 50 mpg. That means 200 gallons per year or 908 litres of unleaded, which at £1.35 per litre is £1226.

On gas, fuel consumption poorer add 10% ie say 1000 litres of gas, which at 66p per litre is £660 a saving of £566 per year.

Where on earth can you invest £1200 and get a return of £566 per year or 47%.

It's a no brainer get you money out of the bank, invest in a conversion, and be quids in.

To continue .... 

In actual fact the car was completed and ready for collection by lunchtime Friday and as I rounded the corner of the building there it was sitting outside the workshops doors ready to go. 

Brian gave me a walk around of the installation and talked me through it, we retired to the office to complete the paperwork and payment, Brian had notified the register that the vehicle was duel fuel which would normally give a reduction on Road Tax, and then he suggested we drive to the nearest LPG filling station to show me how to fill the car.

The car started instantly, the little indicator light showing red meaning we were running on petrol. Within a few minutes there was a click from the rear, the little light went orange then green and wow we were running on gas. If it hadn't been for the soft click (the multivalve in the tolroid tank switching on) and the light changing to green I would never have know we had switched from petrol to lpg.

So before we talk about day to day running ( later installment ) here are some photos of the installation.

Overview of the installation; gas injectors lower left, gas filter upper right, vaporiser mounter off the firewall, left above that. 

Standing at the front of the car left hand side of engine bay showing the LPG solenoid and map sensor.

Mounted on the right hand side firewall the BRC Genius MB800 reducer (vaporiser) and the gas filter.

View of the 3 BRC normal injectors on a common rail and at far end the P1 gas pressure and temperature sensor. The inlet manifold is drilled and the nozzle is screwed and glued into place. The petrol injector can be seen near the cylinder head mounted on its common rail.

The BRC Sequent 24 ECU is slaved to the cars ECU and is shown here mounted in the centre of the car underneath the scuttle in front of the windscreen.

The 47 litre 30 degree tolroid tank 600mm x 220 mm fitted in the spare wheel well. It is slightly higher than the level of the boot floor, but that was planned as I am fitting the boot level kit from a VW Up!. As you can only fill to 80% that gives me a usable capacity of 37.5 litres. In the centre of the tank and unseen (covered) is the multivalve, tank solenoid, tank level indicator, filler one way valve and the centre mount.

Centre consul showing BRC intelligent switch. 4 green leds indicate amount of gas in tank, red light indicates that engine is running on petrol, goes orange on transition, then green to indicate running on gas. Here showing that I have half a tank of gas left. Manually press the switch and all indicator leds go off, red shows and car runs on petrol, press again and all greens come on showing the car running on gas.

Filler mounted right of centre in the bumper bar, reinforced to the chassis behind

Happy to recommend them

Brian Burns owner of Bewick Autogas and my converted Citigo

In Part 3 I will share the experience of installing the UP! boot level floor and explain how to enter LPG filling stations into your cars navigator.