MINI Cooper LPG Conversion

[Bad Dog Mini]

I've seen a few post asking whether anyone had a MC converted to run on LPG so I thought I'd post this. We had a 2.6MV6 Omega converted about 4 months ago and were very impressed so we decided to get the other car one as well. Happy to answer any questions.

Running Costs!
So far its returned between 25 - 30mpg on gas this compares with 27 - 36 on petrol. Depending on the price of gas which varies between 2.5 to 2.8 cheaper than unleaded, this gives and an equivalent to 62.5pmg - 84mpg. The conversion cost £1500 plus an extra £90 for a warranty to cover all the parts of the car which could potentially go wrong and not be covered by MINI.

Performance
To be honest I've not noticed any drop in performance and I did a 0-60 run today using MS's G-Tech kit (thanks martin!).

The 0-60 results on a dampish road: -
Petrol 9.12 sec
LPG 9.65 sec

Filling up
It's not as easy or as quick as filling up with petrol but because the filler point is in the back of the car I can fill from either side and beat the que.

Changes to the car
Well half the boot has gone, but its only half of bugger all, I can live with it though as we don't really use the rear seats anyway.

Verdict
Would I recommend it to anyone else, yes but with a few caveats only if you can find a good fitter nearby like I did www.sbautogas.co.uk , only if you do a reasonble mileage +15k and if you intend to keep the car .

Photos

The boot showing the tank boxed in and my subwoofer! Note the black
box in the recess on the bumper that's the filling point.


Close up of the tank and pipes


The modified one ball exhaust


The switch on the dash


The air filter and LPG vapouriser beneath


The gas injectors and connections to the inlet manifold



Scotlands only LPG MINI?????

[danb]

I have been considering having this done on my MCS, but I would have to do serious miles to warrant the £1500 outlay....

*toddles off to do math*

[danb]

With some very simple calculations, with very rough figures, I reckon I would need to do about 20k miles in the car to save £1500, which is alot less than I was expecting.

Giving this some serious consideration now

The only thing Im worried about is the devaluation of the car

[Bad Dog Mini]

Dan I would have thought the conversion should have paid itself back before then especially with an MCS.

Most cars go up in value once converted, however the MINI might be different as you don't have much of a boot to start with and it will effect your warranty.

[Nitrominis]

This seems to be a good conversion kit. I have had LPG in my 2002 MSC since 2003.
I was a little surprised with the performance you achieved? I think that this kit may be conservative on the performance end perhaps for safety reasons and that economy and reliability was foremost?

LPG solenoids can be seen in this picture

[mini*mum]

I have just bought a Mini Cooper, it already had an LPG conversion. The day after I bought it (private seller) I ahve had a problem with overheating.

I have had the water system bled adn today had a new thermostat and housing. I drove the car home without any problems whatsoever.

BUT.... as soon as the lpg kicked in and things got hot the temp gauge went up and the cap popped off the coolant bottle again as was happening before the new stat and housing.

Can anyone help??????? Any help or info would really be appreciated cos I am pretty stuck. Thinking of visiting an LPG expert tomorrow if I can.

[Nitrominis]

Quote: Originally Posted by mini*mum (original)

I have just bought a Mini Cooper, it already had an LPG conversion. The day after I bought it (private seller) I ahve had a problem with overheating.

I have had the water system bled adn today had a new thermostat and housing. I drove the car home without any problems whatsoever.

BUT.... as soon as the lpg kicked in and things got hot the temp gauge went up and the cap popped off the coolant bottle again as was happening before the new stat and housing.

Can anyone help??????? Any help or info would really be appreciated cos I am pretty stuck. Thinking of visiting an LPG expert tomorrow if I can.

I presume it is a full LPG conversion? And that your water pump is in order and radiator fans working? In most cases LPG will make an engine run very cool.

[mini*mum]

Hi Nitrominis, thanks for your reply.

Yes the car has been in a garage all week being looked at. The water system bled for air lock, then everything else checked. The fans are working fine, not had a new water pump but as far as mechanic is concerned it is doing what it should be. There are no obvious signs in other words that the water is not working.

??????? Very confused and worried I have made a big mistake buying a car with an lpg conversion.

When it is being run on petrol its ok, as soon as it is switched to lpg there is a very strong gas smell, steam from under bonnet and starts to overheat!!!????

[Nitrominis]

I am a bit confused? How did they adjust the ECU for the LPG. Most use LPG full time? Do you run dual ECU maps? If not this might be one issue. You also need to have your LPG regulator checked. If you are smelling LPG than there is to much going into the engine which may also cause the engine to run hot.

[sezmyster]

Hey guys,

I have purchased a second hand mini cooper 57 reg with an LPG conversion.

I have had problems with it ever since I got it.

My engine management light will come on constantly and the car feels like it’s ready to break down.

I took it to a normal garage and they said the coil packs or cylinders kept misfiring so they replaced the pack.

However the problem still happens and happens when on lpg not petrol, so I took it to an lpg garage to get serviced and yet the problem still happens, the engine management light comes on.

Strangely enough though it comes on and as soon as I turn the car off and back on the engine management light doesn’t come on.

Could it be an lpg problem or electrical, because surely if there was something wrong with the engine the engine management light will continuously stay on.

Please help if you can.

Cheers

[Nitrominis]

If this is a full LPG conversion then depending on the system used you may have a look at the LPG regulator. If you do not know what system it is post up some pictures and I will see if I can figure it out.
LPG at times will cause a code that can be cleared easily from time to time. The erratic behavior you are experiencing was not a coil pack btw. If the problem is only there with LPG and not petrol then your issue is in the induction of the LPG.

I do not always pop on this forum much and it was by chance that I saw your post come to my e-mail as a subscriber. If you want to get in touch with me you may have to pop over to Motoring Underground or MYNES forums.