now i dont plan to do any research on this it is merely a question that comes to mind.

now i have had expierience driving a toyota forklift where i used to work and it ran on lp gas it had a 4 banger that had the fuel system set up for lp gas and this thing smoked and stunk to beat the band.and for a basis of comparison obviously my trucks and many othere vehicles around here run on unleaded gasoline and for the most part unless there is a major problem with rich fuel mix or burning oil,coolant these gas pwred vehicles dont smoke and hardly have a smell to em .they say carbon monoxide"the silent killer"is odorless and exists in exaust fumes from any engine powered by any fossil fuel and i do believe that lp gas is covered under that .and the reasoning that i have for asking about this subject is because there is a guy that i talk yo in a chat room every so often from australia that drives an f-150 that is powered by lp gas and he said his reasoning behind this is because lp gas is like 1.46 a gallon down under compared to close to 5.00 for gasoline

if you feel tha ive just rambled on for no reason at all just ignore the post otherwise reply

 

In Southern Alberta, Canada it is a fairly common thing for trucks to run off of propane. You can fill them up at almost any gas station. My dad owned an 87 F150 with a 302 on propane. The cost was about half the cost of regular gas but you lost about 10% gas mileage and about 10% power. The mechanics up there also said it is harder on the engine to burn propane. I figure it must not of been to bad as my dad got 380,000 km (235,000 miles) off the original engine. I live in Minnesotta now but if I still lived up in Canada, I would probably have a propane kit on my truck. It just is to hard to get here.

Long story short. If they sold automotive propane here at all the gas stations like they do in Canada, I'd be running propane.

 

I've got an 87 F-350, 460 Crewcab on propane right now. It burns cleaner than gasoline, the oil stays clear for almost 2000 miles. There must have been something out of adjustment o your forklift. I've had this truck on propane for a long time. It doesn't perform as well on propane as it does on gasoline but it is a little cheaper to operate. I did have some headaches getting everything set up so it would run properly. Most propane setups are for smaller cid engines so I had to rig up my own dual carb set up for the 460 so it would breathe. If you are looking for economy, it might be the way to go. Most setups will run about $1000 though so you'll have to do a lot of driving to make it pay out.

 

Ok, if we can pump propane for our vehicles, why can't we fill the cylinders for our gas grills? Or am I missing a difference in the propane? Or don't they let you pump your own propane for your vehicle?

 

You are suppose to be certified to pump propane. It didn't take much. When my dad got his key lock from Superior propane, they showed him the proper way to pump it.

It is a little different than the bottles as when you fill it there is a bleeder valve. When the valve spits out a steady stream of propane, the tank is at 80% capacity, which is considered full.

The older bottles get filled up by weight.

As for why anybody can't fill them up themselves. I wouldn't want certian people any where near a propane tank. The majority of people could easily fill both as soon as they were shown how.

 

Im not advocating doing anything illegal or anything, but heres something to think about. Change over to LP and lease a 500 gal tank to put in your yard. Then fill your pickup up with it. This would reduce the cost because there wouldnt be road tax on it. You would want to occasionally fill up in town, just to cover your but.
I dont run propane in my rigs, but if i did thats what id do. I already fill my own smaller tanks from the large one.
One more point is that you can run a higher compression with LP, so you could build an engine with some real ponies. I think it will go up to something like 17:1, but im not sure.

Tony Warren
Nebraska

 

I have worked in the LP industry for going on 27 years. I have converted vechiles to LP, I have owned LP fueled vehicles.
Couple of points, Propane burns cleaner than gasoline, Generally meaning that you can extend service intervals on oil, plugs etc if you choose to. LP is usally less expensive than gasoline. I say usally but not always due to weather, supply and demand.
Generally propane motor fuel can be purchased at truck stops, camp grounds, LP Gas dealers and some service stations but Canada is way ahead of the US on consumer motor fuel distribution. If an engine is properly set up and all of the computer support is in place the differences in power will be very negligible and milage loss will be minimal. If it stinks its not set up right, If it wont run right on gasoline then its not going to run on LP. If you fill your motor fuel from your house tank (and there is a lot of that going on) your evading road tax and Uncle Sam and Aunt IRS will get you if you dont watch out.

Sorry for the long post

 

The thing is, you can get away without paying road taxes on gas. They are listed as a sales tax, not required, but 'voulentary' so the tax issue is moot. I have been douing a lot of study on converting vehicles to LP vs gasoline. Currently in my area LP is $.59/gallon , each lb of LP is equivalent to 1 gal of gas. So on a stock vehicle you may lose some power (fixable) and some mileage, but compare the expenses and the fact that LP only realeases 10% of the harmful emissions of gasoline, and I think we've found a winner. I am not a ford guy, I drive Jeep, so I am setting this system up at a cost of $200 or so, plus I'm in the process of modifying the Jeep for offroad, this means that I am doing some pretty serious HP/torque mods already, and I'm curious to see how it will all react. I will do my best to let you know how things perform over-all, cheers and thanks --- JK

 

Moved from GC.

 

Propane in my area is not that much cheaper than regular gasoline as to make it feasable to switch. jd

 

Propane contains 25% less energy content than does gasoline so your 20 mpg vehicle will get 15 mpg.

It's no where near 59 cents a gallon in Texas-up around $2.25. Where can I buy it for 59 cents a gallon? I've got the trucks lined up.

 

A couple of questions come to mind: If lots of folks started converting their gasoline engines to propane would there be enough of a supply to keep up with demand and how long would it be before the increased demand drove the prices up?

 

Last time the propane guy came to my house, it was $4.00/gallon

Might not be a good time to make a switch.

ford2go

 

I just checked my local supplier, $2.57 for home delivery. About a dollar cheaper than regular gas. It may be more for vehicles, forgot to ask. jd

 

The last time I bought propane for my home here it was "locked" in at 2.47 a gallon. I use it for heating only and the price usually drops in the warm months. This helps out folks who use it for heating water or cooking.

I used to work with lift trucks that ran on propane and one in particular, a Clark lift, had a Perkins engine that ran on propane that was originally designed for diesel use.
Talk about a long lasting engine!