LPG V8 - should I ???

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V8Virgin

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I have dreamed of owning a Discovery for years, but been both frightened off by the legendary (or mythical) reliability problems and the expense of running one.

Due to redundancy, I now have some cash coming my way and God has told me to buy a LandRover - ie it was snowing yesterday and on my way to the train I stumbled across a V8 Discovery for sale, and getting off the train a TD4 Freelander for the same money :D

The Discovery, from memory, is as follows
V8 (presumably a 4.0 at this age)
53 plate - the twin headlight facelfit
94k on the clock
full history and recent service
LPG conversion

From what I can tell, it's priced around the price of an equivalent td5 at £4500, with very little premium for the LPG add on.

I won't be doing much in the way of mileage, maybe 7k a year, this is a second car/toy/utility weekend machine and it may only go offroad just for a play, unless I get the bug !

Hard to believe the V8LPG v diesel running costs argument when there are so few V8's on the road, so I have the usual novice qstns:-

Is a well serviced V8 a reliable lump, does it have any known big bill problems?

Does the LPG v diesel argument stack up at this sort of annual mileage? What equivalent mpg am I going to get from the V8, I know it's not double the petrol mpg, lpg being of a lower calorific value than petrol but what's a good factor to apply?

The V8 mpg figures are just scary!

Warm up time/distance?

And best/worst multipoint systems for the V8?

I know these questions will make me sound like a child in LR terms, but we all have to start somewhere ?

Be gentle with me.... :baby:
 
Manual or auto,makes quite a difference to economy figures,my manual V8 does 16-18mpg driving around locally,auto will probably be 3-4 mpg worse.
 
V8Virgin said:
I have dreamed of owning a Discovery for years, but been both frightened off by the legendary (or mythical) reliability problems and the expense of running one.

Due to redundancy, I now have some cash coming my way and God has told me to buy a LandRover - ie it was snowing yesterday and on my way to the train I stumbled across a V8 Discovery for sale, and getting off the train a TD4 Freelander for the same money :D

The Discovery, from memory, is as follows
V8 (presumably a 4.0 at this age)
53 plate - the twin headlight facelfit
94k on the clock
full history and recent service
LPG conversion

From what I can tell, it's priced around the price of an equivalent td5 at £4500, with very little premium for the LPG add on.

I won't be doing much in the way of mileage, maybe 7k a year, this is a second car/toy/utility weekend machine and it may only go offroad just for a play, unless I get the bug !

Hard to believe the V8LPG v diesel running costs argument when there are so few V8's on the road, so I have the usual novice qstns:-

Is a well serviced V8 a reliable lump, does it have any known big bill problems? Yes and yes !

Does the LPG v diesel argument stack up at this sort of annual mileage? What equivalent mpg am I going to get from the V8, I know it's not double the petrol mpg, lpg being of a lower calorific value than petrol but what's a good factor to apply? 0.85
The V8 mpg figures are just scary!

Warm up time/distance? Quicker than a diesel
And best/worst multipoint systems for the V8? Can't answer
I know these questions will make me sound like a child in LR terms, but we all have to start somewhere ?

Be gentle with me.... :baby:
Click to expand...


DII V8's are lovely vehicles but very greedy on fuel, so if you running it on LPG ensure the LPG tanks are large enough capacity to make it practical.

Also ensure that you get the installation certificate and the annual check certificates.

Good luck

Dave
 
I can't vouch for the D2 V8 but I've had a couple of D1 V8s on LPG - one manual and one auto. Personally, I couldn't detect any difference in mpg between petrol and LPG. The manual did 17-18 to the gallon and the auto 12-13 overall according to my records.

Having decided to get a D2 I thought long and hard about V8 vs Td5 and eventually went down the diesel route simply because having to plan a journey so that you can get LPG can be a right PITA. Even with 80 litre tanks you're limited to 64l of LPG and it quickly runs out!

Also (IIRC) if the tanks have been on the vehicle for ten years then they will need re-certifying or replacing - certificate is only valid for ten years.

Sorry, can't comment on which multi-point system is best as both my D1s had single point Leonardo systems fitted.

Hope that helps :)
 
I run a D2 V8 auto on LPG, Never had any major problems with it and its on 135ish thousand miles, to fill mine with gas costs around 48quid depending on pump price, local running around ill get between 160 and 180 miles from it in winter, add another 10 or so miles in the summer when the weathers warmer, on a long run with cruise control the most i got was 210miles, never had any real problems finding fuel stations that do gas, i suppose the biggest problem is that my fuel tank now only takes 5 gallons so if ya do run out of gas in the middle of nowhere ya not got many miles left to find petrol or gas, but thats never happened to me, my system was fitted 10 years ago and was a single point, last year i had new tanks etc fitted at about 700quid and today the front ends being uprated to a multipoint system as the gas valve blew on Monday, will cost about 600 to 700quid, but for the length of time its lasted its still a cheap system and pays for itself on the fuel saving, as for the rest of the Disco its behaved itself and no big repair bills although i do look after it and dont let little niggles esculate into big problems :)
 
Warm up time, 1/2mile or five minutes and there's heat from the windscreen vents and 1&1/2miles hot and at 3 miles i'm turning the heater controls down and thats with the recent low temps in my area.

Is a V8 a reliable lump, yes yes and yes as i've had three, all mine have been, although my 3.5RR had to have a new engine ECU at 80K and a camshaft etc at 110k miles, the only thing to go wrong with my 3.9 so far was a water pump bearing failing last year but then it's not into the high milage being a "weekend" car.

Does it have any known big bill problems, no more than any other big engine but remember the were expensive vehicles when new and so down the line may not have been maintained as they should.
It appears from what I read is that LPG engines suffer more with overheating than with petro,l which if that happens then worst case you may need a new engine.

I would worry more about the electronics of a D2 than the engine it's fitted with.
It was still early days for LR with that stuff, the last RRC, P38s and Ds2 are all suffering with their own problems in the electronics and minor mechanical parts dept.
 
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I was keen on buying a D2 V8 but was put off by the slipped liner issues and overheating problems that seem quite common and opted for a TD5 however i still have a lingering desire for the V8!
 
Do it.

I bought one 2 weeks ago when the practicalities of having 3 kids under 7 years old and planning weekend drop-offs and pick-ups became more of a military campaign due to only having one car. Went for an 03 V8 with 59k on the clock and couldnt be happier, well maybe not having to replace the discs and pads all round would have made me happier but other than that no issues to report! Picked her up from Inverness and drove the 560 miles home. Keep meaning to put some info in the intro section!

Plenty of garages sell LPG round here so not a problem and we do 7,000 miles a year so relatively low mileage anticipated like yourself.
 
I run a D2 V8, on lpg, just had to replace a burnt out spark plug today, runs like a dream now.
Keep getting people say what a nice sound it makes...not like them diesels.
 
Do it! V8 is a pleasure to drive with the power and noise! as said make sure has a good tank set up, my d1 v8 has a 5gal reserve tank in sill and 4x lpg tanks 2 where original tank was and 2x down the sill, filling about 120/130litres at the pump! My last one had a tank in the boot which i always found annoying. Comparing my v8 running to a friends td5 mine is cheaper to run plus cheaper insurance on a v8 ;) both my v8z have been on lpg never a problem with overheating, if i had the money would love a d2 v8
 
Good stuff, cheers fellas.

It's a small LPG tank, 60litres the guy is quoting but he's saying he gets 250 to a tank on a run which sounds about right at 80% capacity. Pain only having 35 litres of petrol.

Can you add additional capacity?

Biggest problem I have is although the car looks well looked after, the LPG install was 2k for example,,I don't think the current owner knows what hes got.

Do all face lifted twin headlight versions have ACE? If not he's either got an XS with optional Alcatraz trim or an Adventurer and I've no idea if that has ACE!

Probably why it's a bit cheap too.
 
You can add extra LPG tanls relatively easily, may have a set of twin under slung tanks avaliable in near future 36litre i think each, not a expert but i believe all face lifts have ace, think only 5seaters don't have ace
 
Have seen copies of the paperwork now, reg nbr is different cos it was a private plate but that's why I would have expected it to be vin nbr.

Current owner doesn't seem to know much about his own vehicle which may be because he hasn't had it that long.


You know what they say though, if it doesn't feel right walk away!
 
I got a facelift 04 TD5 and there's no ACE fitted. So they did make them without ACE and incidentally air suspension. Dunno about the big petrol things though.
 
Ours has twin sill tanks and a full petrol tank, we get 150 miles approx on the 48 litres (net) LPG, but with a full tank of petrol we've never got stuck. Holland is particularly good for LPG, and you can get plenty of booklets and information on LPG sites.

We've been up and down the country a few times and know most of the places we can get LPG, and if we go where there isn't any, we make sure we are full beforehand, so at least we do most of the trip on LPG.

As long as you look after them, the V8's are fine, but plenty of dogs out there that haven't had the correct coolant and have rusty liners in the aluminium block.

Ours is a manual, just over 144k miles now, but the engine was a new short motor we put in when we bought it with 89735 miles on the clock. It came with a clapped out mess of a 4.6 from ebay, but we didn't pay big money and just put a new lump in.

We tow a lot, pictures in this thread:

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f8/towing-220077.html

Peter
 
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