Symphony van with LPG conversion, yes or no?

I see quite a few petrol Peugeot Symphony vans with LPG conversions.

Does anyone have experience with LPG-powered vans?

Ideally, I would like a DSL model but a good one seems hard to find and I've seen a few petrol / LPG vans for sale.

I'm put off as I remember my dad's brother had nothing but problems when he had his Mercedes fitted with an LPG kit and it just never ran correctly.

Any advice is much appreciated.

thanks Paul

Diesel will be infinitely better in about every respect, my petrol Harmony was a 2l petrol and surprisingly good, but far from diesel flexibility.

Some years ago I had an LPG/petrol Mondeo. I was commuting 43 miles each way daily, and thought the conversion would save me money. 
However, the car developed a misfire. The LPG converter said it was a Ford problem, Ford said take it back to the LPG company. Never got rid of the misfire.
Also, the LPG "fuel gauge" was a series of LEDs, very vague. It was important not to let the gas run out, so I needed to fill up much more often than I did when the car was just petrol. And it was hard to find a supplier on my commuting route (Cheltenham to Bristol- nothing on the M5, so if I needed gas I had to divert to the A38)
In the end, I moved to Cheltenham, walking distance to work, and sold the car.

We are now having a custom motorhome being built, and considering an underslung LPG tank instead of bottled gas. LPG suppliers are still few and far between, and I wonder whether we'd be better off with bottled gas?

I've no experience of lpg conversions of engines but I do not go along with the statement 'LPG suppliers are still few and far between '.
This is a map from the app Autogasapp....there are still over 1000 garages selling LPG in  the UK

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I agree with Paul. Although there are not as many as AS would like you to believe in their blurb if you use the app and plan your journey it’s ok. We even mark them on our atlas while on our travels……yes an atlas…..much more convenient! 

The Autogasapp app doesn't appear to be available on my iPhone, but I have looked at it on my laptop.

I'm comfortable enough with the availability of LPG for "habitation use", because we'll fill up at a local station before we set off on a trip, and like our bottled gas what we carry should be enough. 

My point was about LPG for propulsion of the van; we fill the fuel tank more often than we top up the habitation gas. According to the Autogasapp it is still the case that, for example, there is only only LPG station between Cheltenham & Bristol, on the A38, until you get to Gordano Services.

So to Paul240z I would say that LPG is an ideal and cheap fuel for a short-haul vehicle, say a taxi, local delivery van, etc, but not for the likes of a camper van which is by definition, long-haul.

I’m happy with the current availability of LPG for the habitation side of things but personally I would not buy an LPG fuelled vehicle. I would be thinking about sale time in the future as just one reason not to.
Just my thoughts and I’m often wrong though 

Paulmold wrote:I've no experience of lpg conversions of engines but I do not go along with the statement 'LPG suppliers are still few and far between '.
This is a map from the app Autogasapp....there are still over 1000 garages selling LPG in  the UK

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I agree, but you do have to plan your route and sites to make sure you have an outlet close at hand. Many down this way between Portsmouth and Dorset are often out of gas. I think even the Calor Centers have stopped or shut down as they don't appear on the App.

I am out of gas and cannot find any within a 30 mile radius.
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Richard

Richard
I use bottled propane and usually get it from local, often village co-op stores, worth a try?

From my days doing breakdown work LPG powered vehicles were not a good idea. A local parcel company had a fleet of LPG/ petrol powered vans. We were told to switch them back to petrol if they broke down. There was no one in this area that was able to repair them meaning they had to go back to the converters. 
As others have said stick to a known Diesel engine that could be repaired by any decent garage.

AND, as simple a diesel as poss!
No EGR valve, no swirl vanes, no DPF, if at all poss, no electronic ECU!!

As someone who has just had the LPG system removed from his 1998 Symphony it's nice to have confirmation that I did the right thing!  It was nothing but a pain!

IanH wrote:AND, as simple a diesel as poss!
No EGR valve, no swirl vanes, no DPF, if at all poss, no electronic ECU!!

I Agree with this statement wholeheartedly, 

My Husband has a VW car and the EGR  failed recently, cost a packet , then it still wasn`t working, VW dealers said it wasn`t  a faulty part, so after paying for two extra diagnostic tests turns out it was a faulty part, then had to wait for part to be delivered and fitted, after complaining about having to pay out for two extra tests and the getting car 22 miles to the VW  garage and back again three times, He eventually did get some refund, but was without his car for some time. Modern electronic vehicles you can keep them, plain simple and reliable every time, that is why I have my Topaz .

"Good luck for any of you with the new and improved MH "