Constructive Criticism - 1990 4Runner

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Guys,
I'm in an interesting predicament WRT my 1990 4Runner RV-6.

It's been one of my favourite vehicles. Looks good, goes places, comfortable etc. 189,000km on the car, 90,000 on the bottom end (which was replaced as a pat of the head gasket recall)

I "replaced" it a year ago with a turbodiesel dual cab ute with canopy as the family vehicle, but as this is a lease, there was no option to trade in. I have tried for about a year to sell the 4Runner. (Intended to pick up a 10 year old diesel ute and run it on WVO)

It's a popular vegicle, and my pricing is(was) pretty good, as most of the people who are interested have paid more for the same car in lesser condition.

My quandry starts now.

As fuel prices have soared, the price that people are willing to pay for it has plummetted. It gets 7.2km/l on regular ($1.05/litre),and just under 8km/l on premium ($1.14/litre).

It's a great car, well maintained, and completely worth nothing at present.

I'm starting to figure that I may as well keep it, and throw on a propane conversion. Propane is under 50c/litre.

At current prices and anual mileage, the conversion will be paid off in 3 years.

If prices keep going up.............
 
That's rough. I bet the ads you see for similar vehicles aren't resulting in many sales either. People are probably asking what's left on their loan or an (imaginary) "blue book" value that hasn't been updated for the effect of gas prices yet. Around here used 4x4s bottom out at a price that truly equals their utility, plowing snow in someone's driveway for their latter years. Roadworthy ones are held, pricewise, above this plateau.

Does a liter of propane go as far as a liter of gasoline? Where I see it the price is converted into a gasoline equivalent. Any troubles with road tax, etc.? For a vehicle worth "nothing" it is fertile ground for expermienting; if you are good at it you can do it for others.

Furthermore,
grin.gif
I bet you got a better deal on that new diesel than you could presently. Maintain the dickens out of this one!
 
quote:

Originally posted by eljefino:
.
Does a liter of propane go as far as a liter of gasoline?


Propane has about 75% of the energy content per gallon of gasoline. Expect to use about 1.3 times as much propane as gasoline. With Shannow's price differences on fuel, propane looks real good for him.

Propane is 104 octane, so if you want to optimize your engine for propane by rasing the compression ratio to 11:1 or so, you can gain back some of the loss. Propane also burns slower so you need to adjust timing so it doen't toast your exhaust valves.
 
XS650,
from logbooks on a previous propane fuelled vehicle, you are pretty cloes to spot on WRT increased fuel consumption (chemistry textbooks rule again).

eljefino,
it hasn't hit the new car market as yet, but my turbodiesel gets 10.7km/l (at $1.11 per litre). It won't take long for people to wake up to that.

(I'd love to put a *** Import TDi into the 4Runner, but that's quite a few more grand than the propane).
 
quote:

Originally posted by Shannow:
XS650,
from logbooks on a previous propane fuelled vehicle, you are pretty cloes to spot on WRT increased fuel consumption (chemistry textbooks rule again).


That's why they are called the laws of thermodynamics instead of the suggestions of thermodynamics
grin.gif
 
With propane expect power loss and a loss in feul mileage unless the compression is increased or turbo boost is upped .If you can avoid road taxes there may be a savings. Also the vaporizer can fail . It is a hard call. Propane is expensive where I live.
 
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