Propane Conversion 2003 Tacoma

Is it worth it ?

Buddy told me it'd cost 3000 CDN to have the kit installed (said it'd pay itself off the first year from fuel savings)

But for 3 grand i could probably pick up a beater and drive that around..

Has anyone else heard of this ?

 

Never heard of it being done on a Taco that I can recall.

 

Ditto. I would certainly like to see it done.

If it actually pays itself off that much, that fast why buy a beater and not do it? If you do it, you could by a new beater every year you are driving your yota...or dump that money into mods...

I would look into the paying itself off part. I haven't looked into propane other than to ditch a carb, so I can't say, but it just sounds a little to good. If it actually saves that much money I may be the first Taco to do it haha.

 

$3000 is going to be able to buy enough gasoline to take you 15,000 miles, so the only way that it can save enough to pay for itself in the first year is if you drive 30,000 AND the cost per mile of propane is half that of gasoline.

Propane is also much less powerful than gasoline... if you think your Taco is slow now...

 

Not worth it, only time propane is worth it is if its for a trail only vehicle and your converting from a carb or want the simplicity of a few wires.

 

I've seen a lot of old Toyota Pickup owners do it for their trail rigs. Don't do it for your Taco.

 

I didn't know about propane conversions either. I Googled "conversion kits" and saw a couple for USD$1500 but they don't seem to come with a tank. The propane price is ~USD$4/gallon. The prce range is USD$3.79 on up to USD$4.79 just in my area. Gasoline is around USD$4/gallon. They're duel fuel meaning you can run gas and lpg.

The range isn't what I thought it would be. Only around 8-9MPG which is maybe 6mpg or so less than what I get today. Plus you lose a good chunk of the bed with the tank. For that to make sense to me, I'd need to see either a significantly lower fuel price or a much better range.

Is propane that much cheaper than gasoline in Canada? And how does the propane conversion work in the colder climates or would you stick with duel fuel?

 

I didn't think pane was that cheap... Looks like it's more expensive than gas by more than double if it's only running 8mpg.

 

Exactly.

 

I used to work for a Clark Equip back in the day and we would install a dual fuel set up to some fork lifts that you could run on gasoline or propane with the flick of a switch.

Had to drill a small hole in the thermostat to allow coolant to heat the vaporizer in the winter at first start up so the vaporizer wouldn't freeze up.


http://store03.prostores.com/servlet/nashfuel/the-DUAL-FUEL-KITS/Categories

 

I thought about a dual setup, Cruise highways on the propane when not engaged in heavy towing.

And when i needed to tow something to haul stuff around i'd use gas. As far as the gas tank destroying the 5"bed, i mean honestly the 5" bed to me is useless i can't really fit anything in there. My buddy's 4 runner has more Cargo space then my taco.

But my 03 is a daily driver, it looks good, sounds nice, gives me all the options i need to get out of a sticky mess. The only thing it kills me on is gas.

I was told about the propane conversion from a really good friend who is a dealer. He knew some tow trucks that ran Propane and got 1200 km's to the tank.

Having said that, back home. Every single car on the street runs CNG along with gasoline (but keep in mind these are low output engines 800 - 1200 ccs)

Toronto Prices:
PER LITER:

Current Propane Fleet Price: 0.474
Gasoline Price: 1.193
Diesel Price: 1.239

 

At .47/litre, it looks like the cost is a wash with the reduced MPG/L... the system will certainly not pay for itself in a year.

From the numbers posted above... 8-9mpg on pane vs 16 on gasoline is a 1:2 difference.
Cost differential is 0.474 to 1.193 = 1:2.5 difference... and that assumes that your gas mileage is double the pane mileage. That ratio is too close to make that assumption. My gas mileage is triple the stated pane mileage... pane would cost me more to run even at half the price of gas.


On the tow trucks getting 1200 km/tank, how big are the tanks? I had a 55 gallon tank in my Duramax, so I could say that I got 800 miles (1300km) to a tank, but the claim was meaningless when comparing to other Duramax owners with their 26 gallon tanks.

Sounds like the main advantage is that it's going to give you a better range... if you get a large enough tank, but it's not going to save you any significant amount of money and the system will not pay for itself for a very long time.
Keep in mind that fleet vehicles generally run pretty much all day, operate PTO equipment, etc.... My last work truck averaged 2mpg because of the PTO and the idling. Situations like that will see a payback on alternative fuels, but those conditions are so far removed from the reality of the daily driver that it's just not going to work out in your favor.

 

I just don't see it as a cost saving. Especially not here. Plus, for me, losing 1/2 the already short bed isn't really acceptable.

Maybe there's a benefit for business? Like tax or something. I'm not convinced of the environmental savings if you need to use double the fuel. I do know that driving behind a propane bus is preferable to a diesel

 

if there was a savings, do you have access to enough CNG fill stations?

 

Around home? Yes. Not so sure about the sticks. But the duel fuel option should keep you happy.

 

here in Shit-tah, CNG vehicles are very popular. The retrofits are expensive, and teh benefits only last until the state contract lasts to keep prices artificially low.

Once every poor SOB converts, a year or 2 down the road, the price will climb back up to where gasoline is now.

and given that fuel economy is only about 65% as good as gasoline, it isnt worth it.

 

Some really good thoughts shared here. I''ll keep an open mind to a future conversion kit. But as most mentioned 3 grand is a little too much for loss of power and shitty mileage.

Who knows maybe something else may come up down the line. Or i could get richer and not have to worry about gas