Quick question regarding Dodge Ram and LPG...

[Jo Po]

A friend of the family has a Dodge Ram, Excuse me for not knowing which one, I just know its large, grey and a twin can and around a 2005 plate.

He bought it already fitted with an LPG kit and likes to think he has money so always makes things out to be dearer than they are.

Told us he paid £20,000 for it, Which is possible. But what got me, and kind put me off of a big yank anytime soon was, That he fills the tank up with petrol and it uses that in a month! £200! And its only for starting it up then it switches to gas after around 7 minutes.

Is that right or is he making up tall tales to try and make it that he has loads of money?

I hope im right butit sounds feasible.

Thanks.

[Viper]

they tend to switch over to LPG once the engines reached a certain temperature, but its more like 20 seconds not 7 mins

the 2005 rams hold either 98 or 132 litres depending which one you have, so £200 isnt to far away

[BLUETHUNDER]

I had a 5.9 Ram on LPG.It took an eternity to change over. Never ran right. And was horrendous on LPG. I had it looked over by three different gas specialists. And know one could really improve on it. Plus every now and again it would throw the engine check light up.

Edited by BLUETHUNDER on Friday 14th January 19:15

[shovelheadrob]

I have been using LPG on American trucks for years, my last one (Dodge Dakota 4.7 V8) would use maybe 2 tankfuls of petrol per year, start up (1-1.5 miles max) plus the occasional time I would run out of gas, this was with an average mileage of 12k. My current F150 Roush Supercharged uses more petrol as it also switches back to petrol if you really boot it, even so I only put 80-90 litres of petrol in every 3-4 months. Similar mileage use, so either your friend has a problem with his truck or perhaps the problem is elswhere.

[Motorama]

I have an 06 Ram 2500 Hemi on LPG, when i start it from cold in the morning it switches to LPG after a mile or so. If its already warmed up it switches over almost instantly. I rarely put petrol in it, £20 a month tops. Gas system was a Romano, cost over £3k when installed partly due to the massive 170 litre LPG tank

[Escalade]

I have a Dodge Ram 4.7 that runs on LPG. I put around £80 of petrol in a month. It takes about 3 mins to switch over on average. Unless you do a lot of miles LPG is really not worth the conversion costs!

[powerstroke]

Escalade said:

I have a Dodge Ram 4.7 that runs on LPG. I put around £80 of petrol in a month. It takes about 3 mins to switch over on average. Unless you do a lot of miles LPG is really not worth the conversion costs!

yes and LPG has less energy than petrol so you will use more LPG than if your on petrol liter for liter however gas is cheaper....

[Camdoor]

Hi Guys

I wish to put a gas system on a 5.7 MDS Hemi (Prins probably) - is there any info around regarding valve seat survival rate on the Hemi - I read the 4.7 magnum was prone to valve probs.... I have a heavy right foot - Will driving on Lpg briskly damage the engine at all???

Thanks
Al

[andy rob]

my prinns lpg ram, does use a bit of petrol, I fill petrol tank every few months, as well putting lots of lpg in & I mean lots of lpg, but does do a fair few miles & normally has a car trailer on so cant expect it to be good on fuel

[RB Will]

I don't have LPG on my 5.7 1500. Its about £125 to fill the tank from when the fuel light is on. I do most of my driving on short trips around town unfortunately so only average 10-12mpg (have had 17mpg out of it on a run down to the coast and that was loaded up with family and dog and towing a jet ski)so that £125 is gone in about 200 miles. Luckily I don't drive very far.
If your friend drives an average sort of distance then I could well believe that £200 a month in LPG would be doable. Are you sure He was just talking petrol costs @ £200 a month and not all in fuel costs?
I have seen conversions where the LPG tank is upto 140L so that would be about £110 to fill with LPG. Economy wil be slightly worse on LPG so for the sake of easy maths lets call it 10mpg (in my case). That is roughly 32gal so 320 miles per tank. If you did 10k miles per year that would be 833 per month so about 2.6 tanks/ £285.

If he is using £200 in petrol alone in a month we have 2 options really. 1) he drives a lot of short journeys with the engine from cold so it hardly ever switches to gas or 2) its fked.

Also you know your friend better than us but it might not be about boasting how much money he has. In the grand scheme of things £20k for a Ram is about midrange not showoff money (although £20K on an 05 Ram is pretty high), people spend more on a Corsa for heavens sake. Also it can be quite fun "boasting" about the amazing fuel economy of a Ram. The first thing anybody says to you when you have a Ram is along the lines of "bet that is a bit thirsty" The look of horror when they realise just how bad they can be is priceless. Also whats wrong with filling up more than once a month? In my younger days I was driving my Impreza all the time and would fill up 2-3 times a week! A trip out to the Ring would see me fill up 8 times in 4 days! Then again you have people like my Mum and Sister who fill up about once every 2 months.

Edited by RB Will on Wednesday 3rd April 10:43

[Art0ir]

Motorama said:

I have an 06 Ram 2500 Hemi on LPG, when i start it from cold in the morning it switches to LPG after a mile or so. If its already warmed up it switches over almost instantly. I rarely put petrol in it, £20 a month tops. Gas system was a Romano, cost over £3k when installed partly due to the massive 170 litre LPG tank

How long does that take to fill up? Filling my 85L is pain enough.

[Motorama]

Art0ir said:

Motorama said:

I have an 06 Ram 2500 Hemi on LPG, when i start it from cold in the morning it switches to LPG after a mile or so. If its already warmed up it switches over almost instantly. I rarely put petrol in it, £20 a month tops. Gas system was a Romano, cost over £3k when installed partly due to the massive 170 litre LPG tank

How long does that take to fill up? Filling my 85L is pain enough.

Pumps always trip off at 100 litres anyway so wasnt to bad, i tended to keep it topped up to save filling from empty. I have sold the truck on now. I have a GMC Suburban and a Jeep Cherokee both on gas at the moment as well as a couple of Cummins diesel Rams

[andy rob]

Motorama said:

Pumps always trip off at 100 litres anyway so wasnt to bad, i tended to keep it topped up to save filling from empty. I have sold the truck on now. I have a GMC Suburban and a Jeep Cherokee both on gas at the moment as well as a couple of Cummins diesel Rams

Cummins Ram = the way forward, mega pick up truck, they have one down side, every one ive had has been worth too much to keep as garage hack, hence my old 2003 lpg ram isnt worth selling, for me park it up for a weeks doesnt matter, if it was a £20K diesel ram it would have been up for sale

[Motorama]

andy rob said:

Motorama said:

Pumps always trip off at 100 litres anyway so wasnt to bad, i tended to keep it topped up to save filling from empty. I have sold the truck on now. I have a GMC Suburban and a Jeep Cherokee both on gas at the moment as well as a couple of Cummins diesel Rams

Cummins Ram = the way forward, mega pick up truck, they have one down side, every one ive had has been worth too much to keep as garage hack, hence my old 2003 lpg ram isnt worth selling, for me park it up for a weeks doesnt matter, if it was a £20K diesel ram it would have been up for sale

Exactly, hence why both Rams will be on Ebay by Monday, lol. My GMC Suburban i bought 2 years ago already gas converted, paid peanuts for it, and as you say not worth selling, just to handy to have and cheap to run for what it owes me