Convert Opel Astra to LPG

Hi, I'm new to carwale but I must say its one of the best Indian resources on cars around. I was going through the threads and Karan and Mr Banwari Lal Sharma have a done a great job helping others out. Great work guys!

Now for my query, I have an old Opel Astra which been lying in the garage since a year now. So i'm thinking of not letting it rot away as its just doen about 50k kilometers till date!

I'm in Chandigarh and to my knowledge there are no CNG pumps so that rules out CNG for me.

The car is in pretty decent shape and i'm thinking of getting it converted to LPG. Could anyone please tell me the financial implications?

-1- What'll be the cost of the kit? I've heard 12k from a local man. Now i want it to be the best possible kit i can get and get it registered with the authorities too. I've read from the forum itself that Italian kits are good, can someone tell me which ones? Or how can i identify them as the mechanic might just palm me off some fake as i have little knowledge about such things.

-2- What is the cost of running I can expect from the converted car? The Astra's not a very petrol efficient car as you all know. Even a rough per kilometer estimate will be much appreciated! I'll be doing about 40km a day.

-3- Can a LPG converted car be converted to a CNG car later on as I think CNG is even more cheap. If yes, what'll be the cost? This local dealer told me that his kit, whichever it was can be used for both. As far as I think only the storage container is the basic difference right?

-4- What will be the performance diff. after conversion? Negligible?

If anyone can help me on any of the above i'll be highly obliged! Thanks!

Hey Sid,

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Hi thanks for the heads up. But i think i managed to post. I'm using XP SP2 and IE7.

What worked for me was choosing edit, then going to the HTML coding before pressing update again!

Yes, Opel Astra is not a fuel-economic car. Even maintenance cost is not very pleasing either. But Astra is a beautiful machine and as you said, your car is in good shape but is dying in your garage, giving it a try would be a wise thing.

LPG kit costs in 11,000-20,000 rupees range. Most of the good brands are italian ones. A few respected ones are Lovato, BRC, Landi Renzo etc. Try finding some good trusted workshop for the job. Insist that the workshop gets you RTO endorsement done. All the kits come with certain warranties. Chandigarh is a quite good place as far as automobile market is concerned, I don't think you will find any problem in finding a good workshop.

Running cost will be reduced by some 30-35%. I think your Astra should cost you less than 4 rs/km. LPG and CNG kits are different instruments. Both have different mechanisms. I sincerely doubt that a LPG kit can work with CNG as well. But yes, you can always convert your car from LPG to CNG.This conversion will further cost you some 30,000 rupees.

p.s. It's great that you could post your query. The IE7/Vista problem will be solved till tomorrow.



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1. no italian kit can b fit for 12k ... e'en at chandigarh ............... try reputed italian brands like brc or tartarini .... brc shud b available at ch ......... ur only security lies in hunting out th best fitter in chandigarh .... look around .... talk to friends ........ talk to other lpg users ..... preferably of mid segment cars of ..... honda ..... ford .... hyundai etc ........ if not in ur circle .... than at lpg pumps ........... but find th best fitter ...... he will give u a reliable italian kit as also do a reliable fitting .... remember th quality of fitting is more imp than th quality of th kit

2. on a good kit with good fitting ... on 1 ltr of lpg expect 80-85%of ur petrol average (at mumbai prices th savings r 40%)

3. lpg car can never run on cng .......... similarly ..... cng car can nvr run on lpg ....... and ur dealer ... whoever told u it can .............. just avoid him like plague

4. with a good kit and good fitting ......... it is virtually impossible to distinguish between petrol and lpg driving

lpg cars can nvr b converted to cng ........ and ..... cng cars can never b converted to lpg

(unless of course mr sharma is talking abt removing one kit altogether ........ and replacing it with th other)

Thanks for the prompt reply! So basically i'll get something around RS 4 a kilometer. But under no circumstances would i get something like RS 2 a kilometer? The reason i'm asking is that the local man tells me that the car does 225-250 km in RS 300 worth of gas. This is completely false? If its more than 2 bucks a km i might have my doubts in even wanting to convert! And does LPG leave a odur in the car? And would you have any idea about CNG introduction in Chandigarh? Also a reliable dealer i can approach for the kit. I'm most grateful to both of yyou.

i am talking about th legal autolpg which is available from petrol/lpg pumps....... perhaps ur local charlie is talking abt running ur car illegally on domestic lpg by transferring it to ur cylinder using local transfer pumps ... (domestic lpg in cars is highly unsafe .... and ruins ur car and ur happines over a period of time)

NO ............... if u can smell lpg ... (barring at th time of refilling ) it means only 1 thing ...... there is a leakage ...... which needs immidiate correction

Yes Vidhur, absolutely. I explain myself more explicitly. An LPG car can be fitted CNG kit by removing LPG kit and installing CNG one. This conversion will cost 30,000-35,000 rupees (cost of new CNG kit).



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