paulsvet

Our C1 starting leaking through the interior light when i put it through the car wash! I took it in to citroen and they sealed it up. Its probably rusting its way back in as we speak. It seems to be ok in the door areas tho, touch wood.

Hi martin, These are the people who did mine: Profess Autogas, Unit 4 East Road Penallta Ind Est Ystrad Mynach CF82 7QZ tel 07981 959245 I'm sure they won't mind the advertising! Basically they fit a converter button onto the dash to the right of the steering wheel, so you can easily see the amount of gas in your tank. The torridial (sic) tank goes where your spare was, and the filler point is in the rear bumper. I shopped about for quite a while to find the right price for a multi point injection system, which is what you want rather than a single point one. 1000 is cheap for us as well as we only have 3 cylinders. When the gas is out it utters a beeping noise so just press the button to switch back to petrol and head for the nearest lpg garage! Its really simple to fill up, just like putting a bayonet light bulb in. I did have to wait 10 days for my appt, but it was all done in a day, then back in a month for a tune-up. The downside is you lose the spare wheel space, but I have a can of foam in case i get a flat tyre. I like to run it on petrol until the engine is warm (but not for too long!) , then switch over so both systems get some use.

you are most welcome! the transport for london website shows all the criteria and has a pdf file which you download and print out, the link to it is here: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/CC-...ve-fuel.pdf.pdf You have to fill it in and enclose the conversion receipt and associated paperwork the garage gives you. It costs 10 pounds a year to be on the register, but thats like the equivalent of one trip into central london! To get the cheaper road tax you have to take the conversion forms and old tax disc to a dvla office, fill out a form and they do the rest. I had to wait a couple of weeks for the tax refund.

I enquired this to citroen before i had it converted, they said that any subsequent defects with the engine wouldn't be covered, but the rest of the warranty wouldn't be affected. I never got that in writing so not sure how true that is. For the price of a new engine I considered the risk vs potential savings to be worth it. As for 750Nig and his comment regarding fuel supplies, we are just trying to stay in the game. I enclose a quote from CNN: 'Oil production levels will hit their maximum soon after 2010 with gas supplies peaking not long afterwards, the Swedish geologists say. At that point prices for petrol and other fuels will reach disastrous levels. Earlier studies had predicted oil supplies will not start falling until 2050'. Clearly gas prices will be also higher when production levels peak. We are hoping that it will at least be nearly affordable, unlike petrol or diesel which is already prohibitive. One fact is clear, production of both won't stop until it is all gone for ever. Sorry for the doomsday view! Clearly if you only drive 3000 miles a year, conversion for you would only be for ethical reasons for your kids, unless you were planning to keep the car for ever, in which case it would still pay you to do it. 1000 quid on top of the purchase price is really only the difference between a vibe or a rhythm!

Thanks for the advice re: the valve clearances, the front brake pads are showing signs of wear, I will ask them to check them when they do the pads. I got the pressures checked when I took it back in after the 1 month bedding in period, I can't remember what they were but I was intrigued by how it is all configured by a laptop and one machine in the workshop. The car had done 8000 miles when i got it converted, its done 36000 now, so thats 28000 since conversion 10 months ago! Obviously doing a lot of motorway miles and going to london a bit means it's paid for itself much faster for me, but if you are planning to keep the car, and as C1's are one of the few cars on the powershift register, it puts a higher resale value on the car and so makes sense even if you don't do the miles. Personally for me the best feeling is when you've filled it up and only have to hand over a ten or 15 in the most expensive forecourts. Having had an old audi diesel before, it was getting me down handing over 60 quid each time i filled up. I guess it would be nearer 80 quid now, for a 60ltr tank.

Yeah i got it serviced on Friday. New plugs, oil, air and pollen filter, powerflush and brakes checked for 139. The mechanic said the oil was still very good considering it was 10000 miles old. I run the car on petrol every day initially to keep the valves and everything ticking over. When I got it converted the mechanics told me to run the car for a month to 'bed it in' then bring it back in to get the valves readjusted and the engine retuned, which i did and there was no charge, just an improvement in smoothness at idling speed. With regard to the savings, mpg equates currently to 125mpg based on 48p gas / 110p petrol. Not taking the 8 pound a day congestion charge into account, i'm spending approx 30 pound a week on gas, as opposed to 60 on petrol. Over the year thats roughly 1500 pounds on gas, as opposed to 3000 on petrol. So in theory the conversion paid for itself after only 9 months. Of course the savings will be made even quicker if you drive into town a lot, where you could save up to another 2000 a year. As to Colin c1's comments about LPG, I have seen an increase in the price of gas since august 07 from 40 to 50p, but at the same time petrol and diesel have shot up much faster. If the government have any credibility at all, they will protect alternative fuels, as stocks of petrol and diesel continue to run out.

Has anyone else done this or is thinking about having it done to their c1's? I got mine converted last August, it cost 1000 pounds inc vat to have it converted as it only has the 3 cylinders, but it's congestion charge exempt now which saves a few quid, and only costs 13-15 pounds to fill up from empty (30ltr tank in spare wheel well). I'm getting 250-270 miles to a tankful, depending how hard i drive it, which is still 50-55 mpg, but at 50p a litre instead of 1.20 or whatever petrol is now. No difference in performance, although I usually run it on petrol for 5 minutes until the engine is warm before switching over. Most towns have 1 or 2 places that sell it, about 1300 garages in the uk. As i intend to keep the car for a few years, i reckon it will pay for itself soon, especially with petrol going the way it is. Plus the other benefit is road tax is only 15 quid a year now! If anyone wants to convert their c1 i can recommend the guys that did mine.

Thanks for the advice guys, much appreciated. I've done a couple of 1000 miles on the wheels, they drive perfectly aside from the occasional grinding over bumpy bits. Its even brought the speedometer right so it says 50 when i'm doing 50, and not 52. The solution seems to be rising rate springs then, I guess fitting dampers isn't an option? They seem to work for caravans, but I'm not sure about cars. Any damper experts or rising rate spring retailers out there? Obviously with it being 3pts on your licence per defective tyre, I want to stop the rubbing asap. I've stuck the michelins back on for now.

Hi, I have a problem with my wheels and want to know the cheapest solution please. I just changed my standard Michelin Energy wheels (165x65xR14 75t) for Acceler Alloys (195x50xR15 82v). They fit well and look ok. The problem is, when I have the wife and kids in there and we go over a bump in the road, the rear tyres grind against the rear wheel arch. This has caused some light cuts to the tyres, not very deep but still a worry as there are quite a lot of strips of rubber missing now. What's the best solution, dampers, new shocks, or raising the suspension, where can i get such items cheapest, and who do you recommend to do the work? Many thanks for any advice please.

I'm guessing you've bought some covers by now, but if anyone else is looking this place does them: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FUR-CAR-SEAT-COVERS-...1QQcmdZViewItem I bought some sheepskin type ones that seem quite hard wearing, although they do make the car even more stupid looking than before!