1.4 Petrol/lpg Queries- Help!

[broder]

Bought a 2002 berlingo 1.4 lpg- 81k, immac inside n out,runs beautifully, but:

:the service book only gpes to 30k- last owner says he fitted cambelt at last servoce 75k- can i lppk at belt amd tell if its new? Eg- will orogonal belt be marled " citroen" or will wear ne obvious? Would replace as precaution,but am gettin back to work after accident,and am skint

Also- what kind of mileage can i expect from it? Has beem serviced with synthetic oil n good plugs,etc ?

what mpg does lpg give? The lpg ( and petrol) gauges are VERY erratic ?

What kind of mpg on petrol? I drive very steadily, keep to 60 on mway for economy ?

Any videos showing how to fit cambelt?

 

All info appreciated

Ps- pls tell me anythong to lpok out forl/ be aware of....

[broder]

Pps- as its a van, can i expect decent mileage from clutch? What wpuld ypu expect??

Thanks

[Johndouglas]

I don't think looking at your cambelt will give you much idea of it's age or condition. It probably won't be marked with the Citroen logo either. The two leading makers of belts who supply most car makers are Dayco and Gates. Hanging on a peg in my garage are half a dozen old belts that I've changed over the years. At a glance most of them look fine - one or two need to be twisted inside out to see the cracks at the base of the teeth. If you have doubts about it, get it changed as soon as.

 

Life of a clutch is an unknown quantity. My daughter recently sold her Xsara with 145K on the clock. She'd had it from new and the clutch was showing no signs of weakening. On the other hand, my neighbour bought a new diesel Mini in 2011 and now at 19K the clutch when I looked at it for her was completely gone. She's just spent £800 on it.

[paul.h]

I am guessing the LPG was an aftermarket conversion and not originally installed, if not some of the following may not be correct.

 

If you have the car handbook it will give the official fuel economy figures for petrol. Our 2003 C3 1.4 petrol 75 bhp gave about 35 to 45 mpg depending on the type of driving. LPG will use a greater volume since it has a lower molecular weight than petrol, so each litre has less energy available. If the van has a trip meter on the dash, the button on the end of the wiper stalk can be pushed to go through the various pages and will tell you the fuel economy being achieved but this is probably only when using petrol. You could also ask the previous owner if you are in touch.

 

This is from an AA topic:

LPG costs a little more than half the price of petrol or diesel, but fuel economy will be about 20-25% lower. Overall running an LPG car costs approximately a third less than a petrol only car – but only once you've recovered the cost of the conversion.

 

So this would suggest, whilst using petrol may be about 12 p/mile, using LPG will be about 8 p/mile.

 

As regards the timing belt, on our C3 I used to remove the top cover each year to inspect it since it was only held by 2 bolts. When it is changed though, the tensioner, any pulleys and also the water pump should be replaced since these do not last forever and you should check with the previous owner if these were done - I would ask to see receipts for the parts as evidence. As an absolute minimum for now, I would inspect the belt to see if there is any obvious damage/perishing/teeth missing/ oil contamination to give you a bit of confidence to postpone (or not) replacing the belt for a bit.

 

Haynes do a workshop manual for the Berlingo which will give all the details of replacing the timing belt. Sometimes these are available in libraries if you do not wish to buy a copy.

 

The 1.4 petrol engines can suffer from oil leaks at the timing belt end of the cylinder head gasket as a seal in the oil way can perish, so something to have a look for.