Cng vehicles opinions

[Aarons Air]

Anyone here familiar with cng pros & cons ? I'm considering buying another work van ( sorry, it's a fird). This van runs on compressed natural gas. The price is relatively cheap, compared to a regular van. I am unfamiliar with cng powered vehicles. Are repairs more difficult ? Harder to find a mechanic ? Cheaper or more expensive to operate ? Difficult finding refueling stations ? Thanks guys.
https://columbus.craigslist.org/ctd/d/carroll-2011-ford-e250-cng-cargo-van/7180200118.html

 

[NoCar2023]

Poor fuel range, limited places to fill up, valve job every 100k. (or less)
It was cheaper for large fleets that compressed there own gas, not so good for the average user...
I would pass.

 

[Aarons Air]

Poor fuel range, limited places to fill up, valve job every 100k. (or less)
It was cheaper for large fleets that compressed there own gas, not so good for the average user...
I would pass.

Good insight- thank you. Thats exactly what i needed to know.

 

[Cranky]

Have you checked on filling stations in your area and how expensive it is to convert back to gasoline.......?

 

[Aarons Air]

Have you checked on filling stations in your area and how expensive it is to convert back to gasoline.......?

No sir. I hadn't considered switching it back. That grabs my interest though. As a regular, comparable van, is almost twice as much $.

 

[NoCar2023]

Besides the spark plugs are ready to blow out of that modular engine....

 

[NoCar2023]

Have you checked on filling stations in your area and how expensive it is to convert back to gasoline.......?

I thought about doing that also. there are cheap CNG vehicles out there.
I was looking at them so I could drive in the carpool lanes here in Cali.
>A trip to pick-a-part.... might be feasible.

 

[Aarons Air]

Besides the spark plugs are ready to blow out of that modular engine....
View attachment 998961

Lol, i'm well aware. I've had a couple of these fird vans with 5.4's. It sounds like a shot gun when it spits one out. They also are prone to the intakes cracking, leaking anti freeze on coil pacs/ plugs. Still not goin cheby though.

 

[NoCar2023]

The main reason I passed on them was the convenience of filling the tanks. (inconvenience that is) tanks also have to be certified.

 

[Cranky]

Turned my back on Ford in the mid/late 70's!! Even the people that were into them were......strange lol. My car of choice was the early Fastbacks and had 5 Mustangs all at the same time with 2 being Fastbacks.

 

[davek]

I miss those ford vans,now driving a transit.

 

[Aarons Air]

I miss those ford vans,now driving a transit.

Really ? I wondered how they are. I love my ladder rack, so i want to stay with a van that has a rain gutter. I think the change was a mistake.

 

[davek]

I hate the ladder rack on my Transit

 

[69Bee]

Valve jobs can be expensive if they need valves or seats (Inconel valves and Star Series HARD seats). I have done a few GM heads, $$$. As far as the spark plugs go, you have to pay attention to the spark plug torque. It is about 8-11 Ft/lb and people usually strip them out or hurt them, and the shoot out with a thud on the hood. Ford bulletin recommends installing steel inserts, which I do often now. That usually runs about $375ish to do, so I usually get asked to repair the bad ones. The sucko part is how many hrs it takes to R&R the heads, which is why Ford gets over $2K to fix it. Not sure of the length of time between repairs as I usually just fix the heads instead of maintaining the vehicles. Another thing to look for is IF you do have heads done, replace the lash adjusters (lifters). Most to all of the Ford heads I get in have lash adjusters that have collapsed. You should not be able to remove the pumped up lash adjusters and have play in the plunger. Because of how much has to be done to get back to them, that is the time to replace them, and they are not that expensive, about $7 to $8 each.

 

[kiwigtx]

I hate the ladder rack on my Transit

I hate having to get a ladder out to remove my ladder from the roof of my van.

When I was an apprentice, the company had a few Ford Escort vans converted to CNG. The Govt offered an incentive to convert from regular gas in the 80's....to help with the fuel crisis and cost. The vans were not very powerful to begin with - 4-cyl 1300cc, and manual...so they could handle the job on gas. But when we converted to CNG, you could just about run faster than the van in top gear. Filling the gas was frequent, as it seemed to only last about 80-100 miles if that - less around town between small trips. We had to switch the vans over to gas at night before parking up, otherwise they were a bee-atch to start in the mornings. There was a significant saving in fuel costs, but the cost of repairs and maintenance crept up more - engine issues, and poor starting tune-ups etc

It was a nightmare at the best of times. There was a filling station just near our workshop, and the station owner ran a small fleet of Taxi's with CNG. They were getting better luck with the 6-cyl cars, but even so, it was harder on the engines. We were not allowed to self-serve the gas - it had to be filled by an attendant....mainly because people could not be trusted to connect the valve correctly, and risk leaking gas everywhere.

My advice....walk away.

 

[Ironbuilt]

A lot of fleets went to CNG in their semi trucks. It seemed to be popular for a few years, now I have noticed that they are switching back to diesel. Refueling is definitely an issue unless they have at their terminals. Fuel economy versus price is another issue. Not to mention driving down the Interstate with a 1200 Lb bomb behind your cab. No thanks. Walk away.

 

[khryslerkid]

Not to mention driving down the Interstate with a 1200 Lb bomb behind your cab.

And they were talking about doing this with school busses. Maybe they did?

 

[slepr1]

I considered CNG conversion on trucks I buy. I've had a few propane conversions and was looking at the differences. Lucky I stayed with propane because there are no CNG fueling stations anywhere around here anymore. The last 2 trucks I bought new...2009 GMC Sierra and my current 2018 Ram Rebel 5.7 Hemi. Both I converted to dual fuel propane and gas. I'm a fan of propane conversions, always was. Costs half the price of gas and filling stations are no problem. They solved the long ago past issues of valve seals and head gasket problems. The problem with propane is it burns hotter than gas. They easily solved this by injecting 5-10% gas with the propane and that's enough to keep it cool.

 

[Slap Stick]

Is CNG/LPG better in compression combustion engines?