Umrüstung Ford S-Max 2,5T

Here's a review from the LPG conversion to my S-MAX 2.5T. I selected the Vialle LPi system (liquid gas injection). The cylinder LPG tank (55 liters, length is 632 mm and diameter is 360 mm) was installed into a modified rear box in the boot.



In order to make more space around the cubby hole into the boot, I cut some metal.
Here are some photos from the metal cut and anti-rust protection applied:
















Here are some photos from the conversion into the engine bay:

















The LPG tank installed:




The filling point:




A 5 LED fuel selector was installed near the steering wheel:




The fuel lines under the car:





A wooden cover was installed above the LPG tank in order to eliminate the noise from the LPG pump:





After the conversion I had some problems (engine error code P2187, stuttering at idle, etc.), so I asked from Vialle a new software version for the LPG system and installed a new set of bigger injectors (dark brown in colour). The new calibration software (2068030) was needed due to the tuning I've done so far (Bluefin stage1, custom alloy intercooler, K&N panel air-filter, Milltek downpipe + sport exhaust system, etc.).
After that calibration, it seems that all the problems are solved!

The consumption is increased about 18% (my average consumption was already high: 13,2 liters of petrol / 100 kms) so now I have to fill up with LPG every 300 kms. Not so good point, but I still have available the most possible part of the boot and the economy is very much significant (more than 40%).
The total cost was about 3000 euros for Vialle system (the installation was done in Italy, in an authorized vialle center which was also an authorized Volvo garage). The boot conversion and anti-rust protection cost was 500 euros in addition.
Apart from the Vialle warranty (2 years) I have also an additional insurance coverage of the engine, ECU, etc. for 2 years (or 60.000 kms). Every time I fill up with petrol I have to put an additive to the petrol in order to have better protection of the valve seats of the engine.
I also have to say that before converting the boot I had installed a Milltek Sport Exhaust System which has narrower rear mufflers, as I think that the factory exhaust mufflers might be a problem for the conversion.

In order to test the performance of the car after the LPG conversion I did a test on a rolling road and here are the results:
First run on LPG: 265,4 bhp & 404,3 Nm
Second run on petrol (100 RON): 272,2 bhp & 416,6 Nm

After nearly 11.000 kms so far, I'm totally pleased with Vialle LPi system!

 

Die Karosserieänderung hat aber kein deutscher TÜV gesehen, oder?
gruß

magnus

 

Hello Damian!
Thanks to you and your informative posts, my Passat 1.8BT is running on LPG.
Thumbs up to you!

 

I live in Greece, so the technical inspection was done here and they didn't found any issue about the conversion.

As far as I know, S-MAX has nearly the same car body to Mondeo, which has the proper space for a spare wheel into the boot.
That's nearly what I did: I created the space needed for the LPG tank, nearly into the same place where is the Mondeo spare wheel space.
I selected a cylindrical tank and not a "donut" one, because I didn't like to cut the cross bar between the 2 rear wheels.
The metal which was cut didn't affect anything at all the performance of the car.