bedders Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 Would i be correct in saying that: it's not worth bringing into France on a permanent basis a petrol car which i had converted to gpl in Britain 3 years ago. The reasoning behind the statement being that as i understand it there isn't a European standard for the installation, and the the whole "gubbins" would have to be removed, and a new system installed by a French company.Any advice would be most helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katom2003 Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 hi, not sure about changing the whole system, but we have a french gpl car here in france and i know for sure that when in england we cannot fill up as the fitting of the nozzel is different!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bedders Posted June 9, 2005 Author Share Posted June 9, 2005 Yes the attachment is different, when we visit France we take with us an adaptor, which screws into the filling point on the car for use with the French system. I would suspect an adaptor is available for converting French to UK also? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Washy Posted June 11, 2005 Share Posted June 11, 2005 Hi Bedders, You may have previously read my postings about the fiasco with our gpl Left Hand Drive Range Rover, if not do a search. I would not advise bringing in an lpg british car at all, although we may have been particularly unlucky at Carcassonne DRIRE (MINES). We were failed for french numberplates when attending a 'controle' at DRIRE because we had a british lpg system. Briefly he took one look and told us we would have to remove the whole system because the british system did not comply to french normes. We did much research on the internet and finally had to have the change made. We contacted the manufactuers in the UK who were very helpful indeed (RPI Engingeering) but all to no avail. Apparently the system we had, although to a european standard R67 it was not R67/1 which was a new standard that came in in that year. This related to the Soupape, a new safety valve fitted on the lpg tank. Until 2002 it was still legal to drive lpg cars without this upgrade to the valve but now it is illegal. The change over cost us 3400 euros - I am sure we were ripped off between the french garage and DRIRE but obviously I cannot accuse anyone. This was all months ago now and we are still waiting for our paperwork to be returned from DRIRE, we took our new lpg system paperwork in to them two months ago and they have not yet been returned. I have telephoned on many occasions to be told that the verification is in progress. We now have a visit to the UK looming up in July and are very worried that our car will not even be registered by then. Since we started the process nearly a year ago our car has become illegal in the UK, so unless we get the paperwork back soon we will not be able to take the car back to the UK. We have also been told we will need to have another controle done when the papers are verified, so back to square one, DRIRE could even find something else wrong with the car???By the way the garage took away all the UK fittings and refused to fit a new british gas outlet we took to them. So when/if we get back to the UK in this car we will have to look for an adaptor at UK garages. Does anyone know if this is possible?Our old, Land Rover defender RHD simply sailed through the Prefecture! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bedders Posted June 11, 2005 Author Share Posted June 11, 2005 Hi Washy, yes i did read your problems with DRIRE, and the costs involved. I was hoping that subsequent to your problems some other Brit might have had a more positive experience!My car had the conversion in 2002 also, but does have a relief valve fitted to the tank, but as yet i'm unsure if it complies with R67 or R67/1.The position with the adaptor for UK usage is best resolved by visiting the Autogas website, i seem to remember they list a range of adaptors for about £10, you may be able to have one sent to a relatives address in the UK. I doubt very much that garages hold them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Washy Posted June 15, 2005 Share Posted June 15, 2005 Hi Bedders,I hope you get your system sorted out soon. Our problems continue.....DRIRE has had our new gpl documents for over a month now so I rang yesterday. Apparently they had been held up by the garage???? Why are they getting in touch with the garage again??? Who knows???? The dreaded man was in a meeting and his secretary said I would hear from them in about 15 days and will need to bring the car for another controle? This is all taking things a bit close to our departure date for the UK, so I am in a panic. Then to cap it all yesterday the ignition switch decided to go wrong so the car is off the road...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now