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My Natural Gas Fueled Powerstroke

7K views 19 replies 10 participants last post by  PsRumors 
#1 ·
I have had a bunch of PM's about my CNG supplemental set up so I thought I would start a new thread about it. First off I did tons of reasearch and came up with a very limited amount of information. CNG supplements the diesel fuel, "streatching it" to make you go farther by supplying an extra, much cheaper fuel. We can't run straight CNG because we do not have a sparkplug...duh. CNG is much safer than propane because it is able to compress much more before ignighting so thus the diesel ignighting creates the fire to ignight the CNG. The gas is drawn under vaccum from the regulator pre-turbo so you are using little to no CNG at idle. The amount of CNG used increases with rpm and boost (ie: vaccum pre turbo). I have been running the system for a year now and have only run out of CNG once so I have been using it all of the time even grossing 18-20k towing. You do have to keep a closer eye on your EGT's but I have only had to reach down and shut it off 2 times that I can remember. I constantly get 800-1200 miles out of a fill up of diesel and 200-280 miles out of 10 galons of CNG. The downside is the tanks are big and because it is a gas they don't hold much, so I have to fill up often. Tuning seems to be a non issue except for trans tuning. The truck has 50-75 more hp with it so the trans does not "know" this. Newer trucks have "adaptive learning" for the trans and this seems to be a non issue. I had Johnathan at Beans tune the trans to behave as if it had more HP than my mods would produce and it has been shifting great ever since! The system is quite simple you have a tank, regulator/controler, coolant lines to kep it from freezing a power wire, a supply hose to the intake, an on/off switch and a control valve to adjust the max amount of CNG to be used. I get asked about it almost everytime I fill up as the CNG fuling station I use is right next to the diesel pumps. I just did a blackstone oil analysis at 7k and they said I should go 10k on next oil..it was that good! Belive me I was very nervous to try it and turn it on the first time but I absolutly LOVE it now!! The inital investment is quite large $3000 is what I spent on mine I looked into having it done and it was $7500-10k The tanks are what kill you, a new 12 gallon one like I have is $3600!!! Some of you might remember a duramax that smoked the fuel economy part of the diesel power challenge a couple of years ago. That is what peaked my intrest and I am running that same system. For those that have worries about your safety here is a video that should calm your fears.
 
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#3 ·
I have a 3600psi tank. I need to find my pictures my laptop took a dump last year but I have them on a hard drive somewhere....everything was hard to see after it was installed...except the tank. By the way your 180*t-stat is part of my set up!
 
#9 ·
$1.50 here in Utah. More some places, less some places. CNG went up .25 the first of the year due to a federal tax break ending.....Thanks Obummer.
 
#6 ·
Very sweet setup. Is there anyway the heat from the turbo would ignite the CNG?
 
#7 ·
No. The Percentage is too low. Any hydrocarbon gas is only explosive in a certain percentage ratio to air, too low a percentage and too high a percentage you could stick a spark plug in there and it will not go boom.
 
#10 ·
This is pretty cool-- LNG trucks are starting to take off in the class 6/7 area. Cummins has done a lot of work on the 9L ISL and moving to the 12L ISX. Kenworth, Peterbilt started selling last year and Freightliner is releasing a chassis later this year. The Cummins engines are spark ignited w/ a diesel prefire but they make decent power and will be a real alternative as filling stations develop.


Check out Cummins Westport Natural Gas Engines
 
#11 ·
#13 ·
.16-.18 per mile on avg. Vs .26-.28 on straight diesel. I don't drive it as much as I did when I installed it and CNG has gone up .25 per gallon this year which raised my cost per mile. That was a 20% increase in the cost of CNG.
 
#15 ·
Where and who did you purchase the cng system from ??
 
#16 ·
#17 ·
awesome thanks dude
 
#20 ·
You said you got 800 - 1200 miles out of a fill up of diesel. What does a fill up consist of?

At 25 gallons and 800 miles that is 32 mpg. Are you getting 32+ mpg on the diesel cng combo?

CNG around here is $2.40 per gge. Does that equate to $24 a fill for your 10 gallon tank? If so, on the low end of mileage that is 20 miles per gallon or 12 cents a mile. On the high side of the stated mileage, 8 cents per mile

At 32 mpg on diesel ($3.70) around here that is 11 cents a mile.

That comes to between 19 cents per mile to 23 cents per mile on the combo.

Diesel getting 15 mpg at $3.70 a gallon is right at 25 cents to the mile.

Is my math right? It would take 50,000 miles or more to get your ROI?
 
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