Gas installations for TSI engines - is their installation profitable?
There are more than 2,6 million gas-powered vehicles in Poland. Installations for TSI engines are a relatively new solution. Is it worth it to install them?
TSI petrol engines are developed by the Volkswagen concern. Fuel is injected directly into the combustion chamber. These units also use turbochargers, and some use a compressor.
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The growing interest in automotive gas installations has led to the fact that their manufacturers began to offer them for cars with TSI engines. Few drivers choose this solution. Both in car forums and in workshops, it is difficult to find users with experience in driving such cars.
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How does the gas installation work in TSI engines?
- Installation of gas installations on cars with engines with direct fuel injection was difficult until recently, so there are not many of them on our roads yet. The problem was to refine the installation, which would protect the engine and injectors. The latter should be cooled more intensively than in traditional petrol units, says Jan Kuklik from Auto Serwis Księżyno.
The petrol injectors installed on TSI engines are located directly in the combustion chamber. When not in use, they do not cool down, which can damage them.
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Gas installations for cars with TSI engines combine two systems - gasoline and gas, overcoming the problem of gasoline injectors with periodic additional injection of gasoline. It cools the injectors. Such a system can hardly be called an alternative gas supply, because the engine uses both gasoline and gas in proportions depending on its load. As a result, the payback period of the installed gas installation is extended and the best results are achieved in vehicles that travel long distances.
– If someone drives mainly on the road, then about 80 percent of the car fills up with gas, explains Piotr Burak, manager of the Skoda Pol-Mot car service in Bialystok, which assembles gas installations for the Skoda Octavia with a 1.4 TSI engine. - In the city, such a car uses half gas, half gasoline. At each stop, the power switches to petrol.
Petr Burak explains that when the engine is idling, it does not run on gas due to too high gasoline pressure in the fuel rail.
Importantly, the changeover from petrol to LPG and the additional injection of petrol are invisible to the driver, as the changeover occurs gradually, cylinder by cylinder.
What should be monitored?
Piotr Nalevaiko from multi-brand Q-Service in Białystok, owned by Konrys, explains that the installation of LPG systems in TSI engines is possible only after checking, based on the engine code, whether the given drive can work. with gas system controller. Individual software is available for each engine type.
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This is confirmed by Wojciech Piekarski from AC in Białystok, which manufactures a controller for gasoline direct injection engines.
“We have done a number of tests and in our opinion, the HBO installations in TSI engines with direct injection, as well as DISI engines in Mazda, work without problems. We have been installing them since November 2011 and so far there have been no complaints,” says an AC spokesperson. – Remember that each engine has its own code. For example, our driver supports five codes. These are FSI, TSI and DISI engines.
Interestingly, Volkswagen itself does not recommend the installation of LPG systems on cars of this brand with TSI engines.
“This is not economically justified, because to adapt such units would have to do too many modifications,” says Tomasz Tonder, public relations manager for VW's passenger car division.
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Operation and prices
The Pol-Mot Auto service manager reminds you that when driving a car with a TSI engine and a gas installation, you should follow the replacement of the so-called. a small filter of the HBO installation - every 15 thousand km, as well as large ones - every 30 thousand km. It is recommended to regenerate the evaporator every 90-120 thousand. km.
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A gas installation installed, for example, in the Skoda Octavia 1.4 TSI services - without losing the car warranty - costs PLN 6350. If we decide on such a service on a used car from one of the installation manufacturers, it will be a little cheaper. But we will still pay about 5000 PLN.
– Revealingly, this is about 30 percent more expensive than with conventional series installations, says Wojciech Piekarski from AC.
Text and photo: Piotr Walchak
