I am new to the forum here and have been interested in CNG for a while now. Unfortunately information seems a bit hard to come by and I have just discovered this forum.
I found a CNG truck for sale and now that I am ready to get serious about this, I have some questions for anyone that wants to weigh in and help me out.
I found a 1995 Chevy S-10 single cab truck with what appears to be a factory or very well installed CNG kit. Under the hood is a property tag indicating a government contract so I assume it was at one time a government fleet vehicle. It also has several stickers about CNG not affecting emissions, etc. (backyard mechanics probably wouldn’t bother) So it’s a very professional install. It has 75000 original miles and looks very clean under the hood. The owner bought it at auction and didn’t even know it was CNG, he thought it was propane. He freely admits that he knows nothing about it or whether or not it works in the CNG mode. The power wires which I am assuming are for the CNG part are disconnected. After having looked at the truck, I cant bring myself to buy it without getting answers to the following questions.
1) Would anyone even consider buying something without knowing if the CNG is functioning? Is it the kind of thing that has very little moving parts and will likely work when the wires are connected and tank filled or could it be a nightmare and possibly I would never find parts?
2) I assume that the tank is nearly as old as the truck and I am wondering if there are any required inspections on a high pressure tank like a hydrostatic test before I can fill it. I looked for numbers and saw a few but didn’t see a “due date” of sorts… Where should I look?
3) I live in a “emissions” city where emissions testing is done. Since The CNG shouldn’t affect the gasoline emissions, this should be no problem, Can I find out if CNG is expempt somehow? Are there any special registration requirements?
4) The guy probably won’t let me drive it to a CNG station and fill the tank to see if it works (that might be the next negotiating step) How can I tell if there is any gas in the tank? There was no special CNG fuel level gage. Should I just hook up the power wires and flip the switch to CNG while it is idling?
5) I assume this truck gets like 30 gasoline miles to the gallon, will it get 25 GGE miles to the gallon on CNG? Is there a way to roughly estimate what it would be?
6) I saw a valve at the tank I gave it a bit of a turn, (it was covered in a plastic bag type cover) I also saw a valve under the door between the tank and the engine compartment that was a bit stiff….like maybe a few things need attention or oiling. Is there anything else I should know, look for etc?
Any advice is appreciated. I know it takes time to write a reply and if I dug long enough I might find the info without bothering anyone. But I never seem to find a cheap CNG truck so I want to move fast if I need to.
Thanks
I found a CNG truck for sale and now that I am ready to get serious about this, I have some questions for anyone that wants to weigh in and help me out.
I found a 1995 Chevy S-10 single cab truck with what appears to be a factory or very well installed CNG kit. Under the hood is a property tag indicating a government contract so I assume it was at one time a government fleet vehicle. It also has several stickers about CNG not affecting emissions, etc. (backyard mechanics probably wouldn’t bother) So it’s a very professional install. It has 75000 original miles and looks very clean under the hood. The owner bought it at auction and didn’t even know it was CNG, he thought it was propane. He freely admits that he knows nothing about it or whether or not it works in the CNG mode. The power wires which I am assuming are for the CNG part are disconnected. After having looked at the truck, I cant bring myself to buy it without getting answers to the following questions.
1) Would anyone even consider buying something without knowing if the CNG is functioning? Is it the kind of thing that has very little moving parts and will likely work when the wires are connected and tank filled or could it be a nightmare and possibly I would never find parts?
2) I assume that the tank is nearly as old as the truck and I am wondering if there are any required inspections on a high pressure tank like a hydrostatic test before I can fill it. I looked for numbers and saw a few but didn’t see a “due date” of sorts… Where should I look?
3) I live in a “emissions” city where emissions testing is done. Since The CNG shouldn’t affect the gasoline emissions, this should be no problem, Can I find out if CNG is expempt somehow? Are there any special registration requirements?
4) The guy probably won’t let me drive it to a CNG station and fill the tank to see if it works (that might be the next negotiating step) How can I tell if there is any gas in the tank? There was no special CNG fuel level gage. Should I just hook up the power wires and flip the switch to CNG while it is idling?
5) I assume this truck gets like 30 gasoline miles to the gallon, will it get 25 GGE miles to the gallon on CNG? Is there a way to roughly estimate what it would be?
6) I saw a valve at the tank I gave it a bit of a turn, (it was covered in a plastic bag type cover) I also saw a valve under the door between the tank and the engine compartment that was a bit stiff….like maybe a few things need attention or oiling. Is there anything else I should know, look for etc?
Any advice is appreciated. I know it takes time to write a reply and if I dug long enough I might find the info without bothering anyone. But I never seem to find a cheap CNG truck so I want to move fast if I need to.
Thanks
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