I searched and couldn't find anything on this subject yet, so I'm hoping either it has been mentioned or to see what your thoughts are on this.

I, like so many other of you, am getting very tired and very concerned about the ever increasing price of gasoline. I can barely even afford to drive my JK anymore. I am considering getting out of my lease and getting a Honda Civic GX CNG vehicle.

This decision will definitely break my heart as I have owned 5 Jeep Wranglers during my 16 years of driving.

Before I make this harsh and painful decision, I was curious if any of you have thought about or researched converting your JK into a CNG vehicle.

I for one, wouldn't mind doing this at all. Even with the few downfalls that come with CNG vehicles i.e. loss of horsepower etc...

Any responses on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

 

OMG!!!

When I see someone actually considering trying to go back into a Honda Civic (et. al.) after driving a Jeep, I think about a 12 step support program of some sort, complete with counselors and "rescue" contacts to keep people from making the mistake of getting out of their wonderful Jeep life, and back into that Hell Hole of mundane motor city matchbox machines.

Or that old CSNY song, "Almost Cut My Hair",...

It's tragic.

DON'T DO IT MAN!

Good Luck. I hope you have enough friends who can talk you off of the ledge,....

 

I've just fallen victim to the gas issue. At $3.50-$3.80 my monthly fuel costs have been hitting $400-$500 a month, that's getting close to a quarter of my income. At $3.50 a gallon I could manage but $4-$5 no way. If it was my second vehicle I could also but I just don't have that sort of dough ATM. I'm soooooo pissed about this fuel situation it's not even funny. The gas giants are raking in the green with record profits and there isn't an end in sight. It's straight up BS!

 

Thank the American banks that thought it was a good idea to give sub-prime mortgages. When the plan collapsed and the banking institutions started showing huge losses, the investors (you,me,our pension plans) all bailed out and transferred their investment monies into commodities.
Oil is a commodity and the more people want to buy into something obviously the higher the price becomes. Now the whole world has been effected by this and no longer is oil being priced by costs but by speculative investors. Don't you love the effects of 'day trading' as well? People sitting at home on the computer buying low and selling high pushing prices way beyond what experienced traders hopefully would never allow because they understand what it will mean to their families in the end.
These high prices are just the beginning of a trend.
If anyone is thinking of switching to a more fuel efficient vehicle they should carefully weigh out the increased operational costs that come with them over the long term,and also whether they'll be happy with it's capabilities. Few people that own these things are willing to admit to these costs. Honda dealerships have service bays too.
The Gore grouppies will still be preaching alternate fuels such as ethanol but the more you understand that subject the less anyone will be going that route.

To get back on track with the OP for those that don't travel too far from a source of refuelling a CNG vehicle it's a good idea and worth looking into.
There are drawbacks but I'd like to see more on the road.

 

CNG would have to have the entier rear portion of the Unlimited probably having to remove the rear seats as well for the fuel tanks. That is the major drawback, and why you will only see large vehicles like trucks and larger sedans converted for city municipalities. It would be completely impractical for the JK. Not impossible, just impractical as all hell.

 

Agreed, it would be a rather costly conversion.
As for speculators somehow increasing the price of gas, I don't think so. I think today, it's pretty much supply and demand. We are now in a global market, and many 3rd world countries that never had the need for oil before, are now in the market. This is what is driving the price up. were it merly speculators, the cost would naturally go down as demand would decrease as the price went up. Once that happened, if the suply remained constant, the price would again fall. We are not seeing this. Since oil in the desert is not a never ending supply, it is taking more $$$$ to get the oil out of the ground. Taht along with the fact that China has now entered the market, and is beginning to consume oil, like never before.
I hate to say it, bu I do not see the price of gas going back down. As a matter of fact, I believe we will continue to see a steady rise in price.

 

Actually I think it's a combination of both. Increased demand started the price going up, and then the speculators jumped in and pushed it to ridiculous levels.

But like any investment bubble (see: US stock market, 1999-2000; see also: US housing market, 2007-8), this bubble will eventually burst. Once the big commodity players are done, they will start to bail out (booking huge profits), while leaving the small investors (the late comers) holding the bag. Then we will see a return to normal oil prices once again. Seen it over and over in the investing world.

If it were a true supply and demand phenomenon, we would be seeing a shortage of oil. Anybody remember the gas lines and rationing back in the 1970s? Who remembers the odd/even rationing system (holy s, I'm old)? We don't see that sort of thing happening now. There is plenty of supply to meet the demand. OPEC is pumping below their capacity. Refineries are running below their capacity. The price has been artificially inflated by reckless speculation. I don't know when the bubble will burst, but it will. And somebody will be left holding the bag when it happens.

Sorry, this thread has gone way off topic. To the OP: I doubt it would be practical or cost effective to do a CNG conversion on a Jeep. Cool idea, and I could be wrong (just guessing), but I think the cost would far outweigh the benefit.

 

I sold my 1999 Civic Gx with 55k miles on it last year for my Unlimited Sahara. The Honda got 40 miles to the gallon, and 160-180 miles per tank. CNG is .62 cents a gallon in Ut. It cost me $2.47 to fill up.

I bought the honda for 5k sold it for 10k and now they are selling in UT for 13,500 (my sister sold hers today for this much). Wow talk about apperciation.

My dad works for the gas company in Utah, and said a conversion could be done for my JK, just would cost around 11k.

Oh well, I will bite the bullet and pay for gas. The Honda was fun to fill up, and was gay to drive. The jeep sucks to fill up, but I love to drive it. Oh well.......My wife and I are just not having any kids, so we will have lots of play money and a endless budget for each other.

If you want a CNG car pm me and I will send you some info on where you can get one other than Ebay.

 

Have you thought about buying a well used car that gets good gas mileage and using it to commute. And occasionally drive the jeep.

 

I used to be a car dealer and have absolutely nothing good to say about CNG conversions. Even back in Carters days they were sale proof. There is a reason that only big companies and municiplalities, both with staffs of mechanics, run CNG vehicles. I recall taking in an absolutely gorgeous Dodge PU with a CNG conversion. I was going to auction it off but one of my employees wanted it really bad. Against my better judgement I sold it to him; much to my and his regret. That thing ate him up money wise and was unreliable. After spending thousands of dollars trying to get it to run right I finally auctioned it off for him. And I wouldn't take a CNG vehicle off road for nothing.

Gas is going to come down - don't panic and do something you'll regret.