ex-ambulances f100-f250
 

hi folks, new to the forum so be free with advice without fear of stating the obvious. entertaining the idea of buying an ex-ambulance over the next year and was wondering about how these things go once they've been converted to gas or dual fuel. financially the idea of buying one and leaving it on straight petrol isn't possible but i'm wondering if there's a down side for the engine etc. lookiing at anywhere in between an 84-94 model and either f100,150 or 250. any tips on the relative merit or problems associated with these models would be greatly appreciated - very much a novice. cheers,d.

RE: ex-ambulances f100-f250
 

why would you want a used ambulance? most of them are pretty used up by the time they go up for sale even though most owners do keep them up pretty well as far as regular maintenance goes. by dual fuel do you mean gasoline and LPG gas or propane? don't think you could do gasoline and diesel, just wouldn't work! anyway, welcome to the forum, you're not in the USA are you?

RE: ex-ambulances f100-f250
 

thanks for the welcome roundman. no i'm not in the u.s.a. ...in australia. yeah i did mean petrol and lpg when i said dual fuel. as to why an ambulance, well i guess its partly childhood dream regarding f series trucks and partly because i'm thinking of living in it for six months and i know they're long enough to lie down in - all that cupboard space should come in handy too. anyway, kinda tied to the idea of getting one and just wondering which size and whether there's any recurrent problems or things i should be aware of when buying one. also know some people say that lpg is crap for engines and i'm just wondering if that would be an issue or is it just a personal taste thing? i'll be buying a repair manual soon to do some investigation but any other helpful hints or experiences would be helpful , cheers,d.

RE: ex-ambulances f100-f250
 

g'day mate! that's about all the Australian I know. ha, ha
don't have any personal experience with LP gas except for propane as a fuel in fork lift trucks where I use to work before I retired. don't know about Australia, but you can't just pull up to any gas station and fill up with LP gas up on this side of the world. I do know it is possible to do and have seen it talked about on TV, but just don't know how popular it has become worldwide. you might try searching the web to find out more about dual fuel vehicles, I'm sure there's information out there somewhere about it.
I guess a used ambulance might make a good RV or camper vehicle now that I think about it a bit. kinda heavy though and the gas mileage probably wouldn't be the greatest, but what the hell, you wanna do it, I say go for it mate!
Wish you luck on your project!:D
(going to bed now as it 4:34 am where I live in Virginia USA)

Used to run dual fuel in Canada, as long as LPG is 50% of the cost of gasoline it is ok. You loose 59% power and mileage on LPG. Buying a camper based on a 250 or 350 chassis make more sense to me as it is designed for a purpose. Only makes sense if you can but ambulance for ten cents on the dollar.

I had a ambulance service,( ford 460) main problem I had was valve springs breaking,happened so often I could compress cylinder with air and change in about 35 min,but they kept on going