# Natural Gas conversion for a 94 Dakota? **URL:** \ **Category:** Power/Fuel\ **Tags:** gasoline\ **Created:** [July 31, 2008, 1:23am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/natural-gas-conversion-for-a-94-dakota/17477 "2008-07-31T01:23:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![billcompton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9f8e36/32.png) [@billcompton](https://community.cartalk.com/u/billcompton)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 1:23am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/natural-gas-conversion-for-a-94-dakota/17477/1 "2008-07-31T01:23:32Z")
I’m curious about converting my 94 Dakota to run on natural gas. There are 3 stations in my area that sell CNG, but it looks like $6500 to have it done, which is too much to be worth it. Can this be done for less money? If I can do it cheaper, are there disadvantages? ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://community.cartalk.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 1:41am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/natural-gas-conversion-for-a-94-dakota/17477/2 "2008-07-31T01:41:16Z")
That’s probably about right. LPG/CNG conversions are very easy to do on older vehicles since the LPG/CNG regulator can bolt on in place of a carburetor and there’s even multi-fuel carburetor/regulators out there that aren’t too expensive. A multi-point fuel injected vehicle like your Dakota is a whole other story, though, since the computer needs to be reprogrammed to deal with the new fuel and an entirely different fuel system needs to be installed. Also in addition to the reduced mileage from the lower energy content in the compressed gas fuel, the gaseous fuel system will be nowhere near as efficient as the very well-designed MPFI gasoline system your truck already has. If you’re really gung-ho about CNG, the way to do it is to buy an older vehicle. Or I suppose you might be able to stick an older engine in your Dakota and then convert it, but it’s definitely not worth the trouble in strict economic terms. ---
**Author:** ![oldschool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e19adc/32.png) [@oldschool](https://community.cartalk.com/u/oldschool)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 1:45am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/natural-gas-conversion-for-a-94-dakota/17477/3 "2008-07-31T01:45:35Z")
Sounds like a question for T.Boone.He is promoting this.But yes the price sounds way high.Lower engine power.Do some googling find a site that does conversions,best to get a price from someone who can actually do the job. ---
**Author:** ![curtiss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@curtiss](https://community.cartalk.com/u/curtiss)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 2:11am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/natural-gas-conversion-for-a-94-dakota/17477/4 "2008-07-31T02:11:37Z")
Are the tanks dangerous? I understand they are at 3500 psi to hold only about 5 gallons of compressed natural gas. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 1:56pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/natural-gas-conversion-for-a-94-dakota/17477/5 "2008-07-31T13:56:12Z")
That was always a concern…but I really don’t think they are. Those tanks are a lot tougher then almost any part on your car. This has been around for years and I haven’t heard of any incidents. ---
**Author:** ![andrew\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@andrew\_j](https://community.cartalk.com/u/andrew_j)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 3:30pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/natural-gas-conversion-for-a-94-dakota/17477/6 "2008-07-31T15:30:28Z")
I am curious to why bother even if half the cost you will never recoup. Your vehicle is at the average design life at this point (15 yrs for trucks). ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://community.cartalk.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 7:09pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/natural-gas-conversion-for-a-94-dakota/17477/7 "2008-07-31T19:09:04Z")
It’s not any more dangerous than carrying around 15 gallons of extremely flammable gasoline in a relatively thin-skinned container like most cars on the road do. ---
**Author:** ![billcompton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9f8e36/32.png) [@billcompton](https://community.cartalk.com/u/billcompton)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 10:56pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/natural-gas-conversion-for-a-94-dakota/17477/8 "2008-07-31T22:56:41Z")
My motivation is purely financial. Doing my little part to help reduce our country’s oil consumption is a bonus, but it has to save me money. Assuming the truck can go about 250K miles (it’s at 168K now), if the cost of the conversion is in the $5K-$6K range, it won’t save me enough to make it worthwhile. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 1:16am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/natural-gas-conversion-for-a-94-dakota/17477/9 "2008-08-01T01:16:12Z")
I don’t see how it’s going to save you money. Running on NG your truck will get about 25-40 percent LESS gas mileage and power. ---
**Author:** ![Caddyman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/caddyman/32/23_2.png) [@Caddyman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Caddyman)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 2:39am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/natural-gas-conversion-for-a-94-dakota/17477/10 "2008-08-01T02:39:00Z")
Natural gas can not be liquefied like propane at normal temperatures. That makes it a low energy density fuel. Your trucks RANGE between fill-ups (pump-ups) will be short. ---
**Author:** ![billcompton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9f8e36/32.png) [@billcompton](https://community.cartalk.com/u/billcompton)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 4:48pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/natural-gas-conversion-for-a-94-dakota/17477/11 "2008-08-03T16:48:12Z")
Thanks everyone for the great feedback. This idea seemed fishy at first; now I know for sure. Hey - maybe now I’ll go get one of those “water for fuel” gizmos! That’ll work for SURE!! ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 1:41pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/natural-gas-conversion-for-a-94-dakota/17477/12 "2008-08-04T13:41:10Z")
Running on NG DOES work. It’s just not going to save you money. And it is very very clean burning.