What does everyone get on highway and city on the mpg? I have a 240dl and seem to be getting about 20hwy. Seems a bit low but I forgot to mention this on my last post, but the needle on the gas moves a bit too. Not as significant as the temperature needle, but just enough for me to noticed.

Thanks everyone, this site is great!


bp

You need to measure fuel economy like Onkel Udo says...then you know for sure.

I have many years' data from our 5 family RWD Volvos and they all have given within about 1MPG of 30MPUSG on the highway at a steady 60-65MPH. The 1983 got 34MPG on one long trip when my son drove it following me in a big U-haul pulling a car carrier, at about 50MPH. The same car has shown 26MPG driven at 70-75MPH with a slight headwind, a 23% drop. Speed costs money.

Even my 745 wagon with 5.7 Chev V8 gets 25MPG highway.
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Bob: son's XC70, dtr's '94-940, my 81GL, 83-DL, 89-745(V8) and 98-S90. Also 77-MGB and some old motorcycles.

This has been covered about every month or two extensively. Do a search for "240 mileage" or "240 mpg" and you will find about a gazillion threads.

You do not give us year, transmission type or engine (might be covered by the year). 20 mpg as calculated by a properly working odometer and correct sized tires and the mileage is averaged over at least three tanks of gas, it is low for a 240 but not completely out of the realm of possibility.

If you own a 1990 240 with an AW70 and drive in an area that uses 15% ethanol in their gas at 85 mph on the highway, accelerate briskly to that speed, with an extra couple hundred pounds of junk in the car...you will probably average about 21 mpg on the highway.

If you drive about 60 mph, with an M46 manual, shift for economy and not acceleration, are built like a jockey, inflate your tires to 40 PSI and vacuum your car weekly to avoid extra weight from dust and dirt...you will be approaching 30 mpg assuming you live in an area that believes ethanol is better for drinking than driving.

Mike

Oops sorry about that. I have a 1987 240DL 4 door sedan. I noticed within the last month its wasting a bit more gas than usual. I live in southern California and drive on the highway about 65mph-75mph. Probably gonna have to check it out..Thanks!

I also live in SoCal.My 85 240dl w/automatic gets about 20 mpg in city/freeway driving.
On the open highway,I can get about 25 mpg with cruise control set at 75.
As another post said,you can optomize your mpg by basic tuning and maintenance, furthermore, tire inflation can make a significant difference. I keep my tires at 40 psi. It makes for a bit of a bumpier ride, but saves gas

Again...no mention of auto or manual tranny...it makes a huge difference.

If you have a change in gas mileage that you can quantify, "I am getting 2 mpg less than I used to for the same type of driving", you have spotted a potential problem. If instead your analysis is "boy, I filling this tank more than once a week now. Maybe I should check what my mileage is" you do not have a good analysis.

Either way, do a full tune-up to include:

Copper plugs
Cap & rotor
Plug wires if they are more than 30K miles old (Bougicord or Bosch only)
clean the throttle body
air filter
inflate tires to suggested pressure...cold
Tranny fluid flush if not done in the last 30K and if you have an automatic.
Oil change with the correct Mann or Volvo filter

All of these things will cost you about $200 if you have to buy the wires and the 3 gallons of tranny fluid for the flush. It should take you between two and six hours depending on your skill level and if you can get some help doing the tranny fluid flush. A shop will charge you about three times that in most high COL locations but that is paradise tax.

After that, you start looking for items that cause drag like brakes and front wheel bearings.

Mike

are the copper plugs better to use than the platinum?

For the Volvo red block motors, yes.

When my mileage went below 22mpg in city, I knew it was time for my trusted shop to take a look at the car. This was a 1986 stick 240 that was wrecked a few years ago. I once got 31mpg on the Hwy with non-ethanol gas going from Utah to Oregon... usually it was 26-27 mpg.

Out of curiosity, what did the shop find. My trusty 240DL gets almost exactly 20 mpg city and 25 highway. The description of the low mileage car is mine...high ethanol content gas (which allows me to run lower octane but carries less energy), AW70, I drive agressively but not rudely and there is usually 100#s of extra crap in the car due to the fact that the PnP is on the drive home from work and I have not fully sorted the car yet.

1990 245DL M47 LH3.1 - 25/28 cty/hwy . . . 29 mpg for long stretches of highway :)

1989 244DL AW71 LH2.4- I don't know yet..just got it :P

From what I have heard, the automatics get lower fuel economy numbers, in the 21/24 kind of range. A lack of lockout torque converters back in the days of the 240 contributed to that, I think. A modern auto trans can do better than a manual nowadays..bummer

mike

My 90 240DL with an AW-70 when running right would get 20-22 in town and usually 24-26 highway. It did, however, occasionally get 27 and once 28! The lack of a lockup torque converter and its "brick" shape
probably hurt its hwy mileage.

For comparision sakes, my 95 850 (5 cylinder) automatic with lockup torque converter and better aerodynamics gets 29-30 highway and 20-22 in town.

I hate to even put this on because the mpg has been steadily changing with work done on the car, but I am averaging about 15 per gallon with a mix of highway and city... highway is usually 70-80 mph but I have replaced the fuel pressure regulator the downpipe on the exhaust so it keeps changing.. hard to tell without a working gas meter. ;)

"hard to tell without a working gas meter. ;)"

Huh? Gas mileage calculation is a function of the number of gallons pumped into the tank and the number of miles driven per the Odometer. If you are really getting 15 mpg something is seriously wrong with your car.

Mike

That is on average... on a full tank I usually get around to around 250 before it starts puttering out on me.
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1989 244 DL first Volvo

So your calculation is not miles/gals filled so you don't really know what your gas mileage is. The reason I say this is not to be mean, but...

If you pre-pump hose is bad you only have about 12 gals of usable fuel. In which case it will start sputtering at 250 miles and you are still getting about 21 mpg. Based on some of your posts recently, I would guess this is a distinct possibility.

I assume this is the hose which goes to the filter/pump assembly under the car? I will be honest... that whole assembly looks pretty cruddy under there... but since I am sure that hose goes to the gas tank... what would be the best way to go about replacing it?
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1989 244 DL first Volvo

Inside the gas tank is the pre-pump. From the pre-pump to the hard line inside the tank is a 1-2" long about 3/4" hose. It fails...for some before the the pre-pump fails. It means that when you have a 1/4 tank the car starts to act like it is empty.

The solution is to always keep more than a 1/4 tank or pull the assembly and replace both the pump and the short hose.

Mike

But here is one thing... when it is sputtering It usually takes pretty close to 15 gallons worth of fuel to fill it... as a heads up I do have one error code.. 2-3-1... My amm works, my throttle position sensor ICV... so I was going to replace the bellows going from the AMM to the throttle body with a replacement I got from FCP but it split during install... I have no other ideas left... oh and the o2 sensor works too...
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1989 244 DL first Volvo

OK, then I go back to my original comment that you have a serious issue which you already know. You might want to start your own thread if a bellow does not solve it or post a new comment on whatever original thread you had this on. There are still a few items that you did not mention but the TPS, IAC (which I assume is ICV) have very little to do with gas mileage.

Mike

well that's just it... I am not sure past the bellows as to what could be causing the error code let alone the apprx 50 miles per tank I am losing out on.. Although the 250 per tank is usually enough to last me a pay period.. (two weeks)... usually.
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1989 244 DL first Volvo