Hi all,

I recently purchased an extremely low mileage 1982 244 DL, thanks to advice in another thread in this forum. I owned a 164e and a 240 DL before and wanted to be a Volvo owner again, but wasn't sure. The good folks here encouraged me to go for it, and now I'm soooo glad I did! Very happy to back in the ranks of Volvo owners again.

My question today is whether I should be putting premium gas in my new toy. Both the 1973 164e and the 1984 240 DL I owned before definitely took 91 or higher octane gas. The owner's manual for this 1982 244 DL just says "unleaded gas only."

This is a four-cylinder, 3-speed automatic with overdrive. Sorry I don't know any other particulars about the engine, but maybe somebody who has owned a similar model might be able to tell me.

I've put one tank of 87 octane and one tank of 91 octane in so far, and performance seemed to be the same on both. This leads me to believe that regular unleaded is what it takes, but mentally it doesn't feel right, based on my previous Volvos. Anybody have any idea?

Thanks in advance!

 

What's the compression ratio? If it's around 8/8.5 to 1 then regular should be fine. If it's higher than that you may have bump the octane up.

Don't think these engines had knock sensors (someone correct me if i'm wrong) so the engine will tell you if you're using too low of an octane fuel by pinging under heavy load.

 

I had a 1979, and the owner's manual said 87 was the minimum. I just about always ran 87 in it, and it ran fine.

Cheers, bt

 

Hey -- another 244 here, a 1983, 4 cylinder, 3 speed automatic with overdrive too.

Per my Dad's suggestion (he was a mechanic in the 70s and 80s), I stick to 87. The previous owner, a 240 enthusiast, suggested the same.

I've had it 18 months, started at 150K and it's now at 180K. It runs beautifully (minus recent electrical issue), about 25 miles to the gallon highway, 20 in serious stop/go. About 75% on the highway (trips of 70 miles or more), another 25% nasty city driving. I don't baby it at all -- all the maintenance gets done awhile after the book says to do it.

For what it's worth, it also passed its emissions test 2 months after it was supposedly due for a new oxygen sensor.

 

Thanks everyone! Looks like 87 is fine. I'm glad for that, as 93 is 30 cents more a gallon in my area!