1995 Volvo 960 fuel mileage

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Old Dec 10, 2014 | 08:29 PM
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Default 1995 Volvo 960 fuel mileage

Just wanting to know what mileage people are getting with there volvo 960. I'm getting about 400km a tank with 10 liters to spare, 17 liters per 100km driving like a granny. I have no leaks, no check engine light and the air filter is clean changed the plugs and fuel filter, oil and timing belt. I'm driving highway and small town 60km with next to no stop and go. Can't anyone thing of what might be the cause of the high fuel consumption thanks.
 
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Old Dec 10, 2014 | 09:38 PM
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It sounds high to me.

I have a 98 sedan. This year I have been getting 330-350 miles on 16-19 us gals. generally, driving around town, sometimes with aircon. So that's about 13-14 l/100km?

Last road trip this summer we measured 22 mpg, about 11 l/100km, I was disappointed with that and will be interested to see what happens on the next highway trip as we will not be using the aircon.

We tend to use mid grade or premium fuel, the octane numbers are all different wherever you are, but here they are sold as 89 and 93, using a lower grade than that makes the engine drink about 10% more fuel.

My car was in terrible shape a year ago, and I did a lot of work under the hood. You can read the story of everything I fixed in the S90 forum.
 
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Old Dec 15, 2014 | 03:06 PM
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Originally Posted by FFEJ
Just wanting to know what mileage people are getting with there volvo 960. I'm getting about 400km a tank with 10 liters to spare, 17 liters per 100km driving like a granny. I have no leaks, no check engine light and the air filter is clean changed the plugs and fuel filter, oil and timing belt. I'm driving highway and small town 60km with next to no stop and go. Can't anyone thing of what might be the cause of the high fuel consumption thanks.
What's a "km"? I deal in mpg. None the less my 95 960 wagon consumes not so economical measure of fuel.
 
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Old Dec 16, 2014 | 03:42 AM
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Getting 264 miles a tank 16mpg.
 
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Old Dec 17, 2014 | 04:54 PM
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On a road trip this weekend I got 24+ mpg(us); later checking found that the rear tires had about 3% difference air pressure so that hurt it slightly. 90% of this trip was highway travel between 60 and 70 mph.

How old is your oxygen sensor? What kind of spark plugs did you use? Can you smell fuel in the exhaust?

I want to install a vacuum gauge so that I can tell which driving conditions use less fuel.
 
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Old Dec 18, 2014 | 11:45 AM
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I have a 98 S90 (same car really) and am getting 600km to a tank. 90% highway and between 100kph and 120kph cruising speed.
 
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Old Dec 22, 2014 | 08:41 PM
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Before I purchase a ScanGauge, I was getting 21/24, after 25/28. Once I drove 537 miles (865 km) on one tank of gas. My guess is that I had less than 15 to go, my low fuel light had just come on. The sweet spot is 63 mpg. This was in my '97 sedan, K&N box filter, Volvo plugs, full synthetic oil.
 
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Old Dec 25, 2014 | 10:36 AM
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How can a gauge possibly make that much of a difference? That's right, it can't! Unless you didn't know how to calculate your mileage without it? BTW, everybody knows that K&N filters are a complete waste...
 

Last edited by rspi; Dec 25, 2014 at 11:18 AM. Reason: typo
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Old Dec 25, 2014 | 11:16 AM
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The gauge teaches one how to get the best fuel mileage by adjusting your driving techniques and by showing you what speeds you get the best mileage at. You really can't dispute 537 miles on one tank of gas...

Just my experience.

 
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Old Dec 25, 2014 | 07:34 PM
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Hey rspi thanks for telling us about 63 mph, I am going to keep that in mind until I get some kind of feedback.
 
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Old Dec 26, 2014 | 09:47 AM
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Originally Posted by rspi
The gauge teaches one how to get the best fuel mileage by adjusting your driving techniques and by showing you what speeds you get the best mileage at. You really can't dispute 537 miles on one tank of gas...

Just my experience.

Will a K&N air filter save you money over a paper filter? - Auto Information Series - YouTube
That gauge is interesting. Anyone know anything about it?
 
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Old Dec 26, 2014 | 07:44 PM
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Old Dec 27, 2014 | 11:44 AM
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Thank you. Seems this unit would not be compatible with my "95 960. Correct me if I am wrong.
 
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Old Dec 27, 2014 | 09:16 PM
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I don't think your car has the obd2?
 
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Old Dec 28, 2014 | 10:10 AM
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Originally Posted by rspi
I don't think your car has the obd2?
Nope has the OBD1 jumper cable system.
 
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Old Dec 28, 2014 | 11:13 AM
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Grrr, sorry about that.

To get the best mileage with my 960 I did the following:
1. OEM plugs.
2. K&N Box filter.
3. Full synthetic oil (changed every 7,500 miles).
4. Drove 63 mph whenever possible.
 
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Old Dec 29, 2014 | 11:23 AM
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Hey rspi I kept my speed down when safe to do so and got 27.5mpg on a tank (90% highway and 2 cold starts)! Thanks again! This car might get 29mpg or more on a nonstop highway run. I better start saving bottles!

I am not sure the K&N filter is a good idea though, especially in light of the fact that some of the white block motors have a problem burning valves.

I think every 100,000 miles the throttle body, idle valve and maf should be cleaned. If the front oxygen sensor is older than 100k, the car tends to run rich and waste fuel.

In the 80s volvo sold a vacuum gauge for the center dash of the car. Apparently all the 700, 900 A pillars are the same so I can use that gauge pod. Lower vacuum roughly correlates to more fuel being used.
 

Last edited by VDonkey; Dec 29, 2014 at 11:27 AM.
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Old Feb 7, 2015 | 09:54 AM
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I have 97 and city mileage runs around 16 mpg (14.7 L/100) and highway runs 27.5 mpg (8.55 L/100) at 65 mph (105Kph) , 25.5 mpg (9.22L/100) at 70 mph (113 kph) with E10 gas. Speed will kill off your fuel mileage in these cars very quickly.

I did some speed vs mileage tests a few years ago with a calibrated Scan Gauge.

The MPG of each 20 mile run is as follows.

50 mph 35.4 mpg
55 mph 33.9 mpg
60 mph 31.15 mpg
65 mph 28.5 mpg

The test road was Rt 41 between Naples and Miami. I like this road for testing because it is very flat and most of the traffic now takes I-75 across the state.
 

Last edited by ALS; Feb 7, 2015 at 09:57 AM.
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