I drive a 2000 S70, base (non-turbo ) with a little over 80k on it. I've kept up with the maintenance and have had relatively few problems. For the past few months however I've watched as the "MPG" indicator on the dash went down from 29-30 down to 24-25 where it's at now. It's taken time, going down 0.1 every week or so. As soon as I noticed it, I cleaned the air filter, and checked the air in my tires. The fuel filter only has maybe 10k on it (if that), and that's the only thing I could think of that could be causing this. The other day however, I watched it shoot back up to 28, and I was like "woo-hoo" only to be let down when it returned to 24. I haven't noticed having to go to the gas station any more than usual, so maybe it's a cpu thing? Also I get check engine lights occasionally, but they go away before I can read them.

*Side note, the car was shipped from Hawaii and never experienced the problem there.

Thanks for any help or insight you guys might have.

 

Just ignore the MGP figures. I have never heard of them ever actually being 100% correct. every fill up just to the ol miles driven by the gallons to fill er.

 

If your cel came on, there is likely a code stored in the ecu. you should get it read anyway. Maybe you have a O2 sensor going bad. Did this start after shipment? If so, could be the quality of gas or the change in the style of driving you have to do.

 

No, this problem happened after shipment. Went from a warm island environment, to a cold northern environment. Maybe that's it, but for a car designed in Sweden, you'd think the cold wouldn't bother it. Oh well.

 

how far is your average commute?

 

Not far, only 25-30 min. By any chance do you know if power steering, or some front end issue could have anything to do with this? I've been getting an awful low tone squeal/grinding noise when turning left and a noticeable resistance in the steering wheel. Also, sometimes when I'm at a stop, and I turn the wheel, it makes that same struggling sound. Any thoughts on that?

 

Did you check your power steering fluid level?

As for the gas MPG issue, it's more in line with what everyone else gets around here.