I was told when I bought my 2017 xc60 inscription I could use 87 not true with the hot weather I'm getting a ping under hard acceleration, should I switch to 91 octane any help

 

That's funny, you must have went to the same dealer as we did because we were told the same thing!!!! We pick ours up today but I was reading over the owners manual and somewhere in there it said Volvo demands premium fuel of 91 or above.so I guess it's true, dealers lie!!

I plan to do premium at least a mid grade but if your pinging certainly switch!!

 

The Drive-E engines require 91 octane.

 

Mine says right on the inside of the gas tank door that the minimum is 91. I assumed this for the T6.

 

Fuel Requirements

 

Thank you to everyone who responded, we pay a lot for our Volvos, the dealers should at least be truthful, I've switch and now running premium the cost is worth keeping my xc running.

 

information like this is clearly noted in the owners manual - that's a more trusted source than asking somebody who may confuse a given model's specific for generalities. The owners manual will use languge like "required" or "recommended"... So what will happen to your car if you run lower octane? The knock sensors will detect the pinging and the computer will retard the spark and may even enrich the mixture to cool off the burn. If you drive hard you will go into modes where the computer wants to advance the spark increasing heat. If you drive in warm temps, you will increase heat... Since some models are more "tuned" ie run more turbo boost, or have higher compression, then they would require a higher octane vs a lower tune.

 

If you have access to non ethanol fuel, I recommend you use that as well. I live on the east coast of Florida where non ethanol is readily available due to the mind boggling number of boats in the area. It is more expensive but it provides more energy per unit which will provide slightly better fuel mileage. Non ethanol is less harmful to internal fuel system components and it does not attract moisture the way ethanol does.

 

while it is true that ethanol has a lower energy density than gasoline (about 2/3rd), it actually raises the effective octane rating of fuel. Ethanol also does allow certain amount of water to mix with the fuel which also cools combustion - again giving more resistance to pinging. Modern engines are designed with components to resist the damage ethanol can do to rubber bits so its not really a problem/ As to finding brands without ethanol, that may vary be regional fuel mixes but I've seen Shell V Power 91/93, BP and Sunoco stations noting ethanol free fuels.