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Hi,
I've been reading all the recent posts and some of the guides like how to beat the EPA. I think you guys are doing a really great thing here. I've been using a few of the techniques described here for years now. I try to time all the lights and avoid stopping at them by coasting up really slow. I try not to push the gas pedal down further on hills and instead lose speed to gravity. I follow far enough behind people so i don't use my brakes much. I try to avoid using my brakes ever if possible.

I have recently picked up an old car because I need transportation at the college I go to. I haven't owned a car in many years. For the past 4 or 5 years I walked, rode a bicycle, and rode a motorcycle for long commutes. This car is a real piece of junk, but it was free. Its odometer broke many years ago at 244,000 miles, so I will never know what kind of mileage it gets. Its an '88 Volvo 240 with a 4 speed automatic transmission. I'm not going to need to drive it much. I will be driving it across Illinois next week. I plan on airing up the tires to 45 psi and driving the speed limit all the way there.

My question is: is there anything you guys can think of that would help me get better mileage? I just put in some 5w-30 semi-synthetic oil. Tires are going to be set at max psi which I'm pretty sure is 44 psi. I'm checking all the brake calipers and pads to make sure they aren't sticky. I had to buy 1 rebuilt caliper because it was falling apart from rust. Anything else anyone can think of?

Check the alignment and make sure the oil isn't filled to higher than half way between the marks on the dip stick.

For an idea of what sort of mileage you are getting you can use GoogleMaps as a good baseline for miles on your trip. Map out the route and if you can make it across in one tank, fill up at the start, then again at the end.

Personally, I'd get the ODO fixed. It can't be THAT much and you'll appreciate the feedback.

Make sure your splash shield in intact under the engine. I've owned Volvo's since 1981 so I know their strong and weak points.
Rule one with Volvo gas mileage. DO NOT drive above 65 mph or 2,500 rpms.
I have found the best speed for gas mileage and time to be 100 kph or 62.1 mph.
Make sure you have new plugs, and air filter. If you have the time and willing to spend a little money fill the transmission and differential with synthetic and replace the fuel filter, put on new wires, cap and rotor. Run a good fuel system cleaner through the fuel line. Over the counter products that are pretty good are Techron and Redline S1.

The transmission fluid exchange is going to cost about $105 in fluid and the rear end less than $15 to fill with synthetic. Synthetic in the rear end will give you the biggest bang for a buck as they say.

Many over on the Volvo boards are getting high twenties in the 240 automatics.
The 5 speeds are seeing anywhere between 28 and 34 mpg.

Here is a link for a Salvage yard search engine. Get a working cluster for your car.
car-part (http://car-part.com/)
I'm pretty sure they run around $50-$75 used.

There is a cleanmpg member with a Volvo 240 wagon his lifetime MPG is an astounding number for such an old heavy car ( 28 I think) - check him out in the logs. He will have good experience for you.

Welcome infamousnation!

Glad to see I'm not the only old Volvo driver here. Best thing I can tell you is make sure the engine is perfectly tuned...NGK plugs, Mann air filter, fuel filter, ect. It might be worth your while to clean out the throttle body and flame trap as well. Due to the high miles, I'd also repack the front wheel bearings.

My 240 wagon is an automatic....You can easily do engine-on coasting with these cars. I've been able to squeeze out 27mpg on the highway, but 21mpg has become the norm on my horrible stop-n-go commute. If you ever want to fix the odometer, chances are its just a broken plastic gear that relatively easy to fix....ask me how I know. ;)

Good Luck!!

There is a cleanmpg member with a Volvo 240 wagon his lifetime MPG is an astounding number for such an old heavy car ( 28 I think) - check him out in the logs. He will have good experience for you.

You know what's funny? They're old, but they really aren't all that heavy by today's standards. One day I was curious how the Prius stacks up against my old 740, so I looked it up. There's maybe ~100lb difference in dry weight between them. (Power output is nearly identical, too...no wonder the Prius feels normal to me.)

There are 2 things that hold the Volvos back, and #1 is aerodynamics. #2 is the iron block engines, which are insanely robust but don't exactly make the most of their fuel. (2.3L makes 114HP, today a Yaris can pretty much do that with 1.5L.) There may be some ways to cheat and get a little more where it counts, though. Cam swaps and valve timing adjustments were popular when I still had mine, though I never got a chance to try.

Thanks guys, I'll start checking a few of these things out.

There are 2 things that hold the Volvos back, and #1 is aerodynamics. #2 is the iron block engines, which are insanely robust but don't exactly make the most of their fuel. (2.3L makes 114HP, today a Yaris can pretty much do that with 1.5L.)

I agree....but IMO, its the potential longevity of the 2/7/900 series that make them "green". What's worse? A 35mpg car with an average life expectancy of 5-7yrs...or a 22mpg car with an average life expectancy of 10+yrs? Longevity also equals less landfill. It'll be interesting to see how the fuel sippers of today hold up over the long haul.

I do agree. A huge amount of energy goes into building a car, so the longer it lasts the better. Mine made it 18 years and was only taken out of service because the body work after being T-boned couldn't be justified vs. a newer car with airbags, abs, etc. (I drove it 200mi home from school after that...talk about tank.) A big contributor to that IMO was the utter simplicity of the car's mechanicals and electrical system. It was less failure prone, and easy to fix on the rare occasion that something did wear out. The S70 that replaced it was a nightmare by comparison. I can only wait and see if the Prius has the same kind of longevity. In my mind, that will come down to a combination of bravery and the availability of good salvage parts.

Fix that odometer! It's easy!

As it's already been said, 99% of the time the problem with the 240 odo is a little plastic gear in your speedo that has crumbled from age.

You can order a "kit" to fix this from IPD - the kit is nothing more than the little plastic gear (now made from a material that wont dry up and crumble so easily) and a DVD that walks you through the whole process step by step. Only basic tools are needed and you can get it done on a lazy weekend afternoon. Take your time, don't rush it, go slow, and it might take you 2 hours or so.

As you can see in my sig, I also have an 88 240 sedan - I bought it for my daughter, but it got too "needy" - now I'm fixing it up slowly because none of us wants to see it go. Right now I'm rebuilding the brakes at each wheel - also because of a sticky caliper and a dragging parking brake.

I'll also repeat what was said about keeping the car in tune - tune up parts are cheap and easy to replace on this car.

At it's best we got 29 highway with ours... A little more work, I think I can beat that...

Greetings Paul, glad to see your posting here! Maybe I'll get a chance to see that lovely 1800 when "Volvos@IkeaII" comes around.

I agree....but IMO, its the potential longevity of the 2/7/900 series that make them "green". What's worse? A 35mpg car with an average life expectancy of 5-7yrs...or a 22mpg car with an average life expectancy of 10+yrs? Longevity also equals less landfill. It'll be interesting to see how the fuel sippers of today hold up over the long haul.

I'm actually working on a spreadsheet right now that compares the costs of a few cars over a 10 year span. One interesting thing I discovered is it takes 10 years of driving a 22,000 dollar car that averages 45 mpg, 12,000 miles per year and an average price per gallon of gas of 10 dollars, before it becomes cheaper then driving a 22 mpg car that you have no monthly payment on.

So a car with a long lifespan certainly has some big advantages going for it. I can provide the spreadsheet to anyone who is interested in seeing what I have been working on. I also figured out you can drive 10 CRX hf's for the price of 1 suburban.