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S-60 Fuel Recommendation

Just took delivery of an S-60 2.5T. The manual recommends a minimum of 91 octane fuel, but the dealer says he drives his S-60 all the time with 87 octane and has no problems.

Wouldn't the timing be retarded under load and stress conditions all the time with 87 octane? My Bonneville SSEi says I can damage my engine if I use less than 92 octane. I realize that's because of the supercharger, but I'm curious how similar the turbo's problems could be with the cheaper gas. I've never owned a turbo before and could use some advice. Obviously, I'd rather use the cheapest gas I can, but not at any risk to the engine.

Thanks for any advice,

Lee C. Carpenter Landisville, PA

'04 Volvo S-60 2.5T '00 Bonneville SSEi '95 Grand Am SE 3.1

Reply to
Lee C. Carpenter
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In my opinion, if the manufacturer says 91 octane, then use 91 octane. It says that for a reason. However, I have heard from various mechanic sources that whatever fuel you start ith, you should stay with, i.e. start with 87 then stay with it. I had a Toyota Cressida several years ago and the book said 91, but me being cheap ran 87. I got all kinds of knocking and sputtering and slow acceleration until I went to 91. My son had a similar problem on his Volvo

850. Was running 87 and was having very poor performance. Now he runs a combo of 93 and 89 (one tank of 93 and 2 of 89) and it seems to be running better.

Just my 2 cents worth. Walter Wise

Reply to
WPWise

Thanks Walter.

The salesman couldn't tell us if the fuel they filled the car with was premium or not. Therefore, I assume it wasn't. I'll put 87 in the first fill up and see what happens.

Lee

Reply to
Lee C. Carpenter

The manual for my '01 S-40 also says to run 91 octane fuel. I ran an extended MPG comparison between 91 and 89 (the mid-grade). On both fuels the engine ran fine but gas mileage was lower with the 89 octane - I computed the cost of the gas against the MPG and it turned out that the actual cost difference of 91 octane gas was only 1 or 2 cents higher than the cheaper gas - so I've stayed with the 91 octane ges ever since.

Rob MacTurk

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Reply to
Robert MacTurk

The engine will have to compensate at all times with 87 Octane fuel... Why not just go with the 91 that they recommend? My motto is, if you can't afford the gas, then you can't afford the car, look elsewhere.

Reply to
Rob Guenther

A common enough string on this NG, Lee.

My own extended (if not scientific) testing found that 91 gives about 5% better mileage than 87. Performance is notably improved. As another post suggested, you can do the math on this one. bob noble

Reno, NV, USA

Reply to
Bob Noble

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