Fuel Econ/Tuning

[Stealth]

I am not saying that my 360 is in need of tuning, but lets just say my last £10 worth of petrol has not gone far, yes, I know I use it 4 times a day on short trips (the first one at 7.15am) and around town etc.
But, what can/should be done to improve fuel econ. (yes, the tyres at at the correct presure and I know how to drive )

[Speedy88]

You could run your carb slightly lean. My 1.7 seems ok, I get more miles out of it since I correctly adjusted the carb (needs redoing now though due to air leaks and float heights again).

Also check after letting it stand for fuel line and tank leaks or dampness on the underside. Or maybe it's fine and you're just picky

[volvosneverdie]

It's injection.
My carb 360 is even worse I'm sure. 60£ to Whitby and back from Newcastle.
Think a service is needed on mine. But 360s will never be economical.

[Sliderman]

give the injection system and throttle body a clean?
new plugs if they haven't been done for a while?
make sure it's got a clean air filter?

all very basic, but can help with your economy....

I've also found that making up some better earthing for the electrics helps. Have a look at the "performance" ground wire kits for an idea, although the claimed "performance" gains are a bit of a joke (along with the prices) in principle, more so with an older car, it can have a reasonable result.

None of this will save you a tenner a week in fuel I might add, but a couple more miles to the gallon may be achievable.

If you want a silly suggestion, then remove everything that you don't need from your car, less weight means less effort from the engine, so stop having breakfast, lunch or dinner, and try not to breathe to much or ingest liquid in any form. Every little helps!

[Chris_C]

When I did a service on Stealth (which can only have been Apr ish when she was Jet ) I did cap, arm, plugs, air filter (Pete had done the oil and filter a fortnight before) and had a go over the FI system. Depending on what mileage she's done, she was on around 98,000 when I did it, I'd say it could be LE playing up again. If you are keen with a multimeter, check all the sensors are as the specs in the green book.

Any that weren't, I dosed with ultrasolve and a rag when accessible until they were, but could have got dirty since again.

[SteveP]

First of all, what kinda economy are you getting? It might be perfectly normal for a 360 GLT...

[volvosneverdie]

First of all, what kinda economy are you getting? It might be perfectly normal for a 360 GLT...

As an aside, what cruising speed would yous guys recomend for decent economy on a long run?
my 75-80 is probably the root of my high consumption. (its been pointed out to me by the GF....... )

[Speedy88]

Is she kidding? 75-80 is probably about perfect for a 2L. Well, unless you WANT to drive at 55 on the motorway.

[Chris_C]

Not for a 360 it isn't mate 65-70 is your friend for economy with 300 diffs.

[volvosneverdie]

Not for a 360 it isn't mate 65-70 is your friend for economy with 300 diffs.

Hmmmm. Thats better than 56mph anyway.
Better drop the right hand needle and get used to long distances taking a lot longer to run then.

[SteveP]

Remember Chris... Ben has a GLE so quite noticably taller geared for that kind of cruising. I'd say it shouldn't be too bad at 70. If you're getting around 25-30mpg it's probably normal!

VND your economy worries me having told me how much it cost to get from Whitby and back

[Stealth]

First of all, what kinda economy are you getting? It might be perfectly normal for a 360 GLT...

Well, the 1989 Volvo 340/360 Owners Manual quotes Fuel Consumption as:
360 2lt inj.
Urban 24.6
56 mph 48.7
75 mph 37.2

360 2lt carb.
Urban 30.1
56 mph 51.4
75 mph 39.8

I don't know exactly what MPG STEALTH is giving at the moment, but I am sure it's less than that, she is on 104,000 miles now.
Also, my mpg would be better if I did not have to do 4 short trips a day (8 miles total) from cold.

[volvosneverdie]

Yeah. Might have exagerated a bit in my woe, as i filled up two days before then again when we got back. But thinking about it, I did do a bit of running aroud on top too. Up to hexham and round the doors a bit.
Maybe 40£ ish on the actual run.
Which is probably about right.
Proabably?

[SteveP]

I'd ignore the specs, a GLT will never get 48mpg - never known one to get anywhere near that, mine certainly didn't. More like 36mpg max

[Chris_C]

Yeah, I was meaning for Speedy Steve, I've never had a long term drive of a 360GLE to know.

I didn't know thats the MPG Volvo quoted on LE jet When it was just done, I saw 40ish from a run, 25ish from a town... if I drove like a Nun. Which most of the time I couldn't do Certainly it was the best GLT I'd driven fuel wise then, but thats not saying a huge amount.