Hi, I have a 89' 240 and was curious as to what the real capacity is of the fuel tank? I stopped today to get gas (it was cheap and the needle was at the orange warning) so I got $15 worth, which works out to 13 gallons. The pump stopped after about $13.50, but I kept filling thinking that I could squeeze some more cheap gas in there.

Next thing I know I looked down and gas was spilling out and also out of the fuel overfill on the bottom of car. Once the needle gets into the orange area of the fuel gauge, how much fuel can safely go into the tank? Has anybody else experience this? I totally pamper my car so I was not happy about this incident but will treat it as a learning experience.

thanks!

The generally agreed upon spec is 15.8 for most, if not all, 240s.
It seems like most people's fuel gauges vary somewhat, so you'll just have to go with experience to tell you when to fill up.

You can start to worry when your car starts to stumble upon hard acceleration. When that happens to me, I usually fill up with about 14-14.6 gallons. I let the pump shut off automatically, and I don't top it off. At that point for me, the needle is just starting to exit the orange zone on the gauge, and on the bottom white line.

Beware though, of totally running out of gas, because the in tank fuel pump is cooled by the gas, and it can burn itself out if run with a totally empty tank.

If you've never had your car stumble on hard acceleration, you're not getting close to the bottom yet.

Greg

Tip from a Volvo shop owner. In hot weather (we're talking Texas summers here), don't even get close to empty. If the level gets too low the fuel will get too hot to protect the pre-pump. He recommended keeping at least a quarter tank.

Good luck.

Doug Harvey

I have found the gas gauges on 3 240's to be rather pessimistic, which I like. Although I routinely refill about 13 gallons when the needle hits the worry zone, a couple of times I've pumped in 14.6 gallons.

I have never been able to get more than 12.8 in. I run it pretty low, but have never tried to rn it out. All tank capacity figures are BS. I read once in C&D that the typical exaggeration is about 10%.
--
Jonathan Knauer - 90 with 274.

"All tank capacity figures are BS."

Having viewed the dimensions of the filter sock, tank baffles and bottom shape, I don't know how any of the last gallon, or maybe two, can be reached.

--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

My '91 owner's manual lists it at 13 gallons. The tanks in the older models must be larger. I have never put in more than 13.5 gal (but I have never run out of gas, either).

I encourage you not to continue adding gas, "topping off" after the nozzel turns off the first time. If you keep refilling the tank neck after it fills once, you are filling the top cavity of the tank that is not supposed to be filled. This can result in liquid fuel getting into you vapor control system, which will render it inoperable for days, and is not particularly safe, since you vapor control system is probably not completely tight any more. Also, if you are in an area where the gas pumps have stage II vapor controls, topping off can result in fuel splashing back into the pump's vapor line, which renders it inoperable for a period of time, so the next customer is breathing gasoline fumes, or fighting with a nozzel that keep tripping off.

Fee,
The tank capacity is 15.8 gallons(as Dan stated).Sometimes when I'm in the orange I still have 5 gallons left!
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philvo

I have a 240 '89 wagon-I am not sure my fuel capacity either--but I did get 16 gallons in it once--I think I was on fumes. My guess is about 17. You gots cheap gas--13 gals. here would run me about $22+--but I do use premium exclusively.

I have a 240DL, '84 and although my O/M says 15.8, I can never get more than 13.5 in it. This is after running it to the bottom of the guage, but never having her stop on me. (Yes, I carried a spare can to get it restarted if necessary.) And as much as I like like cheap gas, I do recomend only running 93 O if possible on these nice little high compression engines.

All 240's have a 15.8 gallon tank according to manual. The gas gauge in my car reads such that deep in the orange zone, near E, I still have a 2-3 gallon reserve. I have run it to nearly empty only to pump no more than 13 gallons it it.....

Jay
84 245 GLTi 220k

I really dont care about how much the tank holds. I watch the odometer.
If I come close to 500 km (310 miles) I fill up no matter what the needle says.
I just hate to get stuck in rush hour traffic with an empty tank. :=)