Hello all,

I am a new poster, I just purchased a rust free 1990 Volvo 740 SOHC Wagon in Birmingham, Al. and drove it back to Merritt Island, Fl. The car has 120K miles and runs very well. I need to do some cosmetic work on it, front seats, carpet, paint. The only mechanical problems seem to be that the rear shocks need to be replaced, it needs a wheel alignment, there is a slight "shimmy" in the steering wheel when braking and the fuel capacity seems whacky.

The owners manual states that the fuel tank has a capacity of 15.8 gallons (US Gallons?). I ran it until I had 240 miles on the odometer, the needle was in the red, and it ran out of gas. I fortunately made it into a gas station as it was cutting off. Yes I know about not running a car out of gas, cat converter, etc., but I should have been able to go another 100 miles or so on 15 gallons. I thought the fuel gage was wrong, evidently not.

When I fueled up it only took 10 gallons of gas from a "dry" tank. What is up with that? The fuel gage seems to work fine, for a ten gallon tank, but where is the other 5.8 gallons hidden?

Both of these symptons (only ten gallon tank & gas gage reading accurately) could be be result of a collasped tank, but it looks fine, any ideas? Surely there is not a ten gallon tank in this car.

Any help/guidance with these probs will be greatly appreciated. I just got over having the "Jaguars", but now I have Volvoitis. It is great to see such a great posting board, There is a comparable Jag board. Sorry for running on, I'll try to keep it short from now on.

Thank you all,

Billy in Florida with Volvoitis