Annoying Fuel Gauge

My fuel alwasy seems to be in the red. It seems to take about 40 liters from red to full and then sit in the red for miles and miles. I was told that it (1986 244GLE) has a 60 liter tank so doesthat mean that i have to guess for the last 20 liters?? Is this normal and is there anything that can be done. Thanks

Hi, Fuel guages in Volvos seem to be a perennial problem. They are ( I hear) notorious fo not giving the correct reading. You fill up and the guage takes ages to goe from full to half... Then suddenly from a near half tank you are empty. I used to carry a 2 gallon spare tank with fuel JIC!! Not sure that is a solution to the issue. Certainly you can check the operation of the guage in the tank, accessedunder your rear seats... Maybe a sticky arnature or faulty sender? Des. . . ;)

Yep, sounds like my 1988 240GL. Fill the tank to the top of the filler pipe and it will do about 250 miles to the halfway mark on the guage. From there to the red it does about another 70 miles. As soon as it starts to drop below the half full mark I think about filling it up. I used to run it into the red regularly but this seemed to cause me starting problems - probably by drawing dirt into the filters that had accumulated in the bottom of the tank over the years. By the way I am cheesed off with shell having replaced optimax with v-power. My car ran a treat on the 98 octane optimax. 99 octane v-power it definitely does not like so I am doing alternate fills of BP ultimate 97 octane and v-power which should keep whats in the tank at around 98 octane without having to prat around with the timing. Anyone else any views on this? Phil

Mine does the same (1993 Torslanda). It takes ages to fall to half, then seems to reach the red in no distance at all, then I can drive for miles on red. When it finally gets to the bottom of the red, which I presume must be really really near empty, I can put a gallon in and it goes up to 1/4. I get 33 mpg with average driving, 35 on runs. If it falls to 32 something needs cleaning.

Ah well, thanks everyone. I don't think I'll bother fiddling if it's a common fault. I'm looking to change to a 760 diesel to reduce my fuel bills anyway. Cheers

Both my Volvos seem to 'lose' fuel once below half way on the gauge but at least its not like my Golf, I ran out of fuel just as it got to the red mark :( On the whole I prefer having more in than you think and I try to fill up at about 1/4 of a tank (according to gauge). Ali