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Old 04-05-2012, 09:32 AM   #1 (permalink)
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1982 Volvo 244 D6 with 2383ccm diesel engine

Hi Folks,

I'm here to collect further ways how to reduce the fuel consumption of my old diesel Volvo.

Let me tell our story I bought him - his name is Bordeaux - in 2007. Our first way was a 240km long highway trip. I didn't know that this type of engine doesn't like high speed (above 68mph) - but I was calm,because I believed in the water temperature indicator which was wrong. So we run on 75mph. Fortunately he was OK at the end of the trip and made 36,2mpg (US).
I was really happy with it according his size and weight.

I totally rebuilt its engine with Mahle pistons and quality parts. So he has a baby heart with an oldman body

I monthly drive him for a 280km long trip without highway on a speed of 50-53mph. I always achieve 45,2mpg (5,2l/100km). The only modifications are that his got a direct air filter, I fitted a brand new radiator so I can cover partly the grill block without trouble. Oh, yes and I adjusted a PCV jar. I generally pump the tyres onto 36psi.
So after it my aim was to achieve 48mpg (4,9l/100km) without pulse and glide driving style.

It was time for an engine oil changing so I turned to 10w40 Liqui Moly oil from the regularly used 15w40 one.
.... My mpg increased to the unbelievable 51,1mpg (4,6l/100km).
Our average city mpg is about 34 with using 'man-powered start-stop system'.))

I love this result but I want to improve it with mods on my car.
In the first steps I don't want to modify his shape with spoilers or so on.
Do you have any ideas? I found an interesting youtube vid about engine head porting.

Thanks inadvance for your help!

Doni_99


Last edited by Doni_99; 04-07-2012 at 07:49 AM..
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Old 04-05-2012, 09:36 AM   #2 (permalink)
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Hi Doni_99 - welcome to the forum.

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Old 04-05-2012, 10:59 AM   #3 (permalink)
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There are a few things that you can do to that VAG based IDI motor, and since you are in Europe it will be a lot easier.

Add a turbo if it is naturally aspirated; get all the pieces from a 740/760 turbodiesel. Diesels run on an excess of air, and the extra air introduced into the system will allow leaner air/fuel ratios during cruise ( improves mpg ), cooler exhaust gas temperatures ( better reliability ), and most importantly, torque ( so you don't have to drive "foot to the floor" all the time, once again lowering fuel consumption ). With the modern turbo technology that is out there, you can have a responsive, clean running diesel that will be easier to drive. Head porting, as good as it is, is not something you want to do in a maximum mpg application because if you enlarge the port too much or get the shape wrong it can lower the velocity of the air through the port at low to mid lift ranges, reducing throttle response and torque. If you want to learn how to port a head, get an old head to work so that it doesn't put your car out of comission. Then take your home ported head to a reputable cylinder head specialist to get it flow tested and get a valve job that boosts the flow numbers in the .100" to .400" valve lift range ( you have to see how you did: convert the inches to mm ). Since this is an interference style engine, I will not go into a cam change or anything like that; with the turbo and some careful pump tuning, the engine will improve. Make sure you add an intercooler too. Cooler and denser air = better mpg.

Your car seems to be in a good place right now, and I never thought I would say something like "don't mess with it", but the hot rodder in me will never let that happen. If you haven't already, change the lubricant in the transmission and rear differential over to synthetic.

Then there is water/alcohol injection, propane fumigation...............oh no, there I go again.
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Last edited by cleanspeed1; 04-05-2012 at 11:17 AM..
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Old 04-05-2012, 01:17 PM   #4 (permalink)
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Welcome to ecomodder,

Quote:
Originally Posted by Doni_99 View Post
It was time for an engine oil changing so I turned to 10w40 Liqui Moly oil from the regularly used 15w40 one.
.... My mpg increased to the unbelievable 58,8mpg (4,6l/100km).[
I hope you'll forgive me for finding that, well, a bit unbelievable.

Thinner oil surely works - especially in winter - but surely, it can't help that much (11-12 mpg)

I have a hard time pushing my 1.6L V50 to 58.8 mpg, and that's a small aerodynamic wonder compared to the brick-like 244
Both cars coincidentally also weigh just about as much.


Are those values taken off the car's computer, or did you calculate them when filling up the tank ?


I'm afraid you got some of the MPG <-> L/100km conversions mixed up ...
* 58.8 mpg (US) is a mere 4 L/100km - which would be nothing short of spectacular
* 58.8 mpg (UK, or Imp) is 4.8 L/100km


Online Conversion - Fuel Consumption Conversion
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allow you to do conversions between fuel consumption units
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Old 04-05-2012, 02:29 PM   #5 (permalink)
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I just noticed the "man powered stop/start system".

Do you get out and push that thing?

Please say you do!
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Last edited by cleanspeed1; 04-05-2012 at 02:59 PM..
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Old 04-05-2012, 03:03 PM   #6 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroMPG View Post
Hi Doni_99 - welcome to the forum.

Have you seen these pages?

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Hi, of course I've found them but honestly I haven't read it all
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Old 04-05-2012, 03:09 PM   #7 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cleanspeed1 View Post
There are a few things that you can do to that VAG based IDI motor, and since you are in Europe it will be a lot easier.
...

If you haven't already, change the lubricant in the transmission and rear differential over to synthetic.

...
Oh, thx. I read a lot of useful advice in your writing.
Oil change in transmission and differential is an easy way, so I'm going to do it next week

'Man powered start-stop system' means that I turn off the engine when I stop for more than 30 sec. in front of a traffic lamp

Last edited by Doni_99; 04-06-2012 at 04:51 AM..
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Old 04-05-2012, 03:42 PM   #8 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by euromodder View Post
Are those values taken off the car's computer
This made me smile (Most advanced electronic part in car is probably the radio).

Doni_99, welcome!

I have 1983 Volvo 240 Diesel, it is driven bit over 300 000km and engine was rebuild at special shop by previous owner 120 000km ago.

There are few things that kill these engines (which has made bad reputation to them).

Using lot of power when cold, shutting down without long cool off idling, using oil that is not fully synthetic.

Most issues are because this engine is basicly 1.6l 4 sylinder VW motor with added 2 cylinders, valve train lubrication is coming from one end of head only, so each cold start causes quite bit of wear and only synthetic oils are really good in retaining lubricant film when engine is not running. It takes quite a while for oil to lubricate all places of that valvetrain, camshaft etc.
Cracked heads are common as it is long motor so there are different temperatures at different places of head, especially when driving front end tends to be lot cooler than rear end, long idling evens out temperature differences so that head will not try to warp and crack. There are many other reasons for that of course, but that is how I was explained why it needs that 2 minutes of idling before shutting off.

I did drive almost 80 000 in a year with it, sadly body was so rusty that it has not been in use since then, but I still own it.

Aerodynamics are which can be improved quite a bit, do you have still engine bay bottom cover? Do you have front spoiler/lip?
You can see both in this pic, bit twisted lip as I did hit large rabbit close to 120kph when driving tired at night, crazy things we do when young
http://jtbo.pp.fi/images/240/DSC_0002.JPG pic is very large, so I put it as url.

I hardly managed to get less than 7l/100km, but then again at that time I had still not understood meaning of time, my avg speed for 850km trip used to be above 100kph, so compared to that it did not use lot of diesel.

I did use 10w30 fully synthetic truck oil, car has oil capacity of over 7 litres with filter from my memory and I did change oil almost monthly at that time because of lot of driving. So it was cheapest to buy lot at once, I think it was under 3€/litre.

I had Nokian summer tires in it, but those did not last no more than 20 000km, 185/70-14 size, I think that tires were also quite flexible, so some other tires might be better.

Sometimes I think that I should weld it together and put some aerodynamic improvements to rear of it, roof wing and trunk lid wing might give quite a bit of improvement.

Most reliable car that I had, even alternator failed (lack of service, brushes should of been replaced when I bought it), I did drove it home over 300km at cold night, next morning put new alternator in and it still started without an issue. Even if one loses power completely if there is 9V fire alarm battery, one can use that to keep shutdown solenoid pulling and drive really long time with only that, so if you don't need to use lights at daytime alternator delete might be quite well possible, giving bit better economy.

Another mod would be putting e-fan for radiator as it has belt driven one as standard.

Grille block should also help quite a bit, just keep on eye of temps.

Ram air is also one thing to consider, it is long time since I was under the hood of mine, so can't really remember how filter box was, but I think that it should not be big job to put pipe under front bumper and tape airbox holes shut.
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Old 04-05-2012, 03:45 PM   #9 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by euromodder View Post
Welcome to ecomodder,


I hope you'll forgive me for finding that, well, a bit unbelievable.

Thinner oil surely works - especially in winter - but surely, it can't help that much (11-12 mpg)

I have a hard time pushing my 1.6L V50 to 58.8 mpg, and that's a small aerodynamic wonder compared to the brick-like 244
Both cars coincidentally also weigh just about as much.


Are those values taken off the car's computer, or did you calculate them when filling up the tank ?

I'm afraid you got some of the MPG ...
Hi Euromodder,

I forgive you of course The main reason is, that I measured the mentioned 5,2L/100km for about 14 times, and after the oil change I measured only once the 4,6L/100km. There is no computer in my car (except my brain) instead of it before every long trip I fill the tank up to the slot (it klicks about 4-5 times when I finish to fill it). The only thing I can say: I do everything in the same way than 14 times before - except the oilchange - and the lower consumption came.

I used internet converters to give you mpg data, it looks it wasn't a good idea, so I go back to L/100km

Yes, the 4,6 result is unbelievable, but I think the 5,2L/100km is more then good even when I compare it with brand new cars' consumption.

I don't know what I do in an other way than others, but on the same 280km long way I measured (with board comp and filling, too) the below mentioned consumptions:
2004 Toyota Corolla 1,4: 4,4L/100km. (computer: 4,4L)
2009 Dacia Logan MCV 1,5dci: 3,7L/100km. (computer: 3,4L)
My speed was about 80-85km/h, except when I crossed a small city.

All what I do:
- keep moderate speed (80-85km/h)
- I use 'engine brake'
- turn off the engine when I stop for more than 30sec.

Another anomaly: cars what I've driven, don't use much more fuel when I use AC. The difference can't be more then 0,1-0,2L/100km. Why do I think it? Because I used AC at the examples

At last, these consumtion examples only for roadside.
The overall consumption of the Dacia was 4,8L/100km during our 28.645km. The company average cons. is 5,2L.
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Old 04-05-2012, 04:12 PM   #10 (permalink)
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One thing about diesel fuel.

It makes foam, sometimes more, sometimes less, with my daily ride (in signature) I can easily get 5l differences between fillups if I let it pump at full speed, somehow there is sort of air lock, or foam lock forming into tank which clears only when I drive a bit, shaking car seems not to clear it. That is more likely to happen if car is tilted to certain direction.

My solution is then to let diesel go in at very slow speed.

Other thing that can affect is that there is winter and summer quality of diesel, there is difference in mileage between them.

With Volvo, any bit of wind makes a difference, that is what I found out when I drove it actively.

More samples make it more true of course.

Oh and one another thing I have noticed, with that engine, there is easily 0.1l/100km difference compared to fresh oil or oil near change point, car is clearly going better with fresh oils, don't know why, but that is what I also found out, maybe that is part of difference too. 6 cylinders is of course lot of parts moving, also it has only 140Nm of torque at maximum, so maybe it is sum of all those?

Anyway, I don't trust one tank reading too much, I like to get more samples and take average from those. I have got 3.5l/100km in one fillup, but I consider it to be bit too optimistic, 3.6l/100km is what I consider my best. In statistical analysis I believe top and bottom values are thrown away when trying to find mean average, I believe that is because both ends are more likely to be errors or something like that.

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