1996 850 N/A 2.0L - Fuel octane question

Teddy1975 · Post by **Teddy1975** » 02 Feb 2016, 12:46

I've been reading a lot of posts on this board where people say you should use 91+ octane gas. What gas octanes are available in the United States?

Here in Denmark we have two to choose from, 92 or 96 octane. The 92 octane is of course the cheaper of the two.

Would it be ok to use 92 instead of 96?

Thanks,
Teddy

Post by **Clemens** » 02 Feb 2016, 12:56

Yes, it should run fine on 92. The motormanagement advances/retards timing according to the fuel quality/octane level.
But, you should be able to feel a difference performacewise with 96. In Austria we have 95 and 98/99. 98/99 is almost 20c more per Liter, so I stick with 95. If the difference is very little in Denmark (can´t remember the difference), go with 96!

Post by **dosbricks** » 02 Feb 2016, 14:29

Octane is measured differently in the US than in Europe. A search online would reveal equivalents and as much technical info as you want to delve into.

US (at least in this part of the country) is 87, 91, 93 with the latter probably being something close to your 96.

This probably explains it as succinctly as possible. From the web:
"US and Europe calculate it in different ways which makes US fuel look like it has a lower rating but in reality they've got the same rating. US shows the average of the Research Octane Number (RON) and Motor Octane Number (MON) rating, which is the Anti-Knock Index (AKI) while Europe just shows the RON rating which gives a higher number than the MON rating."

The difference in octane between Austria and Denmark may be due to the difference in average altitude above sea level.

Post by **benpineapple** » 02 Feb 2016, 15:02

I'm assuming your owner's manual section on fuel is relevant to your region, but what does it say? Mine (US model) strongly advises against anything below 89 AKI. It goes on to say, that the car performs its best when using a 93 AKI fuel.

Teddy1975 · Post by **Teddy1975** » 02 Feb 2016, 16:25

I will continue to use the 95 octane we have here then.
I wrote the wrong number in my first post.

Thank you for explaining the difference in measurements from US to EU. It would be so much easier if we just used the same measurements, but that's probably a bit too much to hope for

Post by **oragex** » 02 Feb 2016, 17:14

The N/A engines were specified with the lowest octane, however an old engine might have issues and that's where the higher octane might help such as if the engine is pinging (knocking) on lower octane gas. You can check for pinging while driving near a concrete wall with the window down.

mydamnvolvo · Post by **mydamnvolvo** » 03 Feb 2016, 13:27

In America there is 87 91 & 93 octane gasoline. In my manual for my 960 it says the minimum octane is 87 but that the engine was designed to run on 93+ octane fuel.

Randy Oehlert · Post by **Randy Oehlert** » 25 Jun 2016, 22:24

I'm not sure what octane I should be using in my S 80 2.9? since the weather has turned hot my check engine light intermediate comes on.
I have a 1999 S 80 2.9 that I inherited 6 months ago. it's been in my shop and I worked on it when I had the time. I pretty much rebuilt car from ground up. the past month I've been having to travel a lot and I have been driving my s 80 over one thousand miles a week most is highway causing. I set my cruise control at 80 mph.running at 2900 RPM. several hours at a time. love this Volvo. floor the gas at 80 MPH. she drops down a gear and by the time i can look down I'm running at 120mph.3800 rpm.and still haven't shifted up to high gear. that's good for me and I backed out. I don't know top end speed?
anyways I'm only telling how excellent I have this Volvo S 80 running. I know the BMW I passed today couldn't run with me.
back to my point and question..the only time my check engine light intermediate at on and offor. today and yesterday I been watching and the light only comes on after stopping for fuel or if the light is not on after fueling it may come on.
checked fuel cap and gasket. doesn't look good but feels like it's sealing when putting back on after fueling.
today I noticed if I used fuel with higher mix of enhanol10% and octane of 91 my light comes on within around one or two minutes of driving. when I used fuel 90 octane no ethanol light goes off within about 5 minutes of driving. I used 93 octane with 10%ethanol came right back on.
and this is driving almost a full tanks of fuel. I drove out 2 full tanks first was over 300 miles with no light on after filling tank with 91 octane 10%ethanol within one minute light on. 300 miles later filled with 89 octane 5 minutes later light is off..for the next 100 miles it's off. I stopped for the day... I can't believe how good this car runs on the open road..Texas has a lot of open go fast highway. I forgot to mention..the OBD2 READER. codes are to tired to remember the number's but one cold for vapor lose..can't find any bad vacuum hoses been replaced last month..and the other is o2 sensor pre cat left side . both codes go on and off with the check engine light.??
Fuel? Gas Cap? Vacuum line's? o2? ???
Does it even matter... cars running better then new.. maybe I should mention.. a few things under the hood..are not stock OEM. i fabricated a few upgrades so the engine can now breath.
cold air intake with a true ram air system.
AND I'M getting 24mpg.driving all day at 80 + MPH. I don't think that should log a code. codes.

jantt · Post by **jantt** » 25 Jun 2016, 23:22

I use 99 V-power after rekommandation from tuning company. It should be better for the engine and give a little more power.

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 26 Jun 2016, 10:08

Randy Oehlert wrote:I'm not sure what octane I should be using in my S 80 2.9? since the weather has turned hot my check engine light intermediate comes on.
I have a 1999 S 80 2.9 that I inherited 6 months ago. it's been in my shop and I worked on it when I had the time. I pretty much rebuilt car from ground up. the past month I've been having to travel a lot and I have been driving my s 80 over one thousand miles a week most is highway causing. I set my cruise control at 80 mph.running at 2900 RPM. several hours at a time. love this Volvo. floor the gas at 80 MPH. she drops down a gear and by the time i can look down I'm running at 120mph.3800 rpm.and still haven't shifted up to high gear. that's good for me and I backed out. I don't know top end speed?
anyways I'm only telling how excellent I have this Volvo S 80 running. I know the BMW I passed today couldn't run with me.
back to my point and question..the only time my check engine light intermediate at on and offor. today and yesterday I been watching and the light only comes on after stopping for fuel or if the light is not on after fueling it may come on.
checked fuel cap and gasket. doesn't look good but feels like it's sealing when putting back on after fueling.
today I noticed if I used fuel with higher mix of enhanol10% and octane of 91 my light comes on within around one or two minutes of driving. when I used fuel 90 octane no ethanol light goes off within about 5 minutes of driving. I used 93 octane with 10%ethanol came right back on.
and this is driving almost a full tanks of fuel. I drove out 2 full tanks first was over 300 miles with no light on after filling tank with 91 octane 10%ethanol within one minute light on. 300 miles later filled with 89 octane 5 minutes later light is off..for the next 100 miles it's off. I stopped for the day... I can't believe how good this car runs on the open road..Texas has a lot of open go fast highway. I forgot to mention..the OBD2 READER. codes are to tired to remember the number's but one cold for vapor lose..can't find any bad vacuum hoses been replaced last month..and the other is o2 sensor pre cat left side . both codes go on and off with the check engine light.??
Fuel? Gas Cap? Vacuum line's? o2? ???
Does it even matter... cars running better then new.. maybe I should mention.. a few things under the hood..are not stock OEM. i fabricated a few upgrades so the engine can now breath.
cold air intake with a true ram air system.
AND I'M getting 24mpg.driving all day at 80 + MPH. I don't think that should log a code. codes.

Since you're asking about a totally different car (and in the wrong forum), I would post over on the S80 forum your same descriptions and questions. Good luck figuring out your S80.