What did you do to your P2 Volvo today?

[Krons]

Monday I got my S60 back up and running, and even drove it a little. Took it out for a longer drive on Tuesday.

It's been sitting since September, and I had to charge the battery from a completely dead state. Thankfully the battery isn't very old and sprang back to life with the charger I used. The full tank of gas may not be in the best shape, judging by the way the exhaust smells, and the way the car drives. Plus I keep getting the drive slow urgent service required message popping up on the dash. The laptop I have no longer works, so I have no way of checking with my DiCE and VIDA to see what's going on. I'm hoping it's just the bad gas, and once I can run some fuel system cleaner, and new gas, through it that it'll be back to where it was before it was parked.

An oil change will be next on my list, when I'm able to get up and down from the ground. I still have limited range of motion in my knees, and I walk with a cane, so trying to get down or up from anything any lower than the driver's seat isn't an easy thing to do yet.

I also need to schedule to have my airbag replaced, so that's on my list as well.

I wish one of us was closer to do your oil change for you and troubleshoot your warning. Hopefully you can keep putting some miles on to burn through the old gas.

[gnalan]

I wish one of us was closer to do your oil change for you and troubleshoot your warning. Hopefully you can keep putting some miles on to burn through the old gas.

I appreciate that. I'm assuming the warning is just from the bad gas, but if I can get an extension cord plugged in, and drug out to the car to power my laptop and battery charger, I can see what's going on.

I'm planning on putting some more miles on it this weekend, and next week. Still just doing short trips of around 20 miles or so at a time around town (that way if I happen to break down I won't be too far away from home).

I don't trust regular oil change places, so hopefully it'll be ok until I can change it. I already have plenty of new oil filters, orings, plus a new filter housing and oil drain bolt if needed.

I'm wondering if I should wait until I'm down to the gas light coming on before I fill the tank back up or if I should add new gas before then. The way I'm thinking is I should run as much out as I can before adding new gas to the tank so there's less old gas running through the engine since it won't continually get diluted and run through over a longer amount of time. I don't know which would be better. Any thoughts?

[Krons]

I wish one of us was closer to do your oil change for you and troubleshoot your warning. Hopefully you can keep putting some miles on to burn through the old gas.

I appreciate that. I'm assuming the warning is just from the bad gas, but if I can get an extension cord plugged in, and drug out to the car to power my laptop and battery charger, I can see what's going on.

I'm planning on putting some more miles on it this weekend, and next week. Still just doing short trips of around 20 miles or so at a time around town (that way if I happen to break down I won't be too far away from home).

I don't trust regular oil change places, so hopefully it'll be ok until I can change it. I already have plenty of new oil filters, orings, plus a new filter housing and oil drain bolt if needed.

I'm wondering if I should wait until I'm down to the gas light coming on before I fill the tank back up or if I should add new gas before then. The way I'm thinking is I should run as much out as I can before adding new gas to the tank so there's less old gas running through the engine since it won't continually get diluted and run through over a longer amount of time. I don't know which would be better. Any thoughts?

I don't trust the oil change places either...unknown filters/oil and I've had a couple drain plugs I swear had an impact on them.

I have had the same question on fuel when my motorcycle hits the off season. I like to keep the tank full to prevent condensation, so even with Stabil can be a few months old as it is used. Personally I'd run at below 1/4 tank and top off with a high quality gas plus a bottle of Techron or Marvel Mystery Oil to give the fuel system a clean. Maybe Stabil too if you won't be driving a lot. At some point worth changing your fuel filter if you haven't. My 2002 S60 had an external one on passenger side back by the tank...was not bad to change, not sure on your 2000. Steel and plastic tanks had different filter setups.

[gnalan]

I don't trust the oil change places either...unknown filters/oil and I've had a couple drain plugs I swear had an impact on them.

I have had the same question on fuel when my motorcycle hits the off season. I like to keep the tank full to prevent condensation, so even with Stabil can be a few months old as it is used. Personally I'd run at below 1/4 tank and top off with a high quality gas plus a bottle of Techron or Marvel Mystery Oil to give the fuel system a clean. Maybe Stabil too if you won't be driving a lot. At some point worth changing your fuel filter if you haven't. My 2002 S60 had an external one on passenger side back by the tank...was not bad to change, not sure on your 2000. Steel and plastic tanks had different filter setups.

I changed the fuel filter less than 1,000 miles ago. Easy job to do, thankfully. 2001 is in the same place.

That's what I was thinking, too. Run it down as low as I can, add a high level detergent fuel cleaner, fill it back up with the same 93 octane I normally use, that's ethanol free, and, if needed, change the spark plugs again (also with less than 1,000 miles on them).

I did make sure the tank was full before parking it, but forgot to put any Stabil in it.

[Krons]

I changed the fuel filter less than 1,000 miles ago. Easy job to do, thankfully. 2001 is in the same place.

That's what I was thinking, too. Run it down as low as I can, add a high level detergent fuel cleaner, fill it back up with the same 93 octane I normally use, that's ethanol free, and, if needed, change the spark plugs again (also with less than 1,000 miles on them).

I did make sure the tank was full before parking it, but forgot to put any Stabil in it.

You should be fine. Even with no Stabil a non-ethanol 93 should be good for 6 months or more. I have a motorcycle riding buddy who never used Stabil on several bikes (just good non-ethanol Premium) and claims to never have a fuel problem. I'd be shocked if spark plug are needed, shouldn't hurt them to be sitting.

[abscate]

My T5 sat for 2k months with ethanol87 in it, started and ran fine

Bad gas is usually a fools ( fuels) analysis

[gnalan]

My T5 sat for 2k months with ethanol87 in it, started and ran fine

Bad gas is usually a fools ( fuels) analysis

2,000 months? That's a pretty long time lol.

[- Pete -]

I agree, there’s unfortunately a lot of wasting of money running non-oxy in a modern fuel injected car (that gets driven regularly). I could see keeping non-oxy in it if the car was going to be in a climate controlled storage for an unknown amount of time. I say that because if you are storing something in a non-climate controlled environment the temp swings from day to night will create condensation in the fuel/tank regardless of what kind of fuel (ethanol or non) occupies that space.

The alcohol in ethanol fuels will actually help keep your injectors cleaner. I ran non-oxy in a Mazdaspeed6 for a long time. Periodically (every 4-5 fills of non-oxy) I would have to run a tank of ethanol 92-93 because my injectors would get loaded up & engine would get bucky. Running a tank of Ethanol cleared it right up. I did this over about 2 years, averaging about 30k miles per year. This was a direct injected MZR engine.

Non-oxy is great for small engines, boats, motorcycles, old carbureted cars/trucks & the such but doesn’t really make sense to run it in a fuel injected car. Not saying this to degrade your decision or belittle you, just trying to give some friendly advice to save you some money on fuel.

[br0dy519]

Well I’m sold. Only putting 87 in from now on with these crazy fuel prices.

[gnalan]

Stopped and had the battery and alternator tested on my car. Both are ok, but the battery still isn't fully charged. I guess my short trips aren't enough to finish topping of the battery, and trying to keep the rpms up to spin the alternator faster makes my drive slowly service urgent message pop up (which goes away when I drop the rpms back down). I'll throw it back on the charger to finish charging it all the way, then see if it runs normal again.

One odd thing I've noticed is I get a message that my right turn signal bulb is out, and the fast flashing dash light, but the longer I drive, and the voltage starts to come back up, that message goes away and all of my turn signal bulbs work just fine.