Volvo FlexiFuel

Tabnabs

Total noob question here but;

Is the Flexifuel engine different to a standard 1.8l petrol S40 engline?

i.e. can I fill up or do I need a modification/completely different engine???

Edit, saw the car mentioned here.
http://www.maxol.ie/E85/index.html

(too good to be true I know!)

bazz26

Afaik it is the same 1.8 litre engine also found in the Ford Focus. I don't think you have to make any modifications, you just fill up at a filling station that sells ethanol fuel.

There might be more information on it at www.volvo.ie or www.ford.ie. Failing that give a dealer a ring and they should be able to explain in more detail.

Edit: I assummed you were buying a bio fuel car. Afaik you cannot put ethanol in a normal car not designed to run on this fuel.

TychoCaine

It will run on standard petrol, or E85 ethanol, or any mixture of the two. Petrol will give more MPG, but ethanol is cheaper per litre and delivers more power. It is exactly the same engine that's in the Focus 1.8 flexi-fuel, but then the only difference between a Focus and an S40 is the bodywork and interior. All the mechanicals are the same.

What you might find in the future (i.e. after the warranty is up and you want to save a bit of cash on servicing and repairs) is that you'll always have to go to a main dealer because independent mechanics may not want to work on the car if generic engine parts remain hard to come by. On the other hand we could all be driving E85 vehicles in a few years (I know my next car will be E85 or biodiesel) and it won't be a problem.

Spit62500

Are you saying that you have a standard 1.8l S40 and are considering using E85 in it?

If so then then no, the E85 engines have been modified - the ecu has a different mapping, the injectors are larger because the E85 engine has to handle a greater volume of fuel, finally some seals are made of different material as E85 is more corrosive than petrol. I wouldn't advise it if the car is worth any sort of money - the potential costs are far greater than any benefits that you may experience.

Dyflin wrote:

Total noob question here but;

Is the Flexifuel engine different to a standard 1.8l petrol S40 engline?

i.e. can I fill up or do I need a modification/completely different engine???

Edit, saw the car mentioned here.
http://www.maxol.ie/E85/index.html

(too good to be true I know!)

SouperComputer

Petrol will give more MPG, but ethanol is cheaper per litre and delivers more power.

Actually E85 will give less power and offer less MPG, not to mention a similar price per L. Unless the engine has specific work to accomodate the higher octane of E85 ie higher boost pressure like in Saab's Biopower, then you will see a loss in power with E85. Im not sure if the 1.8 you are referring to is turbo or not.

In most NA (ie non-turbo or non-supercharged) engines, running E85 will mean a loss of power as to gain advantage from it you need to run a compression ratio that is way to high for Unleaded fuel.


To answer the OP's question, prettymuch what split62500 said is correct. The flexfuel engine will run on any mix of E85 or normal unleaded. The ECU has been programmed to deal with the lower energy value per L of E85, bigger injectors have been fitted to deal with the larger flow and the fuel system has been kitted out with ethanol-friendly parts.

You are unlikely to save money running E85, due to the lower MPG. You could do it for the feel-ggod environmental factor, but thats a whole other can of worms!

DJ Hafez

SouperComputer wrote:

You could do it for the feel-ggod environmental factor, but thats a whole other can of worms!

Must get myself an 8 litre Viper then

Henry Ford III

I can see a lot of logic in buying a ffv vehicle, and saving 50% of the VRT on purchase, and just running it on ordinary 95 u/l.

1.8 with 125bhp is ok.

bazz26

Henry Ford III wrote:

I can see a lot of logic in buying a ffv vehicle, and saving 50% of the VRT on purchase, and just running it on ordinary 95 u/l.

1.8 with 125bhp is ok.

Yeah but in the case of the Focus you are limited to the basic LX model only being available with the FFV engine which puts alot of people off. If they widened it to other more generous trim levels it would be more popular. That and the limited amount of ethanol pumps available around the country make it unpopular. Most people who are more concerned about fuel consumption will probably opt for the oil burner instead.

BTW I think the VRT rebate is finishing at the end of this year afaik.

Henry Ford III

Incorrect Baz. A new C-Max Zetec FFV can be had. Good value too.

Run it on 95 u/l. Sorted.

bazz26

I was actually refering to the Focus up to now rather than the C-Max. Anyway doesn't really matter as it's the Volvo that the OP is referring to.

Henry Ford III

All up for grabs when VRT is rejigged at the end of the year.

I reckon FFV engined vehicles will get a lot cheaper.

E92

VRT is to be re jigged towards emissions apparantly, so if that is the case, then E85 cars will still get a sizeable reduction in VRT, and more importantly, as most cars are available with diesel and not E85, it will mean that petrols should be dearer come 1/1/08, while diesels should be cheaper, which will be absolutely fascinating, because the Irish, in their absolute desire to buy the cheapest version of a car(hence why we still get 1.6s in cars that everybody else gave up on about 10 years ago), will all be flocking towards diesel, just look at how few 06 & 07 5 series now are 6 pot petrols, as a result of BMWs decision to introduce a 4 cylinder 5 series as the base model back at the end of 2005, whereas before that practically every 5 series was a 6 pot petrol, and 520i petrol at that.