One downfall of the 1.4-liter four-cylinder found in the first-generation Chevrolet Volt was its premium fuel requirement, but one gentleman has discovered it’s actually quite easy to ditch the high-octane petrol, and begin burning corn.
According to InsideEVs, General Motors left all the necessary software for flex-fuel capability inside the Chevrolet Volt, but simply never finished tuning the engine to be capable for it. The news stems form one automotive engineering, John Brackett, who says the 1.4-liter engine, which was shared with the Chevrolet Cruze, was completely designed to run E85, and a simple re-flash can make it possible.
“It took me about 2 minutes to change the software program and about 3 minutes to write to the vehicle using a device called the HP Tuners. And those are very affordable. Basically, if you knew somebody with one, it’d be $100 to re-flash your vehicle.”
“They just did not turn it on; they didn’t activate it. To make things even worse — easier for me, worse for GM — they have all the ethanol tables already pre-filled, and they actually looked like pretty good tunes for just the ethanol side of things. So they put effort into making this into a flex-fuel car.”
As the original report cautions, GM Authority also does not condone performing the re-flash, but simply has provided the news on how it is possible. Tuning and re-flashing your Chevrolet Volt will no doubt void any factory warranty.
Comments
Now why would anybody without a turbo ditch high-octane petrol and start burning corn. sure e85 cost less per gallon but it only has 60% of the energy gasoline has. now if you have a LTG Camaro the higher octane of E85 would enable more boost. if you want to use E85 to save money you are fooling yourself. If you want to use E85 to make more power in a turbo engine. U DA MAN!
Well the fact is many Turbo guys like using E85 as they can run more boost and more boost is more power.
As for price E 85 here is more expensive and it also get less MPG so there is little incentive to buy it unless you are out to save the environment and event then it is questionable as it has mostly been a government pushed subsidized lobbied program.
I am not a fan of E85 like you but you have it backwards as generally more power can be had. Note that Indy cars and Top Fuel and Alcohol drag cars use it as they can bump boost or even compression for more power.
Gearhead1 – the energy difference is closer to 27%. Which would imply a drop in fuel mileage of equal value; however, the engine burns E85 more efficiently and takes into account charge air cooling from the heat of vaporization of alcohol fuels. This effectively makes the fuel mileage drop closer to 15-20% in all my years of testing. For my Volt, I’ve run 38-44 MPG at 65-75 MPH on E50-E80 blends. I am also saving money when compared to having to purchase premium (91 octane in Colorado) fuel. So I am making more power and I’m saving money, even with today’s low fuel price. The entire point of my conversion, is that we get to make a choice at the fuel pump and it’s an easy one. Saved over $300 in ~2 months of ownership thus far.
But is the hardware of parts in place to handle e85 too?
Yes it is. Read the original article at InsideEV.
Mr. Scott what I meant by it has less energy is less BTUs per gallon and I’m not a fan of it and less you got a turbo engine. The less BTUs per gallon you have more power you will make. Nitromethane has about 47,000 BTUs per gallon. Diesel fuel has about 129,000. More BTUs per gallon will give you better MPG but less power. less BTUs per gallon will give you more power but less mpg.
Looking at the Chevy Volt and you’ve got to wonder whether one day we’ll see a fuel cell replace the gas motor that will convert gas or e85 into electricity to power the batteries or an ultra-capacitor.
Has anybody followed up with Mr. Brackett to see if he’s had any long-term problem with his Chevy Volt?
I’ve put 20,000 miles on the car so far. Last 8 months have been over 150 miles a day for commute on E85. Charging at home & work still averaged over 50-60mpg for the day depending on temperature and traffic. No issues at all with the engine. I’m still running my original E85 tune and haven’t tweaked it at all. I’m part of a group of 5 guys all tuning their Volts to get extreme mileage out of E10 or E85. They’ve mentioned results of 55 (E10) to 40 MPG (E85) with lean burn. We wish we had a 2016+ Volt on hand to do some tuning with now! Soon as I get my hands on a new tuner, I’ll be tweaking mine to maximize mileage as well. Wish someone would figure out how to increase the Torque Limits from 114kW to 135kW like the Cadillac ELR (same drivetrain/components) has!
Thank you, Mr. Brackett for your quick reply!
I’ve been searching online for your step-by-step tutorial on how to DIY this tune with a HPTuner, and have found this:
http://www.hptuners.com/forum/showthread.php?48684-E85-FlexFuel-Conversion-2012-Chevy-Volt-2012-Cruze-Eco
ls this the best guide for what equipment to help us tuner-nuts follow your lead?
Do you have a Volt you plan on turning flexfuel? If so, drop me a message at [email protected]. Several members from our tuning group have successfully installed flexfuel sensors, the process was slightly different than the Cruze link you sent, BUT, def. not that hard to do. For non hybrid vehicles, that link is a great example of how easy it can be if you have access to the right tables in the ECU. There are a million forums out there and if you’re thinking about doing something, it’s probably already been done.
Just over 4 years later and still no engine or E85 issues…