California E85 on Stock Gen2 (is it a FFV)?

[braptorin]

I'm having a bit of a hard time figuring out if the Gen2 system is naturally a Flex Fuel vehicle (FFV). If so, are there any benefits/downsides of running E85?

 

[FordTechOne]

The 3.5 EcoBoost is not an FFV. If you wanted to run E85, you would need an aftermarket calibration. The fuel system may also require upgrades due to the high ethanol content.

 

[moonjim]

It must be some tuners are making big power on e85 and only thing i can tell is different fuel pump,intercooler, maybe injectors

 

[braptorin]

The 3.5 EcoBoost is not an FFV. If you wanted to run E85, you would need an aftermarket calibration. The fuel system may also require upgrades due to the high ethanol content.

Super clear and helpful, thanks!

After searching around I'm finding that there are a variety of "tuners" that look for power gains from E85. As far as I can tell there are kits as simple as a software tune and as complex as parts that include Ethanol sensors and some improved fuel delivery components. Notably those "improved components" seem to be higher flow/capacity pumps that I can infer are just to get more fuel to the engine since a ~200hp gain is going to use a lot more fuel (that's the HP gain claim).

I'm actually in CA as E85 is way cheaper than any grade of normal pump gas, so I'm not actually looking for power gains, just cost savings. I don't want those to come with any negatives... does E85 naturally wear parts faster? is it corrosive? I'm just making things up to get my point across.

I'm going to dig more to see what my options are.

thanks!

 

[GordoJay]

... Notably those "improved components" seem to be higher flow/capacity pumps that I can infer are just to get more fuel to the engine since a ~200hp gain is going to use a lot more fuel (that's the HP gain claim)...

Only partly. Ethanol has a much lower energy density than gasoline so you have to deliver a lot more of it to get the same power. More power? A whole lot more, hence the new fuel pump and injectors.

 

[braptorin]

Only partly. Ethanol has a much lower energy density than gasoline so you have to deliver a lot more of it to get the same power. More power? A whole lot more, hence the new fuel pump and injectors.

I totally forgot about the density differences: https://afdc.energy.gov/fuels/fuel_comparison_chart.pdf

Presumably, that's going to also lower the MPG. I wonder if folks here in the forums have enough data to estimate a difference in fuel economy for regular driving (I'm getting 14.3mpg over my ~5k lifetime so far)?

 

[Pikser]

Due to ethanol's lower energy content, FFVs operating on E85 get roughly 15% to 27% fewer miles per gallon than when operating on regular gasoline, depending on the ethanol content. Regular gasoline typically contains about 10% ethanol.

E85, ethanol-gasoline blend containing 51% to 83% ethanol.

 

[braptorin]

Other than cost and the generic “it’s not OEM parts” concept, are there any obvious downsides to converting to FFV to allow for E85 (it doesn’t mean you always have to run E85, of course).

 

[Pikser]

https://www.enginebasics.com/Advanced Engine Tuning/E85 conversion.html

 

[ayoustin]

The ECU itself should have FFV capability. We need to pester HPTuners or Cobb to find the code for it to make it available.