All Activity

From my research the remote start fob is also a different frequency. 433 MHZ for the non remote start model and 315 MHZ for the remote start key. I have used Forscan and enabled the remote start in the IC but have not updated the antenna with the remote start model. I was a senior master Ford tech for 26 years and in theory it should be able to be done with software but I haven't made it there yet.

Thanks for posting this, a great start for some of the stuff I'd like to do. Had a 2015 Hybrid for the last year and am upgrading to a 2017 Energi. Adaptive Cruise is the only thing I wish it had.

Just bought a 2017 Energi! Have owned a 2015 Hybrid for the last year and a half and my only complaint was that I couldn't plug the thing in. 😄

I put some 19" land rover rims

Ford did a very poor job of explaining the different modes of the HVB programming via the owner's manual for average drivers. If anyone has figured it completely please post. One thing to keep in mind as you travel. the HVB performs best & last longest at the same temps as humans do [60-80 F] I you travel to an area of the country with high temps & low humidity, you may be comfortable at 85F+ & a light breeze but your HVB won't be. As I understand it, most of the cooling air for the HVB comes from inside the car cabin to keep cool. May want to keep the AC on in spite of what little gas you may save with it off.

Is your C Max a plug in hybrid? Could you forward me a copy of the email?

That detail furthers my suspicion that Ford shot themselves in the ass by omitting the transmission fluid circulation pump on the otherwise-identical Hybrid transmission. I wonder if hyper-milers with the longest periods of battery-only use have seen the most failures?

Additionally, slowing down from highways speeds can generate a few percent of charge. My son went to college in Vermont, and it was really fun to climb the hills with gas, then charge the battery rolling downhill. You can get out of Hybrid mode this way: charge it going downhill, park it, turn it off, and when you turn it back on, it might have enough charge to go into EV Later mode, from which you can recharge as you go. I generally arrived with a fully-charged battery, even after driving in EV mode on the flats. "Recharge as you go": watch the battery percent in the Settings screen, remember what it was when you last hit EV Later. If it's higher than that, cycle the mode button three times to reset the target charge level.

I'll note that I'm >10 years in (only about 100k miles though) and my battery still seems to be doing fine (HEV_BAT_VAR_V, max variation in voltage between batteries, reads 0.01V, the minimum non-zero possible). I don't know the statistics, but I haven't heard about any abnormally frequent problems with the high-voltage battery pack.

On long trips with lots of downhills, try pressing the downhill regen button on the shift lever; that will help regen charging of the HVB. Able to significantly recharge m wife's energi HVB in some downhill parts of the Shenandoah mountains. Greg

Also in case you haven't caught the reply I made in your other thread, you really should avoid using EV mode (Auto with EV charge available or EV Now) on the highway as it really stresses the battery. If you have charge available, switch to EV Later. If the plug-in charge is depleted, EV Auto (it won't let you switch out of it in this case) will operate in the 'safer' hybrid operation. Other than that, the other comments here are correct. The battery still has some level of charge internally like 10-15% or thereabouts for that fallback hybrid operation that it constantly cycles up and down as you drive.

May be able to charge overnight at motel otherwise no worries.

Not to worry. The car will operate in normal hybrid mode. Cheers

We are traveling quite a ways for several days with our 2014 Energi. Obviously, the battery ran down on the first 20 miles. Is it OK to just keep driving all the way, without charging up the battery off and on, or can we just skip the battery charge and keep driving on the engine. Is it bad to leave the large battery at 0%? Thanks Marty

Mike, were you able to find out if the pump was bad or was your break fluid low?

A lot to unpack here: First off, Ford's original 'up to 20 miles' was optimistic and considered the most efficient driving scenario which would be in town stop and go driving. All EVs (PHEV's like the Energi included) are going to be less efficient and have less range in highway driving. In fact it is highly recommended not to drive EV mode on the highway because it stresses the battery and accelerates degradation. Switch to EV Later and save the battery for in town driving/roads under 45-50mph. The range estimate is also just a guess by the system and often referred to as the 'guess-o-meter'. There's many factors that can impact what range it shows and as such is not a reliable indicator of overall battery health. If you want to check the current health, the procedure below is the best way to do so: 1) Fully charge the vehicle 2) Drive in EV mode ONLY, avoiding scenarios that can cause the ICE/engine to start. This means no highway driving, avoid cabin heat/defrost as much as possible. The fewer running accessories the better. 3) Drive until the plug-in charge is depleted and it drops back to hybrid operation. Safely stop the car and shut it off. 4) Upon shutting off the car, you will have a trip summary screen show on the dash. the Kwh used number is what you're looking for. 5.5kwh is what is expected brand new from the factory. 4.0 or higher is still in good territory. Doing this will also give you more reasonable 'EV miles driven' in that summary that will be a bit more accurate than your highway driving test. The car is perfect for long distance driving IMHO and I've taken mine on plenty of cross country road trips and love it. But some expectations have to be tempered here. Using EV on the highway is not advisable and you really should run it as a hybrid in those cases. It's also not going to be as efficient as a Prius in hybrid mode. That said in my first hand experience I can easily average 37-40mpg highway with cruise set and following posted speed limits +5mph or so depending on the traffic. Lowering speed will definitely improve that and other owners have documented notable mileage increases doing so.

I share the wet driver's side floor. I did notice that it looks as though water should run down the side of the windshield and drain essentially in the wheel well. It looks as though, some putty type material might be missing - saw it on the passenger side. I used some plumbers putty to try to divert the water to the outside edge. I'm just not sure it helped. I'll post results. There are some other posts/subjects on this site - search wet floor or footwell (I think).

Sounds about normal. My son has a 2016 c-max Energi with about 75k miles and he said he gets about 10 miles on the battery. Car should still get about 40mpg on long trips if you don't drive too fast. Will do better in the warmer weather. Winter is hard on hybrid & EV's.

We just bought a 2014 C-Max Energi a few days ago. I have never had any type of hybrid before this car. It is used and has 100,500 miles on it. I was a bit worried about the life of the battery, since I read that they basically last for 80,000 miles and then start getting weaker. The owner talked like the battery may be a tad weaker but way better than buying a new one at like 5 or 6 grand. Well, I charged it up completely yesterday, and then drove almost ALL highway miles to see how far it would go before getting down to 0%. I was very discouraged to find that it only took about 10 miles or less to get down to 0%, and the regular engine came on and did the rest. We drove a total of 20 miles and when I stopped, the dash read that the battery went 8.1 miles and the regeneration was .6 mile. I take it that is pretty bad, correct? We plan to use this little car for longer trips, since my wife and I do concerts and have our little sound system in here. So, I got to thinking that even if the battery went the total 20 miles, it basically would not make much difference at all when we are driving say 100 or 200 miles to get to a concert location. So, 2 questions: 1) Does this mean that my large battery is on its way out, and needs replaced already? 2) Is this car even feasible for long distance driving? (Since I am reading some stories on here about only getting like 30mpg with the Energi on trips) Thanks so much! Marty

OK, thanks much. I did go back and look at it, and YES, it looks very sturdy!

You're fine. The battery has a nice sturdy metal case around it. In fact you can pull up the carpeting back there and see what it looks like. It's just attached with velcro. I know on my Energi I briefly had about a dozen bags of sand from the local big box store loaded, probably well over the vehicle's payload. The battery is no worse for wear.

Howdy... Is there any info on how much weight can go on top of the battery in back? 50 pounds, 100 pounds, more? Just wondering before I load my music gear in the back. Thanks much!!

BTW: If you're waiting for $$ to replace the rear shocks and upper brackets, don't wait. KYB shocks off Amazon and the upper mounts were under $200 and minus penetrating oil soak time it was literally under an hour of under car time to get them done. So easy even I could do it.

Thank you so much.

I had the same problem with my 2014 with my reversing camera. I bought a replacement off Amazon for $138. You can enter your car's model year into the site, and it will confirm if the camera or whatever item suits your car. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KL82NVB/ I then installed the camera myself. There are instructions and videos on how to do it online. It took me about 3-4 hours, but I have two left hands, essentially.