Instr-Tech

Thanks, P3G. I e-mailed Ford last night with my story and mentioned the Jeep fix. I'll post any reply I get (if I get one at all)

Thanks for the comments, Plus 3 Golfer. I did some seat-of-the-pants experiments today, coasting the C-Max down a hill with the ignition pushbutton in the "ON" position. (Push button once, no foot on brake). EPS was not active. It only becomes active when in the "Drive" position. (Push button once with foot on brake, green "car" icon illuminates). I have to assume that it is not practical or safe to tow when in the "Drive" position just so the EPS is active, so I'm back to square one. Maybe I'll try to contact Ford for their comments. Sure would be nice if they would engineer a fix to keep EPS active when towing as rapidly as Jeep has and make available to owners soon.

Hello all, I thought I'd post an up-date to my "Death Wobble" post on March 22, 2015. Made the trip back south to Arizona in Oct. 2015 and had no wobble problems. On the trip back north to Oregon in Feb. 2016, the wobble occurred full force once where I had to come to a complete stop and a couple other times I was able to see the C-Max front tires starting to wobble (because I was turning left and I could see them in the mirror) and was able to slow and stop the progression of the wobble. So far it has only happed during left turns when on un-even pavement. Keeping the C-Max's tires at 45PSI seems to help. I see in the Feb. edition of FMCA Magazine (page 36) that the new Jeep Cherokees have been having a "death wobble" problem also. Fiat Chrysler USA has announced a fix. The FCA statement said: " Under certain operating conditions, such as traveling excessively bumpy or poorly maintained roads, the flat-towed vehicle may not consistently track in line with the tow vehicle. " The cause, according to the statement: "The vehicle's Electronic Power Steering (EPS) system is inactive while the vehicle is being flat-towed with the ignition in the "OFF" position. Accordingly, the vehicle does not benefit from the systems function." A Jeep official said the company knows of several dozen Cherokee owners who have experienced the problem. They will be contacted and FCA will "Provide a complimentary jumper wire harness and switch to ensure the vehicle's EPS system has power to function while it is being flat-towed." "These components have been engineered and validated by FCA US LLC and will be made available to all customers though MOPAR as early as January 29th, 2016." This makes me wonder. Do we need to leave the ignition "ON' when towing so the EPS is active, or is it active when in the "ACC" mode. I have an SEL with the push-button start and have a "Toad Charge" circuit to the C-Max, so running the battery down is not a concern. How about it Ford Representatives? Any thoughts on the need to keep the EPS active when towing to eliminate the "death wobble" problem?

Has anyone experienced the front wheel "Death Wobble" after turning a corner? I have a 2013 C-Max SEL with 30K miles on it that I have been towing behind my motorhome since it was new. The first season I towed it from Washington to Arizona for the winter and back to Washington with no problems. This past winter trip, on the way back north, I was turning left on a washboardy stretch of asphalt roadway and when I straightened out, the C-Max's front wheels went into the dreaded "Death Wobble". After I stopped and slowly started out again straight I had no more problems for 1200 miles until I got to my home-town and made a slow 90deg. left turn to enter my driveway. The "Death Wobble" happened again. Now this is only two times in 1200 miles, but it didn't happen at all during the first year/25,000 miles and now in the last 5000 miles, it's happened twice. My previous toads were Jeep Cherokees, and never had this problem in thousands of miles of being towed. Has anyone else had this problem? Is there some sort of steering dampener/shock absorber on the C-Max that might be wearing out. Both of my Jeeps had a shock absorber attached to the steering tie-rod to dampen steering movements and that seemed to work well.

I posted this over on the towing section about a week ago but no responses, so I thought I might find more interest here....... The idea here is to move the shift lever from PARK to NEUTRAL without having the ignition on and pressing the brake to release the shift lever interlock. Does anyone know what the voltage is to the park interlock solenoid. If it is 12vdc, I'm thinking I could use a momentary pushbutton SPDT switch hidden under the dash to activate the park interlock solenoid so I could move the shift lever to neutral without bothering anything else. Pushbutton would be wired as follows: normally closed pole: connect to circuit that activates the park interlock solenoid' (maybe the stoplight circuit?) common pole: connect to park interlock solenoid hot wire normally open pole: connect to a always-hot 12vdc source with an auto-reset circuit breaker. If this would work, all I would have to do to get ready to tow is push the button and shift to neutral. Nothing else would be affected.... Also, does anyone know yet if there are electrical things (like a transmission lube pump or cooling fans) that need to be active when towing? Is there any source for a wiring diagram for the 2013 C-Max yet that would show the circuits involved with what I want to do? What do y'all think?????

Does anyone know what the voltage is to the park interlock solenoid. If it is 12vdc, I'm thinking I could use a momentary pushbutton SPDT switch hidden under the dash to activate the park interlock solenoid so I could move the shift lever to neutral without bothering anything else. Pushbutton would be wired as follows: normally closed pole: connect to circuit that activates the park interlock solenoid' (maybe the stoplight circuit?) common pole: connect to park interlock solenoid hot wire normally open pole: connect to a always-hot 12vdc source with an auto-reset circuit breaker. If this would work, all I would have to do to get ready to tow is push the button and shift to neutral. Nothing else would be affected.... Also, does anyone know yet if there are electrical things (like a transmission lube pump) that need to be active when towing? What do y'all think?????