stratosurfer

Okay, well that's good. I will trust this stage of development in this drivetrain, and it is in my personal experience certainly more than capable of towing relatively light loads. I will now be curious if the AWD is setup like Toyota's with a third motor-generator coupled to the rear axle, or more conventional with an AWD drive shaft from the Hybrid Drive to the rear axle. That will be interesting to see Ford's thoughts on that combo in light of the success of the hybrid RAV4's and Hybrid Highlander AWDs.

My question concerning the Escape Hybrid is whether or not it is a Full Hybrid as our C-Max's are or Partial Hybrids as is designed for the f150 with only one motor/generator mounted in the front of the 10 speed transmission. I understand that this PHEV setup is supposed to be more robust for towing, which is probably true. Yet I am towing routinely with my C-Max at 1000 lbs, and the new RAV-4's hybrid drive is very similar the C-Max's FHEV drive, and the RAV-4 is rated to tow 1,750 lbs. This is a major point to me. The PHEV will do much better on mpgs than a full gas with Start Stop, but not nearly as well as our FHEV drivetrains.

I put an Odyssey AGM battery in my 2013 SEL and it is I believe the best solution. I called an Odyssey distributor in CA who matched dimensions and posts to the OEM and it fit with a little ingenuity. I had to put some pool floaty foam to keep it from moving and I believe a piece of cut pvc pipe to ensure the POS terminal didn't bounce up and touch the frame, no big deal. That was last winter, no issues. I may not have to replace that battery again in the remaining life of this C-Max.

All, I am now routinely towing my 2013 Yamaha FX HO Waverunner and trailer to the coast and back: 1000 miles roundtrip. No problems other than watching crash stops, but that applies to all towing without trailer brakes. Ski trailer and full fuel will be about 1,050 lbs.

My last rotate and rebalance at Discount Tire the tech told me my lug nuts are 'swelling' and are a known problem. He said replacing them all was about $50 which I can do when they get worse.

All, I am normally not an advocate of washing/degreasing my engines or engine compartments. As I replaced my eCVT recently the mechanics were grabbing about all over the engine with greasy gloves and now am in the position of considering washing/degreasing my engine. I worry significantly concerning the HV leads to the HF35 eCVT: should this portion of the engine be covered in plastic and left alone. I know the car is fine to drive in any driving rainstorm and wonder if I’m overthinking this issue. Anyone cleaned/degreased their C-Max engine/engine bay? Detergent used? Any issues with HV leads? Thanks in advance. Mark

I spoke to different professionals and came to the conclusion that it is best to buy branded gas such as Chevron for the added Techron. Texaco is also adding in Techron on all grades. Other brands are adding in their competing injector cleaners. I was instructed that paying that extra .15 cents US to each gallon will keep your injectors clean such that you don't need to add injector cleaner every so often. On the math side, as well as convenience side the formula has worked well for me. I only buy Chevron for the Techron or Shell with their competing cleaner added, Exxon or Texaco. So far, at 128K miles I've got nothing but smooth running. I think in all these years I've added in one can of Seafoam that I had laying around for one of my Waverunners, but that was years ago.

I just towed a 950lb Waverunner and trailer 500 miles in 95F heat at 70mph with considerable grades to handle with no problems whatever.

Update, I towed this Waverunner 500 miles from San Angelo TX to Galveston TX via San Antonio with no problems. 97 F most of the way, 70 mph set on CC. I was light loaded inside the car, so I don’t think I went over GVRW. Trailer and Waverunner around 1,100 lbs. 80PSI as prescribed in the trailer tires, 42 in C-Max. All good.

Is there a permanent solution to this problem? Isn’t there a recall on that APIM?

Yes running AC.

All, I just started my adventure of towing with the C-Max Hybrid, I towed one of my '13 model Yamaha FX HO's around San Angelo on a 98F day and recorded temps via Bluedriver Scanner. Ski was nearly full of fuel so around 950 lbs plus the 200 lbs of the trailer so roughly 1,150 lbs. Towed up some decent hills on cruise control on freeway at 65 mph, all scanned parameters showed basically similar numbers as though I had no trailer. It is interesting how much hotter the h2o temp gets when on EV mode at a stop sign. I suppose this is the keep the stilled ICE warm and efficient. When towing I don't think I saw anything over 187F on the freeway uphill at 65mph. I will be towing to the coast this weekend up significant grades at higher speeds (80 mph speed limits here in Texas in some areas) and I will monitor and report back.

All, I just finished my Remove and Replace of my HF35 ECVT on my 2013 SEL C-Max Hybrid and will firstly report the effort appears successful on all parameters. I want to thank Snowstorm for his extensive posting of his journey to accomplish the same thing. Many things I mention are things I learned from Snowstorm's thread on his R&R, so please read his thread also. My C-Max Hybrid SEL is 2013 now with 126,300 miles on the clock. I will break down this event in a few different aspects: 1) SOURCING A SALVAGE ECVT I followed Snowstorms links to a site that show the actual donor vehicle pictures that you can have an idea what type of accident totalled the vehicle. You will have to read Snowstorms thread to find it, but it is critical that the vendor you buy from can provide with full authority the VIN of the donor vehicle. The ecvt was still in the donor vehicle when I bought/reserved it. I would be wary of buying a transmission with a picture of it on a shelf as those are stock photos and you must have the VIN or the donor car. I chose to buy a 2016 vehicles ecvt as the TSB on the early hybrid drives seems to run into early 2015, the vehicle has 22K miles when rear-ended and totalled. I’m adding this point later, I recall it was from a Fusion. Once you think you have a match, the Plug In ecvts are different, so you must be Hybrid to Hybrid, and Plug-In to Plug-In, then you get the VIN on the donor car and call your Ford Dealer and ask them to order a new transmission for both vehicles, your C-Max and the Donor vehicle. If the parts counter comes back with the same part number for both, then you can use the tranny out of the donor. This sounds strange, but the salvage sites software will -not- work like this, they will want your vin and will tell you that the 2016 unit will not fit, their software would want to sell you one of the defective designs of year models 2013 through 2014 and going into 2015. Like kind for Like Kind. So to trick the system into getting the upgraded and new design HF35 ecvt you must follow this method. I paid $1,600 shipped from their yard in WA state to the shop doing the work in League City Texas. 2) LABOR This topic I found interesting. I found out quickly that Ford Dealership Service Departments can swap in salvage units if they desire. My local dealer did not desire and instead quoted me 7-8K for a new one put in. The dealer who sold me the car is small and never had a tech certified in high voltage so they could not do the swap, yet there were willing to swap in a salvage unit. So I began a rather extensive search to find a Ford Dealer, or anyone who would do this swap. Here's what I found: 1) Ford Dealer near one of my businesses in League City TX area: $2,400 labor. 2) Ford Dealer Abilene TX: $2,300 labor and 130 miles away. 3) Local and trusted transmission shop in San Angelo: $1,960 Labor 4) Local Ford Dealer in San Angelo: $1,960 Labor, requiring new HF 35 Ecvt at $5,000 plus 'Incidentals' 5) Transmission Shop in San Antonio claiming expertise in Hybrid Drivetrains, The manager said they maintain a fleet of C-Max hybrid taxis: $2,000. 5) What I settled on was a Transmission Shop in League City Texas, the town I grew up in and have a business I work once per month but 420 miles from where I live in San Angelo: $1,000 labor. I also have a friend in this town that has a family auto mechanics shop there for nearly 40 years and asked him if this transmission shop would be OK to do this R&R, he said yes. He had another shop he would have recommended if an actual transmission rebuild was in order (which I contacted in person and they never got back to me), but for an R&R job Snider's in League City would be fine. My takeaway is that this job is not that big of a deal for a transmission shop. They must have done a hybrid drive before and be comfortable with a tech who understands High Voltage and how to disable the battery, but outside of that, this job is apparently nothing special. 3) Timeframe My ecvt was growling louder and louder on REGEN and EV Mode and loud in ICE Mode, but I drove about 4 months after recognizing I need to do the swap, I did change the Mercon LV and it was not discolored, but that was at the beginning of the 4 months I'm discussing, and the unit was getting progressively louder. All this well after 100,000 miles, if yours is making -any- noise and is under 100K miles, take it to the dealer and make them fix it under warranty. OTW, if you are after 100K and on your dime, then these ecvts don't seem to fail catastrophically. I had Snider Transmission in League City TX do the swap, I left it with them Monday morning 03JUN19 about 9AM, they had received the HF35 about 10 days earlier along with 6 qts of Amsoil Signature ATF for the HF 35 which had also been received. I picked up the C-Max Thursday about noon 06JUN19 and all has been well since. When I was paying she offered me $100 off for a good Google Recommendation, I agreed, so my total labor was $900.00 USD's. So all in I bought an ecvt with 22K miles from a rear ended Fusion that I saw the pics of for $1,600 shipped inc TTL. I paid the shop I found $900 and about $100 for the Amsoil ATF. I did rent a car for 4 days for $140 which you could put in my math or not, my travel back and forth from San Angelo TX to League City TX is a monthly business expense for me that I cannot avoid. So $2,600 and I'm running great, drove the C-Max around the Houston Galveston area and then drove the 420 miles home yesterday: wonderful. I had my BlueDrive OBD2 Scanner pulling data to my iphone as I drove and all parameters, temp, %power, etc were nominal. So my takeaway from all this is the early C-Max's affected by the TSB on the early HF35's are worth R&Ring the hybrid drive with a salvage unit if you are willing to search out a shop that will do it well and affordably. The variation on labor costs as I showed was wide. I don't know this for sure, but it seems possible that the transmission repair industry realize the hybrid drive is the future, and that the longer they wait in learning these units, the further behind they get. The shop I chose had done a number of Priuses before and seemed eager to do this R&R at a relatively great price. Thanks to Snowstorm to saving me some time and heading me to saving my C-Max, hopefully this info can help someone else.

That’s interesting, mine are so loud on REGEN and EV modes I don’t really know if mine is ‘loud’ on ICE mode in comparison. I seem to have almost the exact same symptoms experienced by SnowStorm. Did you have to replace yours?

What would you take on the eCVT?

I got about 75K out of the OEM Michilens. I have replacements from Discount Tire who rotate/rebalance them about every 3 months or so due to my mileage and they always put back in 35PSI. I ask and they will do 42PSI, when I put in 50 it seemed the car rode fairly rough? Do the tires wear even at 50 PSI? As a side note, I have a 98 3/4 ton Suburban with Michelin Ribs on it that are about 7 years old. I'm getting them rotated and rebalanced today, everytime the tech does this he mentions the age, but I think they won't give me grief until about 10 years old at which time I will replace.

They did that oil change thing to me when I took it in for a diagnostic on the stuttering power liftgate a few months back. They couldn't accurately diagnose it other than to say that my 12V battery was original and needed to be replaced, and that could be the problem with the liftgate, so they didn't charge me the normal $150.00 diagnostic. I replaced the batt, that was not the issue with the liftgate... I did my Mobile 1 oil change about 4 weeks later to find a motorcraft oil filter on the ICE, when I put a Mobile 1 on there. Seems that the dealers nowadays are really setting the future on the service side of the business as profit in vehicles has gotten thin. I as well am considerably perturbed that they changed at least my oil filter, no idea about the oil itself as I wasn't charged and had no invoice. My service writer is a female, sweet gal... :) So I'm getting more comfortable having an independent trans shop do my R&R job.

The bottom line for me is the Toyota Hybrid drives seem to last indefinitely... Ford has a definite design problem. This is the first Hybrid Drive that Ford went solo on without Aisin building it out for them. We can only hope they accurately fixed the issue in 2015 and later. Unfortunately we don't have any real-world high mileage post-2015 C-Max Hybrids to give us feedback, that I know of.

Mine went over 5 years and 100K miles. I replaced with an Oddyssey I matched up by dimensions. It’s kind of a pain to R&R the 12V battery, I’m sure that Oddessey will last the remaining life of the car.

Oh, and the centrifugal clutch is not really a clutch, it is a ‘breakaway/safety’ device. I suppose it would save the engine from catastrophic failure should the transmission fail and lock up, it would allow the engine to turn.

SnowStorm, thanks for this awesome detailing of your journey. You will greatly help the rest of us looking at saving our C-Max’s. I just found a compatible transmission with 12K miles out of a 2016 Fusion Hybrid that my dealer confirms is a match, the donor was rear ended and frankly barely totaled, so tranny should be OK. $1,600 shipped. I found a transmission shop that will R&R for $1,000, I’m bringing in all the fluids. I guess I will have to pick up that clutch. I’m thinking I will install Amsoil Signature LTV which is their premium synthetic compatible with Mercon LV. I’m certain I have your exact problem, but I’m only at 124,000 miles. This car is worth spending 3K to keep on the road. BTW, that hole in the case is truly unbelieveable. I’m curious if anyone has a pic of what Ford did to fix that problem?

After my Baptism By Fire on the transmission problems with the 2013 and 2014's, if they are on the original transmission, I might stay away from those years.