fbov

Not necessarily... in a turn, your rear tires track inside the fronts, running over curb-side road debris the front tires miss. And you don't need rebar to hole the sidewall. I used a granite curb. Frank

You're interested in fuses 67 and 79 (in my 2013 manual). There have been several reasons for pulling the radio fuse. I had the radio-won't-turn-off, others have howling-noise-suppression. In both cases, pulling the fuse was an obvious next step. I had one re-occurrence since, all years (and several updates) ago. In your case, you may also want to look at a master reset. Mine's in the SYNC menu, yours will be in its replacement's menu. HAve fun, Frank

I owe Paul some comments... he's done a nice job with these videos, giving folks a concrete idea what he's doing. I just wish you could see the road, to get a better idea of why you're doing what you're doing. Terrain matters, too. We ought to try driving one of my standard routes in parallel.... I have MyView set up with RPM, and I switch displays a lot. I find that engine RPM at a given "power demand" setting depends on SOC. I try to keep it below ~2000 RPM, and sometimes, that's barely 1 bar... usually when SOC is very low. Normally it's more like 1.5 bar, and when SOC is high, as much as 2 bars. ( And yes, I step on it when traffic requires.) Here's where I think terrain comes in. Paul's using a full 2-bar burn, which is similar to my baseline procedure of keeping the charge carat aimed up. I quickly found that was 2 bars. I kept it up for quite a while, as I was testing other things (only grill blocks had clear advantage). I then started to realize the behavior above, and changed strategies. - accelerate at ~1.5 bars to shift the ICE output balance toward charging - accelerate more slowly, and so the ICE burn is longer (flat roads) - increase SOC due to longer charge time - increase EV range due to higher SOC - arrange the route so the accelerations are uphill, for an added energy store. It's what gets me into the 50's consistently. The key to all this is terrain. I think Paul has more hills than I do, so he needs 2-bar burns to keep up with traffic. I found I could back off them without traffic issues because the roads are flatter. I see it on the highway, too; better mileage in Ohio surfing the moraine than along the shore of glacial Lake Iroquois. Well done, Frank

Sounds like constant throttle operation, a common hypermiling technique. I do it on hills all the time... OK, 10' is hardly a hill, but you take what you can get around here. The more I look at the Prius, I see a car that's incapable of poor fuel mileage. Consumer Reports agrees: "The 52 mpg overall we garnered in the redesigned 2016 Toyota Prius is a phenomenal achievement, especially viewed against the previous car's impressive 44 mpg overall." Frank

Tow bar goes on the front, for pulling the C-Max behind a motor home, for example. Flat towing is supported by Ford. Frank

I wager it's more like having EV+ all the time. SOC can be darn low and EV+ still gives me more throttle at far lower speeds than normal driving. Inverter cooling capacity may have been increased as well if the full 35kW sustainable capacity is going to be available more often. But given what we know about hybrids, the real question is if the drivers will accept them for what they are. HAve fun, Frank

Fusion Hybrid sedans outsell C-Max because they sell 300K Fusions some years. Hybrid is just another engine option, as it should be if hybrid power trains to be found in a wide range of chassis options. I love the C-Max, but I like options, too. The police car seems like a marriage made in heaven, given how well the drive train supports a mobile office. And one reason older, retired folks have way more money to spend is that we've learned not to spend it on shiny new things.... Have fun, Frank

Ours is fine on the generator. Avalon insert, c. 2001?

Drive on different roads! First, here's some test data to give you some idea what the car can do. Advanced Vehicle Testing at Idaho National Laboratory is a nice resource for hybrid performance data. Second page is lots of interesting! https://avt.inl.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/hev/fact2013fordc-maxhybrid.pdf Second, I get much better highway mileage driving in Ohio than I do in NY. There's a perfect blend of hill length and grade somewhere that lets you charge on the way up and glide on the way down... in both directions. NYS is too flat, and the hills so steep the battery's dead at the top. Might be different were we in the age of the "double nickel." 59 MPH has half the drag of 70 MPH, but you'll get run over at anything slower! Learning to love back roads was a bit part of becoming a hybrid driver. Frank

... for the guy who can't post a simple link. This is what a link to data looks like. https://avt.inl.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/hev/batteryCMax2158.pdf Select it and you will learn about performance capabilities of your car's HVB. I'd give you a different link if you asked about other data. This is how adults respond to reasonable questions. Proof of claims is always a reasonable question. If you have nothing of value to post, please abstain. I'd also be careful; you've riled up the foil hat guys. Time to check the Korbomite shielding in your apartment before the counter-attack. Have fun, Frank

Condensation in the oil is not uncommon; but how do you know you had water in the oil? I do used oil analysis. Some owners have reported road noise issues related to tires. Others run the tires for 60K miles without issues. I swap OEMs and snows every winter and can't say I notice a big noise difference. There is also an active noise suppression system in the cabin to counteract drive train noise. Some owners have had issues, disabling it. Check the fuse. I'm fine with it, save for the narrow speed range that results in a "moan" when driving in Vermont (never heard it before visiting my daughter; we live in NY) I can only suggest examining the tires to see if they have any uneven wear that might point you to a mechanical issue. A lot of folks have replace sway bar links (me) or shocks, or had alignment issues. I also run tire pressures close to sidewall rating, and rarely open the windows, both for economy reasons. Best mileage ever, though, and a lot of fun getting there, too. HAve fun, Frank

There are a lot of things you can do with a hybrid battery, given proper controls. This guy has proper controls, and a strong desire to integrate his car into his house. But it's short-term thinking, good for a few years, but not for the decades. We've been in this house for over 30 years. We get brief power outages regularly, but we also get ice storms (2) and wind storms (3) that result in day- to week-long outages. I have a simple question? Are you better off using a $400 generator, or a $30,000 vehicle to power your house? Remember, I'm going to need this capability about once every 5-6 years. How long will I have a car? The generator stores well if you drain the gas, starting right up after the most recent extended outage this Spring (blow down). It's a pain to convert manually, but it's also cheap. So, as other noted, don't run your pellet stove on the C-Max's 110v outlet. Installing an HVB tap and purchasing a house-size inverter is still a neat idea, if not very practical. Have fun, Frank

Sadly, what I said is true. All gears are in mesh at all times. No variation in gear ratio ever. What you were trying to say is: "That means variable shaft speeds." It's simultaneous equations; you have three variables (ICE, and the two MGs) and three equations, the speed ratios fixed by the planetary gear set. If the speed of one of the three is unconstrained, the speeds of the other two can vary independently over a wide range. It's clearly demonstrated by the PSD applet. http://eahart.com/prius/psd/ MG2 RPM is proportional to road speed, and it's RPM is constrained by maximum forward and reverse speed limits. ICE RPM can vary over a wide range, so it's managed for fuel economy MG1 gets +/- 6.5K RPM, the unconstrained variable. A real CVT has belts and cones, or something similar. CVTs also allow the input shaft speed to be independent of the output shaft, but it does so using only 2 shafts, not 3, so it needs the belts and cones to vary the ratios. Now, have you got anything meaningful for the OP? Frank

Amen, brother! My lifetime mileage would be far higher without December, January, February and March. The less fuel you need, the more you notice things that use it. Frank

For the record... first link: "www.fram.com/oil-filters/fram-ultra-synthetic-oil-filter/" second link: "mobiloil.com/en/oil-filters/performance-oil-filters" Marketing pieces and installation instructions are not data. Send me a link to data if you can, back off on your claims if you can't. Simple. Frank

You mean salt? Quite likely. It's a major export crop. You passed the mine if you took I-390 to Corning. Frank

So did mine. Except my mechanic was right, rotor surface was flaking off. Not the first time I'd seen the failure mode, so no foolishness, just what I'd expect from a good mechanic. Frank

You are no engineer. Engineers can answer simple questions. That may seem weird to you, but then, you're more of a lawyer than a technical person.

That makes it unlikely anyone does. I have a hitch, but for a platform and bike rack. Conventional transmissions have some very real benefits for towing, like very high gear ratios at low speed. Our trannies have fixed gear ratios, so we'd be pulling from a stop in top gear. Add a well-known tranny reliability issue related to high load under cold conditions, and I think it would be foolish to tow with the car. Have fun, Frank

We're at about 53K on an October 2012 car. - original tires, but I run snows in winter, so I guess I'm on my second set. - no tranny issues - brakes shot at 50K, rear rotors warped, front rotors dissolved. Very little pad wear. Regen in Rochester has a downside. - front stabilizer link replaced - LF door latch replaced, after many visits under warranty for all other doors "Intelligent Access" sounds great on paper, and it is great when it works. But there is nothing good about a system that intermittently denies you the ability to open car doors. Especially when it's cold and rainy. And I do look at possible replacements, but not seriously enough to test drive. This is a fun time of year! HAve fun, Frank

I asked for data, not installation instructions or marketing pieces. You got nothing behind this stuff, right? No data, just unproven claims and excuses... why do you waste our time? Frank

Can you show us the evidence for these claims? Your link to the 4548-12 performance testing is missing. Frank

Nope, they're OEM's, and no better than our OEMs in snow. That's why Porter has a second set of wheels... Frank

oil results.pdf I tabulated my oil data, which includes TBN, is a result of consistently following the oil change indicator. I need to add Paul's recent addition. - all TBNs are below 2, as low as 0.5 for the first change after I took ownership. - my flash point and fuel contamination seem worse with 0W20 synthetic, compared with 5W20 Ford blend. HAve fun, Frank

Just took a look at Tire Rack... It's a $5/tire price difference, Ecopia EP422 vs. OEM replacement after a $70 Michelin rebate. Numerical ratings are similar to a smidgen better for Michelin, but the reviews tell a story of real difference in customer satisfaction, given both have poor snow traction. I'm very bothered one guy's holed three sidewalls? Were I to change tires, it would be for perfomance reasons, like winter performance becoming important (as it is with my wife's Sonata Hybrid... OEM Kumho TA31's are horrible tires in snow). HAve fun, Frank