ptjones

The way to use it would be to take corrective action as soon as the WT gauge starts to go above center. IMO :) Paul

You could go with LEXAN Grill Covers which are hardly noticeable, do the same job and get 49MPG! I'm sure the your CMAX would love that, I know mine does. LOL :) Paul

I guess you missed post#6: "I have compared Smart Gauge WT to ScanGaugeII digital output and Smart Gauge hits center at about 180*F and stays there till 228*F. The top line is 247*F and that is when red triangle overheating symbol comes on with alarm." The coolant boils at 263*F in our system. :) Paul The gauge is marginally useful when you don't have ScanGaugeII, etc.

Smart Gauge WT Gauge does change temp continuously. I changed my mind for the Smart Gauge MyView Display to Power+Threshold/ WT gauge to get better MPG's. :) Paul

Smart Gauge WT Gauge does change temp continuously. I changed my mind for the Smart Gauge MyView Display to Power+Threshold/ WT gauge to get better MPG's. :) Paul

The maximum tire pressure is 51PSI on the sidewall of our Michelin's . Legally Michelin is not going to recommend anything different than the car manufacturer. So 50PSI is not over inflating or a safety hazard according to Michelin. :) Paul

You say this after I explained my actual experience of 64K miles on my first set of tires on my CMAX with 50PSI with no wear problems, really! ;) CMAXers want to know what members have experienced, not unrelated info on other cars. IMHO :) Paul

Thanks Frank hybridbear has been watching Trans. temps, with OT of 0*F he's getting 115*F, with OT of 40*F, 145-150*F with Grill Covers on. We get our best MPG's at around 80*F which should give a Trans temp around 180-200*F. Unfortunately I can't monitor Trans temp yet, but I could turn on Trans Heater along with Block and Oil Pan Heaters to preheat everything up before starting the car. :) Paul

SPL Tech "would not block the intake on the CMAX on the highway (or anytime for that matter) Your CMAX will reach operating temperature really quickly on the highway. Let's just say less than 1% of your driving on a full tank spent on the Interstate is at less than operating temp. You are risking engine damage to help control heat for only 1% of the drive--completely pointless IMO." I just drove to AZ and back(3,500mi) with the whole front end taped up and the highest IT above ambient was 40*F, most of the time it was 20*F or less. I wouldn't even think about taking it off until outside temps got into the 80's. This is just another example of why you can't compare a Hybrid to a ICE car. SPL Tech "Keep the tires inflated, but know if you exceed the recommended pressure too much it will cause premature tire wear and it reduces traction (especially in slippery conditions)." Experience doesn't agree with this statement. I replaced my tires at 64K miles and I used 50PSI most of the time(51PSI Cold MAX on the tire), the difference in wear from the inside edge to the outside edge was less than 1/32nd and the center was even less. Experience is always better than conventional wisdom. :) Paul

I have compared Smart Gauge WT to ScanGauge digital output and Smart Gauge hits center at about 180*F and stays there till 228*F. The top line is 247*F and that is when red triangle overheating symbol comes on with alarm. WT is the most important component,but everything helps, WT, Oil,Trans. Fluid and Air Intake. My next step is to add Trans. Heater. :) Paul

I have a little different perspective with 89K miles on mine. LOL :) Paul

Improve your Winter MPG's by 4MPG by Taping up your grills. The strategy here is to minimize heat lose, because the ICE needs to get up to operating temperature(202-212*F) to get the best MPG's. All heat comes from burning gas so the less you use to heat up the ICE the better your MPG's. BTW taping up the front of your car has another benefit of protecting your paint job. Supplies you will need, Heavy Duty clear packing tape,Windex cleaner and car wax. Clean and wax areas to be tape to make it easier to get off. You need to setup your Smart Gauge like this. This is accomplished by toggling down Display menu to MyView then toggling right one step and then toggling down till you get Engage display. Then toggle right one step and then down till you get Temp display. Then hit OK button in the middle to save this, you can monitor MyView for water temperature. Then open hood and tape up intake holes as in the pics below. This keeps cold air from going into the intake of ICE, instead uses warmer air from the engine compartment which helps the ICE warmup sooner. Next close hood and tape up the top grill opening to keep cold air from going into ICE compartment as shown in the picture. Next tape up center grill as shown all the way across the two openings. Do the same thing to the lower grill. You can also tape up hood and head light joints to keep cold out. EASY! If you don't like it you can pretty easily take it back off. Good Luck :)Paul

Being a New CMAX Owner you may not be ready for Hypermiling techniques, but this will give you an idea what can be done. If you're driving the car yourself taking advantage of terrain will reward you around 2mpg over ECOcruise but it does require some effort. Here is an example of 500mi. leg on trip across the country. This is a Post from a different thread. OK, so I did it on my 5K trip to San Diego and back. I did it between Flagstaff,AZ and Amarillo,TX with two stops in Gallup,NM and Albuquerque,NM and made the 500mi. around San Juan,NM. I have New Michelin's on the car and Odometer is off by 1.019% according to Garmin GPS. Actual numbers are for mileage(512mi), speed(66MPH) and 47.1mpg for the whole tank and looks like 47.3mpg for 500mi. Here is how I did it, I used a banking system where I would save MPH and MPG. So if MPH got low I would trade MPG for MPH. I used Garmin to track MPH average and Smart Gauge to track MPG average. I took I-40 all the way to Memphis,TN. The elevation drop from Flagstaff to San Juan is about 3,000Ft, but there are three over 7K ft. summits between the two city's. Starting about 2PM in the afternoon from Flag with the plan that I should be able to bank both MPG's and MPH's going down to Winslow(50mi. and 2K ft drop), but things went BAD quickly with two different problems. Rain and Semi's, as it turns out it rained at least 1/3rd of my trip and had to deal with alot of Semi's, easily half of the traffic on I-40. Rain hurts both MPG's and MPH's and you can't draft Semi's in the rain if you want to see where you are going. On the other hand being forced to follow Semi's while they are passing each other helps MPG's but kills MPH's. So By the time I got to Winslow things where looking BAD, instead of having alot of extra MPG's and MPH's banked, I was already short with 45mpg, 67mph, I almost gave up not seeing how I could make up the deficit. Then things started to improve, the rain stopped and I was able to start passing Semi's and get some drafting help while I was waiting to get around them. Then about 40mi. later the winds changed from cross wind to tail wind so then the numbers were getting better. I stopped in Gallup, NM with about 67.5mph and 47.5mpg, but with stopping and getting going again I lost 1 mph on the Garmin, worse on Smart Gauge. OUCH! Then I hit rain again and winds stopped, still I was ahead of the game when I got to Albuquerque. Lost .5mph for that stop and hit rain again, but not to bad. Eventually I just kept MPH average at 66 and aloud MPG's to slowly climb knowing Smart Gauge would be optimistic by a couple of MPG's. Most of the time I was going 69-70mph when I wasn't stuck behind Semi's or in construction zones. You may have noticed my top speed on the Garmin was 81.3mph! This exercise shows that 500mi. is a long way to go without having weather and traffic problems. When conditions are favorable, my CMAX will get 47mpg at 70mph. :) Paul

Have you tried replacing your filter yet? It is a very annoying job and I scratched my hands doing it. At this point I'm leaning towards just leaving the K&N filter in there until I get rid of the car, the filtering should get better as time goes by. LOL :) Paul

I would make them if I had a dozen CMAXers request them, I like helping members out, but I have to order couple sheets of LEXAN. Plus I can't get very efficient making them unless I have a dozen or so to make. If enough members PM me I would consider making them. :) Paul

I posted a thread" Possible Solution for Dead Battery Problem" where I showed how to add another small 12v battery to storage compartment to increase 12v battery capacity by half again to minimize the possible dead battery problem. I tried find a larger battery for CMAX but couldn't find one that would fit. I agree this doesn't solve all cases or root problem for some people but might help until FORD finds all the possible problems. :) Paul

CMAX uses 12v batt. to get the electronics and computers going and HVB to start the car. If you can't get electronics going you can't start the car, that is why it only needs that small 12v batt. to get the ICE going. :) Paul

What about a small space heater in the car an hour before you leave in the morning? Might be a good experiment. :) Paul

I'm alittle confused by the terminology of coasting, so gliding with regen is the same as gliding without regen? :) Paul