ptjones

The top Grill let's air into ICE compartment . I have touched inverter coolant lines after trip and they were the same as outside temp. Paul

Pure Gas has more BTU's(more energy) better gas mileage. Ethanol has approx. 50% less power than gasoline. This works out to about 5-7% MPG with ethanol blended gas. Paul

My service manager at FORD is fully aware of what I'm doing and he has been helpful getting info from FORD on operating temps in the past. I leave my covers on and everyone looks at them. They can't believe the MPG's I'm getting. They have confidence by now that I know what I'm doing. After reading all the info on the ICE system, It is designed to protect itself no matter what happens. I have not been able to get coolant temps above 236degrees which is still below the top white line on the Smart Water temp Gauge under the worst conditions! :) Paul

I also agree with that although Pure GAS is pretty close. Paul

I hate to repeat myself, but Grill Covers make a big difference during the winter. If you had a ScanGauge you would be amazed at the difference. Even with the Grill Covers on last nite outside temp 43degrees it took 12mi at 50-55mph to get to 200degrees coolant temp. Without Grill Cover it probably wouldn't have made it to 160degrees. This morning it was 33degrees outside and garage temp was 63degrees and still only got to 147degrees with no heater on my 2.4mi. drive to work. It is such a simple thing to do, I don't know why everyone hasn't done it. :) Paul

It would seem that 210degrees would the temp to shoot for given that the shutters open up at 210degress at slow speeds. Paul

I took more careful look at your pics and barely able to see the holes in the grill cover. Nice job. What Coolant temps are you seeing? Paul

Just tested Shutters operation with update and they (FORD) raised the temp for opening from 190degrees to about 210degrees for slow speed and 215degrees for around 60+mph. Seems to be pretty much open or closed instead of steps. This explains why Grill Covers are running 10degrees hotter than before update. Also this would explain why this wouldn't make a difference with cold operation, because Shutters weren't opening anyway. Also HWY MPG's would improve a little keeping the ICE warmer and more efficient. There might be a slight Aero improvement too. During testing temps were 54degrees and I had great difficulty getting ICE temps up to 216degrees, it took about 12miles on FWY at 70-90MPH for my 14mile loop. With Grill Covers on it took just a few miles. I did some experimenting with my Grill Covers on my trip back from AZ with cutout Grill Cover and Full Grill Cover for ICE temps and MPG's. With outside temps between 38-66degrees the Full Grill Cover ran between 217-231degrees and Cutout Grill Cover 207-220degrees. To my surprise I didn't see any noticeable difference in MPG's, I was changing them back in forth about every 100miles. I'm wondering if FORD has changed the ICE operating temp with the Shutters not opening until 215degrees. The Operating ICE temp was 202-212degrees. I have some more LEXAN to make Grill Covers if anyone is interested. :) Paul

I sealed up the hole hood with packing tape and didn't notice a change. Are you letting any air into lower grills? Nice job. I'm getting LEXAN today to make more Grill Covers for CMAX and FFH that people have requested. Also 3/16 LEXAN for Wheel Covers and should have ready shortly for those waiting for them. I'm going to set up my Computer camera to monitor Shutter operation to see if it changed. Hope to do more aero testing shortly. Paul

I used Carpet Tape over fog lights and have about 7K mi on them. Didn't see much improvement. Paul

What were your change in coolant temps? On my grill covers air goes around the covers with a small amount going through the grill. Part of the purpose was to raise coolant temps. Paul

Laurel, Being a Veteran I appreciate you Post. Thanks Paul

Trying to figure out way of getting a high speed Camera or at least a high resolution one and Zoom maybe. I'm pretty sure the underside of the car is a high pressure area from the evidence of it keeps on blowing off my left wheel cover. Work in progress. Paul

Have they started working on it yet? I think the black ones look fine on silver. Paul

It has been 5 days and I haven't seen this happen again. I'm wondering If this has something to do with FWY driving and then EVing to a stop with low HB, near bottom of gauge. Sitting time varied from 20min. to 8hrs. Paul

That is one of the mods I'm looking at for CMAX. Last night I put a .04 thick LEXAN cover on with weather stripping and heard a bad noise from the wheel above 40mph and when I got home (2.4mi) saw the cover had broken the 1/4" plastic screw and loosened the center screw. Apparently air is going through the wheel above 35mph. this would explain why our wheels are getting dirty. Paul

I only use mine for intake and coolant temp, Instantaneous MPG's and RPM's. Important stuff that the Smart gauge doesn't have available with the Hybrid stuff. Paul

I have 6k on mine, 42k total and have issues with rubbing on spokes and same dirt problem. Fortunately mine come off in a minute or two so today I installed 3/16x3/8 high density foam tape (weatherstrip for windows) from LOWE'S on the inside outer edge of wheel cover. At least now the cover isn't touching wheel spokes. We will see how that works. Paul

No Galley, but instructions say to place 7-10 inches from rear edge. The only place practical is about a inch from rear deck of hatch. That works out to be about 15" from back of vehicle. Hope to do some aerodynamic testing soon to figure out best placement of GasPods. Get the Magnetic ones. Paul

I've ordered K&N filter and picked up CMAX filter at Ford at lunch time. I've come up simple way of testing only filter using shop vac so we will see how that works. Thanks Paul

I will be working on this soon when I can get some help videoing it. It would be nice to get with another CMAX or FFH member in the Atlanta Area to help with some of the testing. :) Also I taped up my hood before coming back from AZ and didn't see any improvement in MPG's, but I don't consider it to be a prefect test. If it improved at all it was definitely less than 1 mpg. Paul

This is something that has started in the last three weeks I think. It hasn't happened since I got back from my trip two days ago. I did get my oil changed yesterday, but that's all. I will comment if it happens again. Paul

I'm going to buy a K&N 33-5001 and Ford FA 1911 and measure difference compared to my 42k old one.

I had a funny thing happen on my trip with the Hybrid Battery Gauge after I had twice stopped for gas and once stopping to stay over night in Motel. I had EVed prior to stopping so EV battery was low, but when I started the car, the gauge showed almost full. This also happened once or twice before trip to Arizona. The Gauge goes down fairly quickly so I guess the Battery is not full, but is a surprise to see it jump up like that. Anyone see this happen? Paul

My roofline is the same, I hadn't noticed it before. Paul