ptjones

You need to get Grill Covers on your car, will make a big difference. :) Paul

I don't think you need to mess with the brake fluid when you hardly use them. I have 212k mi. on mine and haven't done anything with them. Trans is 150k mi. per Owners Manual. :) Paul

only thing I would go with is the 2 filters + oil and oil filter change. :) Paul

I would highly recommend someone that has done it before, it is a big job. Paul

Here is a pic of mine out of the car. Paul

I talked to a number of FORD Dealer Parts Dept. it sounds like FORD will be refurbishing the trans in the future, just not yet. All the bad trans are going back to FORD. If you don't give them the old trans they charge you a $1500 core charge. $8k to $9k is what Dealers were quoting. :sad: Paul

The car is out of warranty, to bad you didn't extend the warranty to 125 to 130K miles. $9k seems high to replace the trans. There is a Energi trans for sale for $1,703 on Ebay Motors and I would think a $1k for labor. There are lot of Dealers in Atlanta area. Maybe FORD is refurbishing trans's now. What Dealer are you going too, I live in the Atlanta area too. :) Paul

Go back to Post #1 http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/6568-how-to-drive-a-cmax-hybridffh-to-get-great-gas-mileage/ and do everything that is in the Videos and your MPG's will improve. Oil pan heater helps make up some of the cool temp problems. :) Paul

And it just keeps going up. :) Life Time Score 50.2 mpg and Fuelly.com average 49.2 mpg, 55.5 mpg average for the last 10 fill ups. Also I haven't reset trip 2 in about 76k miles and My Smart Gauge average is 54 mpg. Bottom line is even with 212k miles on the Odometer you can improve your Life Time average MPG's if you want too. :) Paul

And it just keeps going up. :) Life Time Score 50.2 mpg and Fuelly.com average 49.2 mpg, 55.5 mpg average for the last 10 fill ups. Also I haven't reset trip 2 in about 76k miles and My Smart Gauge average is 54 mpg. Bottom line is even with 212k miles on the Odometer you can improve your Life Time average MPG's if you want too. :) Paul

From what I have seen with 212k mi. on my CMAX is very little if any loss of MPG's and I think the reason is that normal usage range is between 40-50% SOC so a drop in capacity of HVB would really no effect on MPG's. :) Paul

I have been averaging $3/gal. for Premium the last 10 fillups and cheaper before that. :) If cost was everything I could use Regular with some loss in MPG's, but should get it down to 4.8 cents/mi. I think. :headscratch: Paul

the HVB starts the car not the 12v, 12v. battery is for getting the computers going so the HVB can start the car. The lowest I have seen the HVB SOC% is 27%, I don't think you drain the HVB any lower, it's protected. Paul

The actual SOC is 32% to 65%, you are only using 1/3d of the HVB. The HVB won't die, it would slowly go down in capacity. I believe there is around a hundred cells in the HVB. The smaller cell is the Hybrid cell, the big one is the Energi cell Paul

Wait a minute, are you telling me that My CMAX getting 60 mpg and 30k miles on oil changes that I'm getting close to EV costs? :) Paul

I think the most I have put in the tank after the first click is 1/2 a gallon and most times 1/3 a gallon. How much you put in the tank doesn't effect the end of the tank, just overall distance. So you don't have to worry about running out. :) Paul

Good Job! :) You could have made 600 miles easily, you had at least 2 gallons left. :) Most of my fill ups are mid to high 12's gallons on Smart Gauge. This is why I average about 700 miles per tank. When Smart Gauge reads 0 miles to Empty you have around 25 miles more you can go. Paul

Well I finished the tank with 825 mi./59.3 mpg average with 50% HWY and my Fuelly.com average went up to 49.2 MPG with 212K miles on the Odometer. :) Paul

I have done this a number of times thinking I was in Drive shifting to Neutral to coast and instead being in Neutral and shifting into Reverse and nothing happens other than you can see who is behind you on the center screen. :) There is no actual shifting involved with a CMAX CVT trans. Paul

I replaced my two rear tires with 78k mi. with new Michelin OEM tires and already have 5k mi. on them, it seems I have lost maybe a 1 mpg with the new tires. This backs up what people have said that mpg's improve with tire wear. That being said I'm still getting 61 mpg on Smart Gauge and looking to get 800 mi. on this tank. Currently have 620 miles. :) My old Michelin OEM tires on the front have 83k mi. and should make 90k mi. using 50 psi tire pressure. Paul

Your statement above was a little confusing for me. :) Paul

Take a iPhone pic of your Life Time Score and post it and I will add it to my list. I believe you meant EV miles, not Regen miles. With about 212k miles I only have about 10k Regen braking miles, but 112k EV miles. :) Paul

Interesting, I can increase speed at 65 mph in EV, maybe it is because of my MODS with less aero drag. :headscratch: You Think? The ability to accelerate in EV is tied to SOC, the higher percentage SOC the more power you have available in EV. The temperature of the HVB has an effect on this too. Most CMAX Hybrid owners don't realize that their CMAX is an Energi with a small HVB, about 1/4 the size and then the computer only allows you to use 1/3 of it. :sad: If you want to see what it is like to drive an Energi, tonight when you are going Home the last few miles don't use EV and try to keep your HVB charged up as much as possible. The next morning after turning on the CMAX use the Empower Smart Gauge to see what your SOC of the HVB which should be close to the top. Then look at the available EV power in blue box on left side and the top of it should be around the 2 Bar line. Then drive off watching the blue power being used line in the blue power available box not to exceed the top of the box. You will be surprised how powerful the car is in EV and will be able to go a mile or 2 in EV if you keep it under 35 mph. If you go above that the ICE will start automatically to lubricate the trans. After that you can go back to EV and accelerate up to 55 mph in EV before you run out of HVB power. :) The Energi can go up to 85 mph in EV, but the HVB will discharge very quickly and cutting down the range in EV. Paul

The CMAX won't go into EV above 62 mph no matter what if you don't have the up grade. So if it goes into EV Mode above 62 mph you have the up grade. :) Paul

Actually raising the EV max speed was a good thing, because using 2 Bar acceleration seems to be the most efficient operation of the ICE. That is to much power to keep a steady speed on the FWY so the extra power is converted into electrical energy and stored in the HVB. This is where Pulse and Glide are used to make the ICE more efficient. Then electrical energy is converted back to mechanical energy in EV Mode. I'm in EV Mode more than 50% of the time on the FWY, that wouldn't happen at 62mph and the ICE would never be operating at max efficiency. A side note I do use coasting in neutral going down hill which doesn't charge the HVB, but does improve efficiency significantly over charging the HVB in Drive. :) Paul