plus 3 golfer

Yes, strange. Perhaps the leak was connection to cooler or to tranny and fluid dripped on bottom cover only. How often does one hear about a non / low pressurized cooler or hose develop a leak. But one would have to loose a lot of fluid to damage tranny and then fluid would likely blow back from cover and drip on the ground off metal. IMO, it's more likely dealer tech ("tire / lube jock") failed in filling if level was low enough to cause tranny failure.

You may have to take the driver's side rear seat off. There is a caution in the installation of the driver's side seat which leads me to believe one can't raise the seat belt buckle holder back up without taking the seat off. NOTICE: The LH and center safety belt buckles must be held in the upright position while lowering the seat cushion. If the safety belt buckles are not held in the upright position, they may be damaged during seat cushion installation. It doesn't look too difficult to remove the seat - see attachments.

Try lowering the seat back. As the back is being lowered, the seat begins to slides forward which may allow you to raise the clip holder up and back into place.

Do you have alignment records as to what your rear camber is? Also, what speeds are you driving at? Once I get to 75 mph, the noise becomes intolerable which happened around the 42k+ mile mark on 2 sets of different tires. At about 70 mph the tire noise is annoying. At 65 mph it's loud but one gets used to it. Below 60 mph one can notice it but it's not significant.

WOW $25 a tire certainly is not worth it and it really doesn't solve the camber issue. I guess the other option is to get the rear camber kit to reduce the rear camber. Looks like about $160 for parts and one hour labor for mounting and then an alignment. Say around $300+ total. Should have done this about 3 1/2 years ago and I likely would still be on my 2nd set of tires. But then what does one set the cambe to? I don't think I'd go lower than -1/2* to -1* degree. My rears cambers are -1.4* and -2.0*. I also though of just leaving the rears on the rears but then the question for me is at what mileage does the noise become intolerable? One might be replacing rears at 35 k miles with maybe another 15k - 25k still on the fronts. I've never liked replacing just 2 tires at a time but have done it in the past.

Direction is reversed with cross rotation but inside edge is still on the inside. I agree with Paul that (I believe he does this) the best way to even out inside edge wear is to remount the tires flipped on rim so that the inside edge flipped would now be on the outside. I believe most shops will want $12-15 a tire to remount and balance. It's not economical to do this every 5k or 10k miles - maybe once or twice say at 25k and maybe again at 50k if there is significant life left in the tire. I'm assuming this would mitigate the noise issue which for me has been intolerable at around 42k miles in both sets and seems to start nearing 30k miles. I've got about 12 k miles on my third set of tires and the inside grooves are starting to show more wear than the other three grooves. Using a tire depth gauge, the inside grooves shows between 1/64" - 1/128" more wear. So, at 50 k miles I might expect close to 1.5/32 more wear on the inside of my tires. This is very consistent with my previous two sets of tires. I will continue with normal tire rotations and decide when and whether to do the flipped rotation.

I have a 2014 Service Manual (dated January 2014) which shows dry fill capacity as 5.7 quarts which is consistent with the Owners Manual. It would be interesting to know what the 2015 Service Manual says. Maybe the 5.7 also includes the fluid in the cooler and lines and the 4.8 only includes the transmission.

DTC = diagnostic trouble code stored in a control module which will illuminate the check engine light. Your guess is as good as mine if a message will be displayed for all HVB DTCs. If there is a major issue with the hybrid operation, there will likely be a message like "Pull over Safely Now" if you are driving the car or the car will not start.. There is nothiing that you can do proactively.

One can record real time hybrid operating data with the FORScan App. But without historical data to compare, it would be difficult to determine how any changes would affect operations. One will lose HVB energy storage capacity over operating time / miles but I am not aware of anyone where such loss affected hybrid operation / fuel economy. Read this thread and follow the link to the INL test results of 4 C-Max hybrids. Although the HVBs have lost some storage capacity. FE appears to not be affected by the lost capacity. Other than DTC and perhaps messages being displayed, I'm not aware of anything that you can readily look at with respect to the HVB health.

I assume you mean the High Voltage Battery. Don't worry about the HVB health. It should last the life of the car in the Hybrid C-Max. You don't have to do anything special as the HVB is operated normally between about 40% State of Charge and 54% SOC. The displayed battery symbol on the dash is not an accurate measurement of the actual SOC of the HVB. Filling the battery symbol to the tip (appears to be 100% full) is acutally only about a 70% SOC. I've attached a conversion chart showing the actual SOC of the HVB with the displayed battery symbol. One only gets to the 70% SOC when going down long grades or braking from higher speeds. The traction motor in the transmission simulates engine braking when coasting down hill by acting as a generator and using the kinetic energy to make electricity that is then sent to the HVB for storage. Same thing happens when braking (non friction braking). This is generally referred to as "regeneration" or "regenerative braking". So, you should be able to get the symbol to approach the tip if slowing to a stop going down a longer hill. As you can see from the chart, your 15% is actually about a 32% SOC and your 80% is actually about a 57% SOC -- pretty normal. More than likely, the 15% is after running in EV+ mode and the 80% is when cruising at higher speed for a period of time on fairly flat roads or after regenerative braking. There are many Diagnostic Trouble Codes for the HVB and hybrid operations. Since, you have no DTCs, everything should be fine. Has your fuel economy changed? If your SOC seems to be declining more rapidly than before, perhaps you are making better use of the EV capability or you have more electrical load to supply like: running the A/C, seat heaters, and so forth.

Yes,10 minutes is the maximum you will get after the 12 V battery age is reset to zero months (per my observation on a US model) before shutdown to save power. It will be a lot less like down to a few minutes as the battery ages to say 4 - 5 years. The "good" news is that with the FORSCan APP the battery age can be reset anytime that you want to and thus keep the shutdown cycle to around 10 minutes. :) The unknown though is we don't know the effect battery age has on charging algorithm for the 12 V battery and the life of the battery.

It's Marketing 101 - Never promise what you can't deliver. Must deliver value to the target market. Ford's target was the Prius V (we know the promotional ads). Then, after the mpg fiasco, Ford tried to change the image to a "luxury" car with the "new generation" ads. However, damage was already done. It's near impossible to change without a redesign which takes years. Lower gas prices coupled with the lower EPA FE diminish value and sales fall even more. So, to get more value with low gas prices, consumers must buy cars with higher EPA ratings. Hence, Ford pushed the Energi more in ads and came out with an SE model (lower cost) to increase value to the consumer. Also, the early purchasers of the C-Max received value in the form of two Ford rebates totaling, IIRC, $1025 for the lowered EPA fuel economy ratings. Subsequent buyers did not directly receive thIs value. That's the cup of coffee a week. :)

Agree with Paul on TFT based on my observations. 176F is the highest I recall seeing with no grille covers. In normal driving, TFT is around 30F lower than ECT. TFT increases during regeneration due to heat losses from the traction motor and no TF circulation to the cooler because ICE is not spinning.

raadsel pretty much hit the nail on the head of the initial "blunders" of Ford. In addition, the Sync / MFT never has lived up to the "hype" and had many initial issues which added to a poor JDPower rating. Given that the C- Max is "overweight" and has a high CdA relative to new hybrids, the C-Max design can't compete in FE which is likely the key driver for most consumers. So, Ford, IMO, made the correct decision in dropping the C-Max likely many years ago and hence we saw virtually no marketing $ spent on the C-Max in recent years.

Time for FORScan. Perhaps a DTC will show up in ET mode. Give ET a try.

Two bulbs not one. :) You should be able to see both bulbs when on through the front of the lens. Can you see both in park? How both in turn? One is a larger round bulb nearer to the outside and one is a smaller bulb to the inside. See attachment. But it appears that the BCM activates both bulbs in the park position (my observations) and blinks both bulbs in the turn position (my observation). It's likely that the BCM can be programmed as to how the BCM handles the two bulbs (perhaps independently or together). The BCM also fast blinks if in turn position and a bulb is out.

I couldn't readily find the write up on tpms retrain / relearn. But I found this video which works for the PB start and my SEL. The retrain messages will appear on the left steering wheel display and may be covered up by another message. So push ok to clear the top message.

I wonder what would happen if you retrained your tpms. There's a procedure I used several years ago. Search for it. After entering the procedure, one goes from wheel to wheel letting air out until a horn honks. I would think if a faulty sensor would not be communicating, there would be no horn honk.

It would be interesting to see what the Battery Voltage Desired and the SOC of the 12 V battery are via ForScan In the BCM. When I look at the DC/DC converter, the set point voltage (always same as desired) and the voltage at the DC converter, both are always in the 14.1 - 14.5 V range and generally the same value (although I don't monitor continually). Also, I've never seen my 12V battery with a 100% SOC. The highest I've seen was 92% after 2000 miles of driving in 2 days. I went out and started my C-Max. My current 12V battery SOC = 58%, ambient temp = 99F, desired was 14.2 V and BCM voltage was around 14.1+-. The lowest voltage I saw on other modules was 13.85 V. The PCM was at 14.0 V (probably module your reader read). Although your 13.3 V seems low, it might not be if your SOC is very high as the BCM will likely lower the set point voltage as one nears 100% SOC. The highest SOC I've seen was around 92%. After shutting the car off, the BCM voltage dropped to 12.85 V. Can your ELM327 be used with FORScan (wifi, bluetooth, usb)? You can download demo version, IIRC, for androids, ios, and windows.

1) A jump start battery like this. Others can tell you what they purchased. I carry jumper cables. 2) A $10 digital voltmeter / cigarette lighter plugin voltmeter to measure battery voltage (probably Walmart or Auto Store). 3) Unless it's a blowout, a tire plug kit works but is difficult to use especially the cheap ones on the road ($25-$30 for good one). I carry this in my car. I monitor tire pressure with FORScan (the smartphone APP and ELM 327) can be had for about $25. When I notice a small drop in one tires pressure, I look for a nail or screw in the tire. I have always been able to drive home or to a shop if on the road to repair the hole well before the tire goes flat. You need to catch the slow leak early on. 4) Probably not cheap. Look on line for the belly cover. 5) Clean the nozzles with a straight pin or very thin needle.

I believe the guy in the video used the middle plug (which is the Ford standard procedure). I posted an image of the top plug before but deleted it (reached image limit) and can't find it anywhere yet. But to get to it you would have to remove the engine cover and duct work (probably not worth it) and I don't know how easy it would be to remove it. I would use my FloTool funnel (which I purchased at Walmart for my VW probably 8 years ago) with a vinyl extension hose and use the middle plug. I suspended the funnel above the engine via the handle and a hook attached to the open hood. With the other end of the vinyl hose inserted into the middle hole, you can open up the FloTool funnel flow valve and add fluid slowly. When the fluid begins to overflow, you can quickly shut off the flow valve.

I learned my lesson in the later '70s when I used anti seize on my 1975 Corvette wheel studs. When my original tires wore out, I purchased new wheels / tires and used anti seize when I mounted them. Months later I had a stud break off. Dealer ordered replacements and said you still have 4 on and OK to drive to work ( a few miles at 25 - 35 mph) until replacement. Several days later, light changed and I braked hard. Wheel broke away and stayed in fender well. Dealer said must be bad batch of studs and ordered complete set. It wasn't until years later that I learned the issue with using anti seize and highly suspect the anti seize plus my slightly over torqued lugnuts, caused my studs to eventually break. I slightly overtorqued thinking it was better than under-torqued since I occasionaly "tested" the tires at "high speed" :) on I-79.

Here's why antiseize is a no-no on spark plugs and lug nuts. Antiseize is a lubricant and can result in applying too much pressure when tightening to required torque level and thus stretch threads / bolts.

I have not changed it yet in my C-Max but have done similar on my VW using the top to fill. I didn't want to spend money for a VW adapter and fluid pump for one time use.