plus 3 golfer

Here's a few pics of the Ram system.

Get the Ram X-Grip with the larger suction cup and extension arm (I think it's 3 "). Stick to bottom of side window and extend just to the left / behind the steering wheel. Easy to see and operate smartphone from that position. Only drawback is when paying tolls. You'll need to twist to unlock suction pressure and lift rubber tab of side bottom of mount to pull off window. I was thinking of mounting it on the small window between the side and front windshield but would need the 6" arm. It took several times of running the mount into the window frame for me to "remember" to remove the mount before opening window. The mount isn't fazed but I was afraid I might damage the window track / mechanism. In addition unless you have an extra long charger cable, you need to disconnect the cable from the smartphone before opening the door. Ram stuff is not cheap but it's high quality and won't come off window.

Bluetooth is BAFX 34t5 purchased in Feb. 2015 WiFi is Simvalley purchased in 2013 When you get it, you'll have to record grille shutter operation as my C-Max seems to be programmed differently than ptjones with respect to the grille shutter operations.

Lowering the height of the C-Max one inch would reduce frontal area and may or may not change Cd. Assume it reduces the height 1.5% - and the frontal area by 1.5%. So the aerodynamic drag force would be reduced by 1.5%. This might lower the total drag force on the car by 1/2 that or 0.75% on average. FE would increase by likely no more than that 0.75% - a relatively small amount. Now reduce the weight of the C-Max by about 20% and you'll get a noticeable increase in FE.

You can shift to low at any speed. IAlso, ICE may engage when using hill assist.. I use it all the time to avoid friction braking in the mountains. Put the rpm gauge up in myview as you shift to low. Remember, the C-Max uses planetary gearing not fixed gears. So, ICE rpm may be "regulated" by rotating the generator as a motor. I'll run / record some tests on vehicle speed and ICE rpm when shifting to low. From the owner's manual: Low (L) • Provides maximum engine braking. • The transmission may be shifted into low (L) at any vehicle speed. • Is not intended for use under extended or normal driving conditions and results in lower fuel economy

I haven't seen grade assist use the friction brakes. Grade assist will spin ICE to very high rpm though to maintain speed. And if you shift to low, you immediately engage ICE and can slow down without friction brakes most times. Once you slow down below the grade assist speed, grade assist no longer is applicable. Also, when the HVB is full and regeneration is not possible, ICE will spin up for normal engine braking like any car when left in drive. Most times though you can shift to L and the additional engine braking is sufficient to slow down if one plans / knows the road ahead. What I do when I need to slow down, I shift to low, disengage grade assist and when I've slowed enough engage grade assist and shift out of low and repeat as needed especially when entering a down hill hair pin turn. It works remarkably well. I have monitored brake pressure when dropping IIRC about 1700 feet in about 4+ miles or so with several hairpin turns and many switchbacks. The friction brakes were never applied. For those that have traveled between Globe and Show Low AZ on US 60, it's the stretch of 60 dropping down and crossing the Salt River.

When I go down long, curvy downgrades in the mountains of the West, I try not to use my frictions brakes at all. I use grade assist and low (engine braking) to control down hill speed. The C-MAX has no problem maintaining 75-85 mph on the mountainous interstates (unlike the Priis). I generally leave grade assist engaged on the mountainous interstates. Sometimes, if I want to maintain speed say on not so steep long downgrades, I'll shift into neutral to pick up speed and then back to D.

Go to ForScan.org I have both a Bluetooth and WiFi adapter. Bluetooth seems more stable but I don't know why occasionally I lose connection with both. It could be the App. I must either restart the scan of the module and other times I have to reconnect the adapter. The only time it's an issue is if I am recording data.

I'm not sure that is totally correct with respect to justifying more frequent OCI on the C-Max. ICE is spun up when the car is moving. The traction motor is virtually always run to get the car moving. The shift of load from the traction motor to ICE is not instantaneous or abrupt. These "many" starts are not on a cold engine. The traction motor assists ICE frequently especially when torque demand increases significantly. I know on my 4.3 mile trips to the Y with ambient temp in the 20s, ICE may shut down a few times and ECT reaches around 120F-140 F within a mile. I doubt there is much if any additional wear on ICE at this operating temperature. I've never seen a study that says running at 120 F to 140F wears an engine faster than operating at 180F. FE and emissions generally suffer at low operating temperatures. ICE shut down generally happens after 120 F when going down hill or coming to a stop provided HVB is above about 55-60% SOC (not the battery symbol on the dash). The maximum SOC is about 70%. The 1.4 kWh HVB never is charged to 100% SOC. Change your oil as often as you want to but I doubt this rationale - "engine being constantly stopped and started" is a justifiable reason as to needing to change oil more frequently on the C-Max.

I believe I posted the quote below from the Service Manual (red emphasis added) before. I have observed this type of operation with ForScan on many occasions. It's clear to me that this is how the grille shutters operate with no grille covers on. My graphs show this type of grille shutter operations. How the shutters behave with grille covers on is moot as the primary purpose of the covers is to block air flow to the radiator to increase the operating temperature of ICE. A secondary benefit of the covers is likely a slightly lower coefficient of drag - the frontal shape is more aerodynamic with the covers than without the covers. Personally, I do not run with covers on when I begin using the AC frequently (say when ambient temperatures will often be over 70 F). In the Phoenix area this would limit my use of covers to about 3 months. In TN, I put them on in November (when I moved to TN) and took them off in April (I believe this April was one of the hottest on record here). "The grille shutter actuator positions the grille shutters based on commands from the PCM . The grille shutter moves 90 degrees from fully closed to fully open and, based on the position commanded by the PCM , is set in 1 of 16 positions (approximately 6 degrees between positions). During normal operation, the grille shutter may be partially to fully open when the engine is off depending on the ambient temperature. When the engine is started, a calibration of the grille shutter system occurs which typically takes 15-20 seconds. The grille shutter system performs the calibration sequence by detecting the end positions, open and closed. The calibration sequence can begin in either direction, open or closed, and continues until it is successful or a fault is sensed. A long pause may occur between the 2 portions (open/close) of the calibration sequence. Calibration of the grille shutter system cannot be manually requested, it only occurs as determined by the grille shutter actuator. If certain faults are present (shutter blocked or actuator error), a recalibration is initiated in an attempt to resolve the problem. If the problem is not resolved after a calibrated number of attempts (usually 3 or 4), a timer starts and sets a DTC when the timer reaches a predetermined limit. The PCM communicates the desired position (open or closed) of the grille shutter based on various PCM inputs (vehicle speed, coolant temperature, ambient temperature, A/C system pressure, etc.)"

The PCM can infer air flow by using speed and shutter position. Again, take the grille covers off and also get the forscan app. There's no reason to believe ForScan data is incorrect. The operation of the grille shutters correlates with ECT, speed and temperature. Just look at my graphs. See this post for what the Ford Service Manual says about the grille shutters.

You need to remove the grille covers because the PCM computes an inferred position which no way can match actual operations with no air flow through the radiator. So, the PCM appears to be constantly moving the shutters as it tries to match inferred with actual going from wide open to shut. The PCM can't find anything that makes sense with the covers on and no air flow.

I follow the procedure in the link so that when I rotate tires and then monitor tire pressure via the obdii port with an appropriate APP, the sensor name and PID match. I then know which tire may need air. Also, I don't have to fiddle around with a tire pressure gauge on each wheel trying to balance pressure when temperatures change.

12 V batteries fail. I think the issue is that in a conventional vehicle, one generally gets a sense of a failing 12 V battery with slow cranking. It's no big issue. But in a Hybrid, either the car starts or it doesn't. So, people forget that maybe it's the 12 V battery as there is no outright indication of a pending 12V battery failure. As with Yippie, a jump start usually gets a Hybid going. My 12 V C-Max battery lasted 30 months in the Phoenix area - about average for such a hot climate.

And as I said before, when I monitored with my web cam, I saw positions between closed and open. I do have a new laptop so I should be able to record the operations now. But, I believe the ForScan data and when I monitor data, I can clearly see that the inferred / commanded shutter operation does affect ECT. I just went out to the garage and verified that the ForScan app is reading the position of the grille shutters. Start car with AC OFF, grille shutters are closed. Push AC ON, and grille shutters open to 100%. This tracked the commanded and inferred grille shutter positions in ForScan. It's too much of a hassle to video record the shutters while driving. I have no doubt that ForScan is correctly reporting the grille shutter positions.

If you have a smartphone, get the ForScan.org app and the applicable ELM 327 and you can monitor tire pressure and other data whenever you want to. For under $30 you'll have peace of mind.

Do you have a question about Ford, Mercury or Lincoln? Ford and Mercury United States1-800-392-3673 1-800-232-5952 (TDD for the Hearing Impaired) Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m.- 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time Saturday, 9:00 a.m.- 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time Ford and Mercury Canada1-800-565-3673 Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.- 5:00 p.m. Local Time Lincoln United States1-800-521-4140 1-800-232-5952 (TDD for the Hearing Impaired) Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m.- 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time Saturday, 9:00 a.m.- 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time Lincoln Canada1-800-387-9333 Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.- 5:00 p.m. Local Time

I've recorded lots of data on shutter operations and ECT. Here's my observations and facts (to set the record straight :) ).. 1) Engine coolant thermostat starts to open at around 180 F and should be fully open at 202 F (this is the spec.) 2) HVAC operation, speed, ECT, and ambient temperature determine shutter opening. 3) When AC is ON and speed is above 50 mph, the shutters immediately open to 40% and increase in opening based on ambient temperature above around 70F+. 4) When AC is ON and speed is below 50 mph, shutter opening is based on speed - increasing from 40% opening as speed decreases. 5) When AC is OFF, shutters are fully closed below around 192 F and fully open above around 212 F and can be in various states of opening between 192 F and 212 F 6) So, when ambient temperature is low (say around 32 F), it's unlikely that the ECT ever will get to 202 F (thermostat fully open) as the grille shutters will begin to operate if ECT ever makes it to around 192 F. This is where the addition of grille covers can significantly increase the operating temperature of ICE as virtually no air gets to the radiator (shutters closed below 192 F or shutters in a state of opening above 192 F and grille blocks on). Even at around 50F ambient with grille blocks, ECT rarely gets to 212 F in normal driving except when on the interstates at high speed going up long grades. I've seen ECT at 234 F at 70+ mph and around 50F ambient going up grades at 70+ mph. On relatively flat interstates, ECT would generally be around 220+- F. In summary, with grille blocks one should see an increase in FE due to higher ICE operating temperatures and due to better aerodynamics with the grille blocks (no box in front of the grille shutters, just a smooth curved surface). Here's a couple of graphs I put together a while ago showing ambient temp and speed vs grille commanded opening and AC ON and OFF operation.

Call Customer Service. I had an issue when I originally registered and they corrected things while on the phone. I don't recall whether they transferred my call or took care of it themselves.

I see the reference to snow tires. My bad. The "cupping" referred to (at least on my car and I think on most) was mostly slight inside edge tire wear on the rears with some slight diagonal cupping / feathering on the inside edges. The issue was tire noise at 75+ mph. Depending on the pavement (type and condition), the noise was unbearable at 48k miles. The tires would have easily gone another 10-15 k miles and I would have left them on if most of my miles would have been say under 65 mph as the noise was definitely there but bearable. Rotation was not to get rid of the "cupping" but to even tread wear so that all tires wore evenly (tread depth wise). Ford would not do anything as the rear camber was in spec. when I asked about the noise issue at 27k miles. Dealer simply rotates tires. We'll see if the new tires fare any better. No noise or abnormal wear at 20k miles. I'm running 48 psi now and ran about 44 psi in the old tires.

Don't do it. Image new tires on front and bald tires on rear. You'll virtually lose all control when water lifts the bald tires off the road going around a slight curve in the road.