Alex Sams

Rain-X.... wipers last much longer. Proper wiper care is important too. It's so important, in fact, that Ford has a video showing how to clean wipers to prolong wiper life. In a C-Max it's not as easy as other vehicles because the wipers are hidden under the back of the hood. I just learned (shame on me) how to put the wipers in "service park" today. I wish I'd shown my wife how to do that last night before the freezing rain, sleet, and snow. It would've made cleaning the windshield a lot easier this morning. We'll see if we've learned anything by next winter since I hope this is the last freezing rain we'll see this year. For those who haven't looked into it: turn ignition on, turn ignition off, hold wiper stalk down within 3 secs of turning ignition off and wipers will move to service position and stop.

I think we'd discussed this earlier, and people are so stupid that it doesn't matter. I think the 3156 style works in our vehicles. The only problem I have with these is that you're installing it in a cone that will direct sound towards the inside of the vehicle. Yes, there's a lot of insulation between you and the sound, but if you really wanted a reverse beeper, you'd be better off wiring an actual horn located under the car. It might be more work than most people want to do, but the finished product would be much better.

Let me and FCS know what you came up with please. I don't drive my car much, so I haven't had a chance to re-create it. Maybe we'll take a family outing. My sound seemed to be caused by the AC recirculation- with recirc off, we didn't hear the sound. It would be good for Ford to know about it, and figure out how to fix it so that customers won't have one of those bad visits to the dealer where the customer knows something is not right- but the dealer can't recreate the problem.

Welcome to the club! Nice car! As you can see we're giddy fanatics who simply can't stop chatting about these cars because they are so much fun! I remember someone by that name on another Ford site- have you registered on others? Winter driving: I think that using foam plumbing insulation in the grille was a cost effective method for increasing ICE temps, fuel economy, and reducing interior comfort times during the winter. I used it on the mid and lower grilles, but on the lower grille I put the foam over the slats instead of between the slats. 5/8" was all I could find- that works great, and is very tight.

OH... I'd like to say that my lowest in the C-Max was 17.8 mpg on a 1/4 trip to Krogers one cold morning. Someone call CR... they were too easy on Ford.

OK... so a person comes and starts a thread bashing a car on a forum devoted to that car, and then never replies. :swear: I'm sitting over here happy with my C-Max Hybrid and our average is like 34.8 mpg. Does that seem low to anyone? Should I file a complaint? Swear off Fords and get a Japanese appliance? No. I think I'd rather get a C-Max Energi because my wife, who is driving the car, is only driving it a total of like 5 miles per day! That and true to her womanly ways, she won't turn off the climate control even when the temps are moderate outside. When it was cold, it was set to 85F- I doubt that it even got up to 65F before she got to work. I tried to reason, but whadda ya gonna do? When I drive it to the store- like 1/4mi away, I go the whole way on battery power as long as the engine is still warm. Her? Hell no, hammer down, we're merging. Why am I still happy (and married)? :sos: Because the Windstar was getting between 13 and 15 mpg for the same travel routes. :gaah: Maybe she'd get 36 in a Prius, but she doesn't like the Prius. My friends who have Prii are reporting similar fuel economy during the winter as my C-Max on similar trips, so whatever the troll thinks the troll accomplishes is lost on me. Trolls are just a distraction similar to a guy who told me that I should get a Prius because C-Max's have been known to catch on fire.

I'd be up for it, but I do like the C-Max platform very much. I'm waiting to see what happens. I will be needing a new vehicle for myself in the next 2 years or so. A PHEV Focus is one option. Another option is getting a PHEV C-Max for the wife because it suits her driving habits better, and then me taking her HEV. The really crazy option is trading her HEV in on a C-Max Energi, and me getting a PHEV Focus. The only drawback I have on these vehicles is the storage space. It wouldn't be impossible for us to take everything we need to take to go visit my parents for the weekend, but it would make it more difficult. I don't like piling things up above the seats in the rear because I know that in the event of an accident- that stuff flies around. I'm sure that a Focus PHEV would have similar storage issues, so we'd want to keep the HEV C-Max for road trips even if it's really depressing to see low fuel economy numbers due to her short daily trips.

I'd bet that other makers 0W20s- like Amsoil, Royal Purple, or Mobil do meet Ford's spec. I have a warning for people who want to use Amsoil. It's good stuff, but all cars I've ever used it in used some oil (1/2 qt) by 10k miles. Never fill and forget when it comes to oil. You should check it weekly if not daily. If you overheat, or run the engine temp high regularly, that breaks oil down, and it should be taken into account when considering oil change interval. PCV and oil breather factory designs mean that engines will always use some oil- it might be a miniscule amount, but it will still get "used".

Interior lights over the doors like in the front seat with the panoramic roof. When I first got in the car, I thought this was the most intelligent thing I'd seen in a car in a long time. Why have we always put lights in the center? Your body creates a shadow when you're looking for something. With lights over by the sides (provided both are on), the shadows are nearly non-existent. This interior lighting arrangement should be installed in all the cars not just the panoramic roof vehicles. It would be nice to have it over the rear seat also.

Ok, if the PCM reads the battery.... why can't we get it on the display? I'd like to know if my 12v wasn't charging, or my alternator/starter wasn't working.

OPERATOR ERROR... That's what the problem was. I wasn't pushing both locations at the same time. While you were searching this site, I was searching the internet- and found a similar discussion on a Ford Explorer site about MFT with the Sony system. OK, but they wrote: press the eject button, then within 1-2 seconds press the >>| on the dial. That doesn't work. It does work if you press both at the same time, and it works in like 3 seconds. The only problem I had was the end game- the screen says press ENTER to keep the new settings, and ESC to revert to the old settings. I was completely dumfounded since I didn't have either of those buttons to choose from. I ended up holding EJECT + >>| again until the tone sounded, then I touched on the screen, and that took the white screen off and I went back to the first diagnostic touch screen. It works good now, so I can leave the car to the wife. I am a bit upset about the USB port being loose, but if it works- that's ok. I'm going to have to explore the rest of diagnostics mode when I get a chance. On a site devoted to Ford Focus', I was able to find a lot of problem diagnosis that could be done using the built-in electronic odometer test function (actual fuel pressure, actual engine temp in deg, battery voltage, etc). I'm sure there are things in this menu that could be useful as the car ages and starts breaking as all things do. Not everyone buys a scan tool, but everyone has problems.

Hey... I found something tonight. My service guy recommended that I remove my positive battery terminal after having the car brought in for an update. I was in a hurry, so when I saw the MFT screen say "You have finished with your update it is ok to unplug your USB drive now" I cut the car off and on again, and it went away. I didn't think anything about it. When I got home, it did the same thing when I cut it off. I called him, and his answer was to remove the positive battery terminal. Now that's weird. I've always removed the negative, however it shouldn't really matter unless you ground yourself out on the body while removing the positive terminal. Anyway, I saw the positive terminal, and then I saw a black wire bolted to the body nearby. Could that be the negative chassis connection? Maybe the entire connection? So I removed it, and the car went dead. To my surprise, removing the negative terminal revealed that the negative connection is merely a bolt. There's paint under it. The terminal is only making contact through the head of the bolt. That's probably not all there is to the battery problems, but I don't think it would hurt to have more metal on metal contact with the body.

Thanks... but unfortunately it's not working on my car like that. Maybe it has something to do with the update. I've tried it using the >> button and the Tune+ button, and << to no avail. I even counted to 25. Maybe it will be different in the morning, but the inverted screen sucks. I'm tired of messing with it tonight. Thanks again!

OK, disconnected the 12v battery for 10 mins or so. I'm not getting the USB drive message this time. However, the MFT is totally screwed. Push Entertainment- get Navigation. Push Climate- get Phone. Push Phone, get Climate. I assume that I push Navigation to get Entertainment. The fun part is when you actually get a screen to come up- like the Climate screen for example, then you can push something on one side of the screen, and the exact opposite side of the screen accepts the answer. Like if you want to turn up the temp on the driver's side, you actually turn up the temp on the passenger side. I had fun playing with it for a minute until I figured it out. It's a screw up. Rebecca. I'm going to send you a PM, they might want to wait on that software update for a little longer, it seems that there's a simple mistake made here.

Well, here's what happened. SYNC was updated, and up to date, so were all the other recalls in the car except this new one. The dealer whom I bought the car from didn't enter the information in Oasis, but a Ford corporate rep whom this dealer called could see that it had been done. Then Ford's rep allowed my dealer to upload the latest software update, and install it on my car. I picked the car up, and when the rep left it in the service lane for me- the first thing I noticed was a message on the MFT that said "Your update is now complete, so you can remove your USB drive now". There was no USB drive installed. I was still in a hurry to get back so the wifey could go to work- it was 5pm by then, she had to be in at 5:30pm. I shut the car off, turned it back on, and got the normal screen. I thought everything was ok, so I drove off. At the next stoplight I tried to fix the clock. I pressed and pressed, and nothing happened. Then I tried to go back to home screen, and got Navigation. Again, the touch screen was not working correctly. When I got home, I made the wife drive the Windstar to work because I was afraid that the climate control- which was off for my drive- might not work. I called the service guy, but there's no way I can go back in tonight. He told me to disconnect the battery and see if it goes away. I can't do that tonight, but I will after my daughter goes to bed. I wanted to check the battery terminals anyway. I also noticed that the #1 USB port seems loose now when it was tight before. That might be nothing, but I'll find out tomorrow. If the battery reset doesn't work, then I'll bring that up to the service advisor when I return. If the USB port doesn't work, or I have problems then I'll definitely bring that up to him. Never take a car in for service on Friday. I should know better.