Joseph B Howle

So to settle this once and for all, i called the company this afternoon to discuss the features of this unit. Basically, and i think you anf I can both agree, is that in order for the actual back up to work as ford intended, a flash needs to be completed to the C-Max. With this system, there is no programming required nor does the lock pick use that part of the cars computer. What this lock pick actually does is expand the already in place system in all my touch equiped C-Max's, the RCA connections in the center console. The box itself adds additional features to the these RCA connections, and not the factory camera system. I even asked them if this would be considered a factory OEM integration system and they stated it is not. Plugging this box in constitues voiding the warranty of the vehicle because you have to cut and spluice witing in the dash to connect it. This is also from the manufacturer, the incline connector only enable pass through of existing connections and add on to the Video wire for the RCA jack in the center console. It does not grant power to the lock pick. This comes from cutting in and splicing into other wiring. I have never denied that this will give you back up video. I have only explained that it is not using the cars backup and parking assist function because it's just adding a signal and you car computer will not be generating it as is the case with a true OEM integration system such as the nav-tv product. The lock pick is cheaper only because they dont include the programming.

Notice the screen shots on that site, it is only using the RCA connectors in the center console which I stated are not part of the back up system. You will have to manually select video player each time you want to see it.

No knocking that all,, I'm just being the voice of reason here. As mention before, I did the same kinds of mods. Especially on my Harley 2004 XL-1200C. 69HP and 55 ft lbs of torque stock power with about 55mpg expected from a 4.5 gallon tank. All the following work I did myself and did increase mileage, it increased power and fuel consumption. I have the factory heads to achieve 18 to 1 compression, port and polished to a mirror finish the factory intake and carb and opened them up by a 16th of an inch ( Flow bench the set and noticed a 10% flow increase), Installed vance and hines short shot exhaust, screaming eagle heavy breather with K&N filter, screaming eagle ignition, stage one cams. Dyno tested the bike at 105.6 HP with 121 Ft Lbs of torque on 92 octane fuel. The bike from a dead stop could achieve 80 mph in less than 11 car lengths and while only shifting to second gear. The fuel cost for the mods was cutting my range per tank to about 120 miles from over 250 from the 4.6 gallon tank. The fact of the matter is increased flow mean increased fuel burn. How are you calculating your mileage? There is a guy at work who drive a crappy old Honda civic that tells me all the time he gets better mileage than I do simply because he says I used this much, and I divide this by how many miles I went on that gas. But we drive the same distance everyday, and have the same size tank but I goes two weeks on a fill and he barely goes 1 week. When you do the math, it computes that he does, but in physical proof, my tank last longer than his. How is that possible?

UMMMM no it does not. Look right down in the features section.... Quote " THE LOCKPICK CANNOT TURN ON A REAR VIEW CAMERA INPUT IN A VEHICLE THAT IS NOT FACTORY EQUIPED" it says it there is bold print. All the lock pick does is make the RCA hook ups in the center console will work when the car is out of park. The hookup is not for the back up camera, it is for hooking up a portable DVD players in your car. Yes, if you hook up a camera to it, you will see video, but not the backup video you are expecting. it will show whatever your point the thing at but to see, you have to hit the video option under the media button on mytouch to see. www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=mytouchlockpickv2&d=coastal-e-tech-freedom-in-motion-mytouch-lockpick-(mytouchlockpickv2) Listen, I hate to be the voice negativity but we cannot avoid the reality of the cars. Ford didn't give certain models, certain things and they made it so the car couldn't be modified. The C-Max is a different animal then all other American ford products, in fact the C-Max is a European vehicle that has been brought to the states from Europe only sales. They have been selling over there since 2004 and they have worked all the bugs out of it.

Yeah I did actually. The wiring for a factory back up is simply not in the vehicle. My case in point is the lack of the needed video signal wires going into the rear of the mytouch unit. Maybe you can finagle something using the video input in the center console but those connections are for a wholey different video system, and not the back up camera system. Also, the center console video connector is not integrated into the vehicle driving system to know when to put in reverse. So, if you don't mind flipping to video mode each time you want to put the car in reverse, be my guest but it is not a factory style back up camera system. If you look at this kit, www.navtv.com/product/207/myfordtouch-cam.html and the manual for it, you will see that you physically have to add the required backup camera connections to the mytouch unit itself. This fact alone is a good indicator of the rest. I have looked at the lockpick thing and from what I can see on their website, it says that " It cannot turn on the rear camera input in the vehicle that is not factory equipped." Why it says this is because the wiring is not there for it to do it. I have done extensive research on this since buying two of these cars last July to include the hours on the phone yesterday. That's why I have stated that it is best to go with a factory integration kit like the one I mentioned above. believe me, I don't like making non-OEM changes to my cars but in this case, its the only available option if you want the car to put the video signal on the touch screen, when you put the car in reverse along with the super imposed red/yellow/green guide lines. The kit above also includes the flashing module which you just plug it in the OBD-II connector, start the car and it automatically programs the system to use the camera. Once your done, you simply remove the flashing module. Lastly, even after talking to a ford engineer, YES as ford engineer who is a family member, the above system does not void factory warranty.

Nicely put!!! I just hate when people boast money saving when they are truly non existent. However if they state the real reason for doing so which is basically so they can say I am hitting this mileage as bragging rights if you will. I can completely understand the motivation to want to push the car but when it comes to doing it for money saving, lets face it ford has already done that for us. The little gains you may get after trying some new things, come at a cost which more than offsets your menial savings. I went through a whole gambit of this stuff with a previous vehicle. I did aero dynamic mods, intake mods and even a water bubbler system. I track my fuel expenditures and mileage for a solid year prior to doing this stuff. Then the next year I made the changes and ran it all keeping track of everything in the same manner. The cost of the mods was $393.64. My fuel expenditures were only about $25 less then the previous years. I averaged 27k miles both years. To put it in perspective the if you subtract the fuel saving from the money saving mods. I was left with paying more than the previous year; which amounts to no savings. Now, I don't believe in debunking anyone but what I am stating is tested fact and in reality if you want to save money without spending it, the best thing to do is lighten the vehicle. The cars weigh in at a hefty 3000 lbs plus so anything you can do to ease the load on the vehicle is key. Even if you block off the grill, the car still has to push through the same volume of air. Its the volume of air that is causing your vehicles drag. The only way to reduce this volume of air is to make the car smaller.. it's simple physics. What your left with is what can be done to ease the burden of this volume of air. Unfortunately, very few things can be done. Of the available options, you have lightening the car or streamlining it. Ford did an excellent job with the aero dynamics of this car, even with putting the radiator low in the chassis so the air basically blows right through and out the underside of the car. Adding a grill cover has side affects of which we both can agree are not so great. Plus with the type of engine used, ( Atkinson Cycle ), they are designed to maximize thermal efficiency which by blocking the radiator you away taking away from the thermal efficiency because the engine can't cool itself. About the only place the it suitable for aerodynamic change is the under carriage and if it is anything like my 2012 fiesta, the bottom is pretty flat already from the factory. The only thing I would change in any vehicle and that includes my C-Max is the under the car and in the rear. Car manufacturers overlook this area, except in sport cars and they put a plate that directs the air from under the car in continuous flow under the bumper. In all other cars, this plate does not exists and what you are left with is basically a massive cup shape (back side of the rear bumper) facing forward which acts like a big air damn.

oh if you want to stretch your mileage that far. Drop your driving speeds to 50 in a 55 and 59 is a 65. This is how I drive and I am achieving the printed MPG rating from ford without ANY change to my car.

The only effect a lease restrictive intake has is allows the engine to spin up quicker and that's all. The boasted benefit is from solely the fact that the car will get the desired speed easier. You can achieve the same simply using the empower feature on the left hand side of the dash. All you have to do is keep the bar blue and below the blue frame. You obviously drive and energy, me I have just the regular hybrid. In the area I live, its wide open between two mountain ranges and going places usually includes a 15 plus miles journey. Its in this case that I felt the energy was not effective because the time it take the battery to recharge. In my hybrid, I can stretch to 4 miles on battery alone and after the battery is depleted, it will charge again in another 4 - 5 miles giving me the benefit of split gas/electric operation. With the energy, the battery would run out on the way to work and I would not be able to use it again until after it had a full nights charge. I have used K&N filter before, especially on my Harley but what I found with using them was me having to change the intake manifold gaskets frequently because of the lean condition being caused when I got to highway speed and having a carb. I have also had them in other vehicles too but had similar results, no noticeable change and malfunctioning 02 sensors within 15k to 20k miles. I wont buy them anymore. Something else to consider is vehicle weight, the energy weighs more because of the bigger battery. If your making aero dynamic improvements I am not sure the difference will be great but you can do it the other way and take out weight and achieve the same. remove the rear seats, only fill the tank to half full would be examples of weight savings. Adding the things for fuel savings again, will you recoup the cost would be the question ask yourself. Also, is attaching things to the body worth potential paint and sheet metal damage buy adhesives and drilling holes. All these things may sound good because of the MPG number you may be able to achieve but realistically, what does it really save in the end. Plus, if you ever had to sell the car, how does all that affect the resale value. I went through all of this years ago with a car that I wanted more MPG and I went as far as to by one of those bubbler kits. It save me a little on fuel but after 2 years with it, I never got my investment back.

I live on a VERY rural military base in California with a huge population of dear and coyotes. I want the fog lamps to save myself the heart ache of the collision with a furry animal...lol

I spent quite a bit of time on the phone today with several ford dealerships and several manufactures of aftermarket integration systems and I thought I would share what I have found. Basically, if ford offered this backup camera as an accessory kit, that means that the factory included the required wiring to make it so. That being said, the backup camera is not available as an accessory and hence this is an indication that ford left out the ability to upgrade. To substantiate my claim, I downloaded the wiring diagrams from fords online resources as well as an install manual for the Nav-tv backup camera kit and what I found right away put the last nail in the coffin. Basically, in the connector that connects into the back of the mytouch unit, there are two pins used for the camera signal, pins 14 and 15. If your C-Max was not factory installed with a backup camera, then these two pins are not there. Following the install guide for the Nav-tv kit, they provide the harness that connects in these to pins and runs to the read of the vehicle. Also, the is a huge harness section that is missing as well. it connects at the connector C237 inside the center console and runs all the way to the lifts and ends at connector C494 which is where you cam hooks in. Additionally, software flashes are vin tailored and the flash program ensures that your VIN is part of the software upgrade. If your vehicle VIN is not part of the upgrade, it cannot be installed. Therefor, vehicles that had the cam factory installed, had a different trim level inditification as part of the VIN. After all this today, I have decided to abandon it and go with the nav-tv kit

Basically what I am saying is that in a computer controlled engine, the computer seeks to run at a programmed mixture based on air temp, barometric pressure, throttle position etc. The part that I think you are overlooking is that fuel is not injected into the engine at one set rate. It is constantly varying in rate a pressure due to the computers program and in essence, if you put more air into your motor, you are creating a lean fuel mixture condition which will cause the engine to run rough and over heat unless it counteracts by inject more fuel to get back to that correct fuel mixture. Also, as stated, with all the (supposed) fuel saving products on the market. I personally believe the to be in the same realm as the so called miracle diets pills. The pills themselves really do nothing for but because your taking them, your subconsciously tries to be more active and eat better which is actually what's making you loose weights. With fuel saving products, I believe the same is true. Yeah, perhaps some may save you a gallon or two here and there but the cost of investing in them does not offset the savings if any. Think of it this way, (Hypothetically) one or two extra miles per gallon, would save you about 5- 7 cents per tank but if you weight that against a $100 dollar intake. How long would it take you to recoup just what you spent on the intake and remember, until you recouped the $100, you haven't saved 1 penny. Spending money, doesn't save it.

Hmmm, I will have to go look behind the bumper and see if there is indeed a pigtail in there. I know the hand lamp switch in my car doesn't have the fog lamp button but the switch assembly is fairly inexpensive on ebay. Would the same be true if I wanted to add the factory backup camera?

unfortunately I wouldn't believe the hype when it come to these filters. Not only are they expensive, but that have to be cleaner regularly to be effective. Another piece to consider is that how a modern cars engine works with the computer monitoring everything. Basically, every car has this thing called a mass air sensor. What this sensor does is read the air volume and temperature coming into the engine. The computer uses the data gathered by the mass air sensor to control the fuel burn. it also reads from the oxygen sensor. In normal operation, as stated the computer regulates the fuel mixture based on the sensor reading. If to much air is coming, more fuel is spent, if excess air is in the exhaust, more fuel is burnt. The K&N filters are supposed to allow more free air flow which they do. The problem is that in a modern engine, the computer compensates for the increased air flow by increasing the amount of fuel and it does this to prevent a lean condition. Hence making them ineffective at saving fuel. Some may argue that they do but what likely happens is that people install these to save gas and use a lighter accelerator foot along with it.

Is it possible to add this to a C-Max that did not come from the factory with it?

I am considering adding the ford factory c-max fog lamps to my c-max SE but was curious if the vehicle has the wiring already in place to make it happen. I understand that I will need to buy the lamps, housing and switch's etc. My main concern is the wiring. Did ford include the same wire harm in all trim levels of the form C-Max. The exception would be the C-max energy which mine is not.