stevedebi

First time poster here.  I live in the Twin Cities with my '14 Energi and noticed this winter that when I would engage the heat, either in electric mode or ICE, it would produce warm air for 5 minutes or so and then go cold. Even engaging the A/C wouldn't produce warm air. I checked the coolant and found the the reservoir to be loose and tilted, but from other postings I'm not sure that would be an issue.  Luckily, the seat heater with a jacket was tolerable most days.  I really like this car and average around 53.0 mpg while each week making at least 1 100+ mile trip.

 

Any thoughts?

You know, this would be better answered in the Energi Forum. This forum is for the hybrid. It sounds like an electronic heat regulator has gone south. A dealer visit is advisable.

The worst mileage I've gotten is about 32, on a 250 mile uphill run over the continental divide in Arizona. That was unusual, but it was mostly uphill.

At 80, I generally get 36 MPG over the 800 mile trip from LA to Albuquerque.

Was just down at the dealer where I bought Maxus in September of 2012.  Was checking out the new Titanium Model the 2017's are available with.  Like the new polished wheels, but what really caught my eye was Ford finally put Daylight Running Lights built into the bottom portion of the headlight assembly.  The headlight assembly is basically the same shape and size as my 2013 however the assembly has DRL's and is adapted with different different light bulb sections.  Does anyone know if the assembly can be adapted to my 2013?  I would imagine there is different wiring for the DRL's to work and come on during the daylight hours.  

 

I also want the rear window air deflectors on either side of the vertical edges of the glass.  I've checked with my dealers parts department and there doesn't seem to be a part listing for the deflectors.  My guess is they are part of the rear glass assembly only.  Not really going to happen but I'm thinking I'd like to trade Maxis in for a new Titanium version.  

 

I also want the Apple Carplay which is included in the new cars.

2016 has the rear glass deflectors as well.

How often did you rotate the tires?

I'm wondering if you compared the total cost leasing and buying for 6 yrs vs buying for 6 yrs? Usually Leases aren't that great of a deal. :sad:

 

Paul

In my case, they made it worth my while. I would never have been able to get the tax rebate on my own - that was a major factor. That was the main point of my post, responding to a post about not being able to claim the tax rebate. Mine was a complicated deal. I had to turn in my former lease 6 months early - the miles were really weighing on my mind, and now they don't. But they gave me 12K off in rebates, and also covered 1/2 of the lease turn in fees. I considered buying out the lease immediately, but it is much better to finish the lease and then buy - about 30 bucks per month better. So I didn't finance it.

You are correct, all things being equal, it is generally better to buy.

EDIT: There is one other factor - with a lease at this residual, I can walk away from the car if it turns out bad. I don't think it will; my 2016 Energi is a nicer drive and just seems all around better than my 2014 was.

Space was my biggest motivator going from 2010 FEH to CMAX, lost some usable space. :sad: Otherwise I would have gotten an NRG.

BTW that money comes off your TAXES so you have make enough to be able to deduct it. :sad:

 

Paul

Unless you lease. Then the money comes off the purchase price. I'm leasing my 2016 for three years, then buying it on a three year load. Actually cheaper than buying it out right.

I was notified that I had an update available for SYNC. I downloaded the latest SYNC software to my USB drive. 

Then started the install. Everything seemed to be moving along till Play Menu appeared. the next step indicated the 

display should show SYNC USB and then to press OK. I waited 40 minutes for SYNC USB to show but it never did.

Play Menu was still showing. I got bored and quit. How long does this suppose to take?  Will a dealer do this for free?

Thanks for any input or advise.

Make sure you use a good quality USB stick. I had one that didn't work. It got part way and then hung up. I switched sticks and it worked fine.

Sorry. Shocks.

You can change the title, go into advanced edit.

Where did you find that info? I'm going to the Atlanta Car Show next weekend and see if FORD has any info. :)

 

Paul 

You know, that was a direct cut and paste, but I was in a hurry and didn't put in the URL. So of course I can't find it now.

Not sure where the information on a 2018 C-Max came from, here is what I found:

Ford will stop selling the C-Max in the U.S. after production ends at Michigan Assembly Plant in 2018, with the Model E effectively fulfilling its role.

As far as I know all CMAX trans are covered for 8yrs/ 100k mi. and mine was replaced at 98k mi. at no cost. :)

 

Paul

10 years / 150K miles for cars sold in CARB states, like here in CA.

The only thing I can think of on the CR-V was that he was on a slight slope when he refilled at the end of the trip, that would have shown less gas used. I had a 2003 and it got about 26 on the highway.

45 is actually very good for highway, I suspect that bumper traffic helped a lot. On my Energi I am lucky to get 40 on most routes. At 80 MPH it gets about 37. But most of my driving has been at 70. Keeping it at 65 will help a lot.

I could never handle the rough ride of a Mini. And somehow, they just seem so small...

EDIT: I just looked up the weight. They current ones go up to 3700 lbs. Thats a lot of metal to get up to speed.

The one thing I don't get is the fact that you have to plug in your phone to use this system.   Just seems like a pain to use.  I really like being able to keep my phone in my pocket and use it that way.  I think at some point these will work that way too. 

 

At least that is my understanding of how it works. 

I can think of two reasons:

1. Your phone will receive power.

2. A USB connection is faster.

Energi owner here. The Energi uses the same heating loop, but when in EV mode, it uses electric to heat the fluid. Once it gets to ICE mode, it uses the same loop, but heated by the engine. When in EV  mode, the temperature gauge shows the loop temperature.

It reduces range by about 1/4 or so, similar to the electric A/C.

Accelerating when entering freeway, my 2015 Cmax hybrid briefly emitted a large cloud of white smoke. Never seen this before. Mileage 5070. Comments or ideas??

White smoke is generally a sign of engine seal leakage. If it continues, take it back, you may have blown and engine seal.

Just a question. The federal rebate on electric cars expires at 200K units. How close is Chevy to reaching that? The Volt has been in production several years.

Nevermind, just looked it up. They just crossed 100K sales this year. So the rebate is still valid.

Recorded a 500 mile tank! Will have to wait till next summer to try to get 600. My question is the EV miles displayed pure EV only, or a combination of pure EV and assisted EV ?

That one is the same for Energi and Hybrid. It is the number of actual miles driven in EV, that is, no ICE. The Energi has other considerations, which aren't important here.

Well, about a week ago The Enterprise did something that spooked me out and it sounds a bit like what you're talking about here.  I was driving with ECO Cruise at a slow speed (maybe 35 mph) and noticed that the battery was charging right to the top of the bar with ICE continuing to run.  Normally it would stop at about 85% indicated SOC maximum.  The EV "box" on the Empower screen stayed way down at about 1/4 bar with the car using about 1/3 bar at that low speed.  It just kept running the ICE and charging the battery even though there would normally be plenty of charge to drop into EV - but it didn't.  I finally kicked off CC and it went into EV and proceeded to discharge normally.  It was night, flat country, about 70F and I had gone through several spots with water over the road from recent flooding so was a bit worried.  I then managed to get it to do it again and, as before, it just went on charging with the EV box staying down at 1/4 bar and ICE running on.  Then suddenly I saw the EV box jump to 1.5 bars or so and the car went into EV as it should.  I had the computer along so fired up Forscan but didn't see anything abnormal (of course everything was functioning normally now).  So, was this event:

1. Some kind of recalibration as discussed above?
2. Some weird bug that only happens if you're driving with CC at slow speed / low power?
3. The result of driving through some shallow water several times? (I doubt it)
4. Something that happens after 100k miles to encourage you to get a new car?
5. A new EV- mode?
6. ????

An aside: the last water crossing had folks stopping traffic to explain the situation and let one direction go at a time.  While talking to the young man he asked if I had an electric car as he heard no engine running!

Sounds exactly right. On the hybrid, Ford periodically needs to determine the actual capacity of the HVB, so it can adjust how much it can actually handle when driving. They use a % of maximum SOC, and maximum SOC will degrade over time with any battery.

Just curious does plugging in charge Hybrid portion too? :)

 

Paul 

Yes, as well as the 12v battery. The HVB is one big battery, not divided. When you go to EV Later, it "reserves" a portion of the HVB with the same amount of KWh as the standard Hybrid - at whatever level the HVB happens to be.

Another thing it does while plugged in is that it balances the battery cells. I don't know if it has been reported for the C-Max, but my Escape Hybrid use to go into a state where it charged up to around 90% SOC, then discharged to 30%. This was to allow the computer to determine the current capability of the HVB. It happened three times in the 80K I had my FEH.

EDIT: now that I think of it, I think it went to 30%, then up to 90%, then back to normal. It has been a couple of years...

Not sure if that is still happening with the C-Max hybrid - it would not be necessary with the Energy, because it can determine the charge levels easily any time it wants.

If it happens on the road you probably wouldn't notice it. It was quite obvious when monitoring the FEH with a ScanGuage II on city streets.

Just a note. The 2017 C-Max Energi apparently is going to have the capability of passenger electric seats, along with a few other changes.

Don't be ridiculous.  Even if the seat was the wrong shape, the worst that would happen is the airbag inflates and breaks the side window.  Or you just don't worry about wiring it in when you install the seat.

Well, how about this to consider. If the insurance company finds out you had a non-standard seat installed, they may refuse your claim, or not cover part of the repair or personal injury. You could sue them, but the case would not be strong. There are some things I don't mess around with, one of which is the safety systems. I consider the seat, with its custom design for the car, and airbag configuration (especially when they are in the seat itself) and even how the seat belt fits, to be a critical safety system.

At a very basic level, to me it isn't worth risking any potential injury, regardless of how small the risk appears to the eye. Ford carefully designs the entire system as a whole, and crash testing is done on only that configuration.

I agree it could probably work. But I would not wire up those airbags - and the car most likely will post an airbag alarm if you don't, or perhaps it senses certain characteristics of the airbags. I don't know. But I personally would not risk it.

1586 combined monthly sales for August 2016 C-MAX Hybrids and 707 C-MAX Energi Hybrids.

 

 

https://media.ford.com/content/dam/fordmedia/North%20America/US/2016/09/01/August-2016-Sales-Release-and-Charts.pdf

http://insideevs.com/monthly-plug-in-sales-scorecard/

http://www.hybridcars.com/august-2016-dashboard/

 

 

Screen Shot 2016-09-04 at 1.42.31 AM.png

 

Screen Shot 2016-09-04 at 1.42.51 AM.png

 

Screen Shot 2016-09-04 at 1.56.48 AM.png

 

As always prior month table and charts are removed because the updates contains all prior-month data.

Wow, the hybrid sales are down 41% year over year! No surprise they are considering ending it.

...

 

And it remains odd to me that Energi users are so interested in EV+, when they have an EV button. "Hybrid EV+" does not satiate button-envy. 

 

Have fun,

Frank

Just a note for Hybrid users (ignore if you are not interested in the Energi). The EV button has nothing to do with EV+. Other than turning the entire capability off, there is no control over EV+. The EV button is used to switch between EV Later (identical to the C-Max Hybrid), EV Now (electric only while the battery lasts), and EV Auto (uses the HVB primarily, and is the default mode once you've used up the EV portion of the battery). Many folks never use EV Now, since EV Auto will have the same functionality until the HVB is depleted. On the highway, EV Later is recommended, because running EV above 40 MPH really drains the battery.

I'm interested because EV+ is one tool I use and consider when I try and get home with zero HVB, but not to have used the gas engine yet. This is the goal of Energi driving - use up as much HVB as possible, but don't use the ICE if you can avoid it.

From what I've read, the C-Max Hybrid will attempt to use EV when it can. It is just that the battery is so much smaller.

It's my understanding that the HVB works best at about 70 degrees F.  If this is true, then, especially in colder climates, the engine will start in the morning just to warm up the HVB.  EV+ thus makes sense to me.  If the engine is going to start anyway, why not use some of the HVB before hand and later use the running engine to both warm up and recharge the battery.

The engine runs in the Hybrid because of EPA rules. It has to warm up the catalytic converter.