yark99

Hi all, just an update, or no update. A while ago, the dealer gave our car back, having searched for 9 days, but not having found anything. We have not had any further problems (yet). We have been careful to turn everything off, including heated seats, although that should be automatic. However, one day we parked in the driveway, locked the car and came in--parking lights were still on and did not go off even after a while. (Headlights were in 'auto' position.) Unlocked car, fiddled with the switch and locked it again, and lights went off. It seems like a relay is getting stuck somewhere, maybe. Will keep watching. Someone mentioned they have a Fusion. Anyone know if they are having similar problems? Someone else mentioned EV+. Anyone have this happen anywhere *except* at home?

So... they want to give our car back after 9 days, but they haven't found anything. They thought they had a drain, but they weren't used to working on a hybrid. When they figured out how to do that, they didn't have the drain at all. We are back to square 1, except that we have been driving something else for a while.

bymaine: Your clock observation is exactly what happened to me. The clock began updating after the car was powered off and restarted. salman: Yes, I will give all the information I can! I understand about the LIon being at a different voltage. Our Civic Hybrid worked differently-- seemed like it could access it.

She said a few did. I was watching the road!

Since Pepper is in the shop for electrical surgery I am left with only memories. Last weekend, my daughter and I drove to a concert. We're in flyover country, so we sometimes have to travel to get a bit of "culture" aka rock'n'roll. On the way back, I decided to stay off the Interstate and travel on the little highways. Love them back roads! And we decided to go even smaller and drive through the wind farm. Daughter says "If you drive really fast, will the windmills go faster?" I thought not, but why not try? So I zipped up to [nearly triple digits]. Smooth as a baby's butt. No shakes or shimmies. So easy it was a bit scary. With a great sky, and the windmills all around (to power your Energi), and the car sailing, what a blast! Sometimes it's nice to live in the middle of nowhere. Killed my tank mpg though. pffft. Stories?

Update (or not): Dealer has had our car since Monday. Thanks in part to info on this board, they took it seriously and are trying to find the problem. They have found a draw on the battery and are trying to trace it. It seemed like they found one, but it wasn't the only one. They are apparently communicating with Ford about things to try. I will let everyone know if something is found. They are being quite nice. We have a loaner vehicle-- unfortunately, at first it was an Explorer, which felt like driving a hippopotamus after the agile CMax. Today I asked for something that wasn't a gas hog. I know we are early adopters and will have some patience as long as Ford treats us right, which they have so far. One thing I do not understand is why the hybrid batt can't provide enough juice to start the car if the 12V is low. littlebitfarm, where are you in Central IL? Are we at the same dealer-- Ford City?

CMax Seattle... those are hilarious

Good thought, Rachel, but wouldn't it stop in the middle of the night then, rather than when we went out to start it? If your idea is correct, then it is not a slow trickle drain, but a rapid short and drain. However, I checked the time I called Roadside assistance, which was about 5 minutes after the discovered failure. The clock stopped at 11:05. The call time was 11:31. (We have it on a 24-hour clock so there is no chance that it stopped 12 hours previous at 11:05 pm.) It is possibly just a coincidence that it's so close to the attempted start time, and that time reflects how long it took the battery to drain: from about 5pm the day before = 18 hours.

I posted to the other thread too, but: Dead battery 2x - last time @1600 mi CMax SE 201a - power liftgate & ambient lighting winter package moon roof (not that it matters) no Nav remote start

excellent Laurel :)

Hi all, I have to sign on to the dead battery list, sadly. First occurrence: couple weeks ago. Husband found it dead. Doors wouldn't even unlock. Roadside service towed to dealer, where they replaced 12Vbatt. Today also dead. Doors had been left unlocked so we could get in; otherwise no response. Interior lights not left on as we went out in the dark last night and would have seen it. Roadside assistance jumped it and it ran. I left it running for some time (down go the mpgs), drove it for a while, including one stop at a store, no further problems. CMax SE with: - nothing plugged in to USB, 12V or PowerPoint charger - 201a power liftgate - was last closed using press button on the tailgate itself - 201a ambient lighting - winter package (heated seats + mirrors) - remote start - hybrid battery almost fully charged according to dash display - no Nav - moonroof - 4.5 hour drive yesterday at highway speeds I think people should report the options in case one of them is the cause of variable behavior. ** Someone mentioned liftgate above. Can anyone who's had problems report on whether you have SE with power liftgate? Never mind-- I posted to the roll call Strangely, the clock appears to have stopped about the time we tried to start the car (within 30 minutes-- I did not record this time exactly) and did not progress until AFTER the car was shut off and re-started (key off and then on). That is, the clock did not progress during the entire time the car was running while the 12V was being re-charged, although the car did go to EV mode during that time. Temp about 32F. Car kept outside.

Tdefny: I agree. The PHEV is a transition technology and I would have supported it if we had the opportunity to buy the Energi. Although my electricity source is presently coal and nuclear-- both of which have environmental black marks-- the ability to build up a different energy structure is attractive. If we want to be able to choose an energy future, for whatever reason (energy security or environment), we need to have more choice about the sources (renewables plus other ideas on the table) and in order to do that we need a more flexible carrier (electricity & maybe hydrogen). And good points about using the EV for the poor-mpg trips.

Welcome! Your car sounds like ours (red w/sun roof). I will try not to notice the water spots now that you have pointed them out. :)

Welcome pkay! You still haven't told us about your new baby.

Haha-- they didn't want you posting your 23 mpg open-roof on fuelly

Besides, it's all moot if you're not in a major city and your dealer isn't authorized to sell the Energi. Time and cost lost on tune-up pilgrimages would change the equation really fast.

Our Ruby Red is "Pepper" for now... or "lajiao" (hot pepper) if you speak Mandarin.

YAY Rachel! What about Dad's car?

Thoughts after only 2 weeks of ownership (and now on travel): Likes: - Drives great. Responds well. Quiet and well insulated from road bumps. - Ruby Red. Gorgeous color. - Panoramic roof. - My back loves the heated seats. - I am happy with the car. It feels like it has a lot of nice touches, and it is nice to drive a car with some oomph. Thank you FORD for creating a viable hybrid option! Room for improvement... I feel like these are petty because I do like the car... but here you go. - Cold MPG of course. Haven't done better than 31 and I'm used to driving a hybrid. - Driver seat adjustment is weird. We have the SE - While we're on that, why can't leather seats be just an option? We didn't want them, so locked ourselves out of some options by refusing to get the SEL. - More details in the manual about how to maximize MPG. Don't make us look on line. Tell us what your engineers were thinking. Many of your drivers can handle it. There's more info in the manual about talking to your sound system than about MPG. - Agree on more options for the right side display. Leaves are OK but give me a choice. - Disagree with the poster above on Enlighten. We leave it in that mode most of the time. - Somehow I was expecting more rear cargo space based on the simple numbers comparison with the Prius. The space fills up pretty fast. - Rear seat comfort: mixed messages. We almost didn't buy the car because of those seats alone. Liked it over the Prius for every reason but that (and now the MPG). We brought our kids to a second test drive-- since they're the ones who have to live back there-- and they said it was just fine. - Voice activated stuff. Can you make it respond to "Buzz off!" or "Shut up!" when accidentally turned on? Just kidding. - I don't understand why we have an emergency fuel spout and not a spare-tire option. Which one am I more likely to need? - Would love a rear camera option without having to get the Nav. The screen is big enough to support it. - What is that giant dark storage hole between the front seats? Could be better designed/layered. I half expect to find the Loch Ness Monster.

I'm in flyover country (Illinois) and it is FLAT. Our "hills" are all around river basins and overpasses. So I am the control case for removing the effects of terrain. Today I tried both Cruise vs Eco-Cruise on highway at 65 mph. Eco-Cruise did better by about 3-4 mpg. Both were better than any pulse-and-glide I could figure out. I have no idea what the difference is between the two Cruise modes. Granted, the mileage was awful: 35ish (Cruise) versus 38ish (Eco-Cruise). Temps 22-23 F. (No grill covers) I am still breaking in the CMax engine and my driving, so I may change my mind in a couple of weeks.

Ruby Red in Illinois here... that's almost neighbors. Welcome!

Congrats, donhak! Glad your baby made the sea journey safely!

JAZ: Excellent slogan! (I'll see you over on the 'looking for a bike rack' board) Eddy: we drove the Civic Hybrid for 10 years since 2003. It will be interesting to hear how you think the CMax compares. We've had the CMax only a week, but my impression is that it takes a little different mindset. We don't have the plugin though-- can't get it here.

Yay Rachel yay!!! VINs is all good! 3-4 weeks is within spitting distance, although the wait is frustrating of course.

Rachel, I feel for you. That's why I was p*ssy when we didn't get VIN. I understand stuff happens and things change, but I want people to be straight-up about it. I am glad that they were able to locate one because we'd be in the same position as you right now and I'd be snarling. I'm a big girl, I can deal with the real story, but please tell it to me, return my phone calls, and don't make up silly games. Tell me I am #1001 in a queue and I can make my own decisions, but don't give me the "I don't know when you can have a car" thing. Do you sell cars or don't you? Is auto manufacturing your business or not? YA KNOW?? I am happy with the car so far, but wtf with the order process?!? I think we ordered about the same time as you (11/26). At that time Retail Order Verification was not possible on this car, according to our dealer. The CMax was eligible in the early days, but then it stopped. The little I gleaned is that the dealer has zero control over when the car will be made or when it will come. Our dealer guessed how long it would take, based on experience, but Ford does not commit to a build date until they darn well please. I think the bigger question is why Ford leaves their dealers hanging this way, when the dealers benefit from building customer trust. (If I'm right about the process.) I'll go out on a limb and guess. Ford hasn't got a clue how many CMax it's going to sell. They know people like it, but they're also afraid that the mpg investigation is going to come back and bite them. They're building the CMax at the flexible Michigan plant, which means they're not committed to building any particular number of CMax-- they can build the Focus which is more of a sure thing. So they're hedging their bets by underproducing the CMax, because they'd rather have people sweating to own a scarce good and make a couple of angry customers, than overproduce and risk overstocking their dealers with cars that get bad publicity when the mpg thing comes through. They took a big risk already by taking the CMax hybrid-only in the US, so they've staked a lot on looking green, and they're going to go slow until they know they can control the message. I just made that up. If it were me running Ford, and that were my story, I wouldn't change my plan. But I'd treat my dealers differently.