DaveofDurham

We had to wait a while, but our check did finally arrive. When did you purchase your C-Max? Have you checked on ETIS to see if it shows 13B10 for your car? Go to www.etis.ford.com Click on "Vehicle" at the top and then enter your VIN Under "Outstanding Field Service Actions" you should see 13B10 - FUEL ECONOMY CUSTOMER SATISFACTION (not 13B09 - MONRONEY LABEL UPDATE)

The round trip from Hickory to the Fair would get you half way to your next 700 mile tank! from https://www.facebook.com/FordEvent

And a courtesy parking space at the Ford display at the fair, right next to this Energi.

There should also be a prize ribbon for HannahWCU to pick up at the NC State Fair in Raleigh.

Spotted at lunch time today at the Coastal Federal Credit Union branch on Hwy 54 in Durham.

Here's an Energi at the Ford display lot at the NC State Fair. Very nice lot with well informed staff. There was an all-electric Focus next to the Energi. I need to check again to see if this is now available in our area.

Tom - How is the pipe insulation working? Here are some photos of what it looked like under the hood after our C-Max was parked for 4 days atop the eastern continental divide (altitude 4,200 feet) near Highlands NC.

Tom - That's a great plan. I'm looking forward to your next report. One plus I see for the noodle is that it will be very easy and fast to remove. I think the snow shield will be cumbersome to remove and roll especially if it is wet from dew/condensation. Dave

The pool noodle is an interesting idea. That may be my plan B. My Snow Shield arrived today, but I won't be able to try it out until Sunday when my wife and our C-Max return from a trip to the mountains.

I found a link to this chart in the Q&A on the battery charger suggested by drdiesel1 - my apologies if it has already been posted. I didn't know that it took such small voltage drops to reduce the state of charge by 30, 40, 50, 60 percent. from http://www.marxrv.com/12volt/voltchart1.gif

Does your "micro processor battery charger" have a feature that detects when the battery is fully charged and then stops charging the battery so there is no overcharging? If so, couldn't the car have a similar feature to prevent overcharging when the 12v battery is charging during driving?

Could you explain what you mean by "designed to maintain the battery" and how that differs from "designed to fully charge the battery"? Why wouldn't the C-Max, other hybrids and regular (ICE only) cars be designed so that the 12v battery gets fully charged when you drive the car?

Pardon my total ignorance on comprehensive diagnostic tools, but what would I need to buy in order to read stored DTC's and how much will it cost me? Or, can I see stored DTC's by putting my car into engineering test mode?

1] Is your advice that every time the MIL comes on that an IDS should be hooked up to see why the MIL is on? 2] Why does the manual go on about temporary malfunctions and how they might be resolved and how long it takes for the MIL to turn off if it was triggered by a temporary malfunction which has been resolved? Is this just another way in which the C-Max comes with a crummy manual? 3] Comprehind? That's what I do when my butt tells me that I have my seat heater turned up too high. :happy feet:

Last Wednesday - 16,000+ mile oil change and tire rotation. (We did the first oil change at 6,000 miles.) Also, had front passenger door speaker checked - it was bad and they ordered a new speaker. Last Friday - New speaker installed and 13C07 door chime update performed. Last Saturday - Back to dealer because yellow wrench (Powertrain Malfunction/Reduced Power) light came on Friday night. No codes or other cause found. Light has not reappeared.

I don't think that wab edited or left something out to suit his point. Item 3 in wab's post ends with "See Easy Fuel No Cap Fuel System in this chapter." That's a reference to pages 195 (hybrid) and 198 (energi) in the manual which discusses Check Fuel Inlet message: "If the fuel fill inlet was not properly closed, a Check Fuel Fill Inlet message may appear on the information display screen. At the next opportunity, do the following: 1. Safely pull off the road. 2. Put the vehicle in P (Park) and turn the ignition off. 3. Open the fuel filler door and remove any visible debris from the fuel fill opening. 4. Insert either the fuel fill nozzle or the fuel fill funnel provided with the vehicle several times to dislodge any debris and/or allow the inlet to close properly. If this action corrects the problem, the message may not reset immediately. It may take several driving cycles for the message to turn off. A driving cycle consists of an engine start-up (after four or more hours with the engine off) followed by city/highway driving. Continuing to drive with the message on may cause the service engine soon lamp to turn on as well." So the manual says an improperly closed fuel fill inlet may give a Check Fuel Fill Inlet message or may give a Service Engine Soon message, It doesn't say that it will give Check Fuel Inlet message first and Service Engine Soon message second which would make sense to me if the fuel fill inlet was not closed properly for an extended period of time. The manual does describe four types of temporary malfunctions, how to resolve them and how long it can take for the Service Engine Soon message to go away if it is appearing because of a temporary malfunction. It takes a while for the message to go away and I know I am not always that patient. For example if I thought I had "Poor fuel quality or water in the fuel—the engine may misfire or run poorly" I don't think I would want to keep driving until I had used up most of this bad fuel and then fill up with hopefully good fuel to see if the light went off - I'd prefer having my fuel checked to see if it's bad and, if so, have it removed from my car. Last Friday night we had the yellow wrench (Powertrain Malfunction/Reduced Power) warning come on and stay on for a 20 minute drive. Ordinarily I would have been willing to wait a few days to see if this persisted or never happened again, but I took it in for the dealer to look at Saturday morning because my wife was going to be taking the car on a 1,000 mile trip a few days later. The dealer found no codes and could not explain why the yellow wrench had appeared. We haven't seen it except for that one time on Friday night, but I am glad that I had it checked out.

Thanks wab. The wording of item 3 is funny. It makes it sound like there is something active we do to close the fuel fill inlet when the reality is that it closes (or at least is supposed to close) itself when the fuel filler nozzle is removed. This wording appears at least 3 times in the manual. This got me to give the Fuel and Refueling section thoroughly. Three things I noticed that I didn't notice before were: - There are two flaps that get pushed open when the fuel filler nozzle is inserted. See diagrams on pages 194 and 196 of the manual. This makes me wonder if I would be able to achieve a faster fill rate by inserting the nozzle more than I have been. - If the fuel fill inlet does not close properly, a Check Fuel Fill Inlet message may appear and the suggested fix (pages 195 and 198 of the manual) is: "1. Safely pull off the road. 2. Put the vehicle in P (Park) and turn the ignition off. 3. Open the fuel filler door and remove any visible debris from the fuel fill opening. 4. Insert either the fuel fill nozzle or the fuel fill funnel provided with the vehicle several times to dislodge any debris and/or allow the inlet to close properly. If this action corrects the problem, the message may not reset immediately. It may take several driving cycles for the message to turn off. A driving cycle consists of an engine start-up (after four or more hours with the engine off) followed by city/highway driving. Continuing to drive with the message on may cause the service engine soon lamp to turn on as well." - [What wab posted] If the Service Engine Soon lamp comes on it may be an indication of a temporary malfunction. One temporary malfunction is the fuel inlet not properly closing in which case the manual directs us back to the above instructions for trying to get the fuel inlet to close properly. From page 203 of the manual (bold added): "When the service engine soon indicator illuminates, the OBD-II system has detected a malfunction. Temporary malfunctions may cause the service engine soon indicator to illuminate. Examples are: 1. The vehicle has run out of fuel—the engine may misfire or run poorly. 2. Poor fuel quality or water in the fuel—the engine may misfire or run poorly. 3. The fuel fill inlet may not have been properly closed. See Easy Fuel® No Cap Fuel System in this chapter. 4. Driving through deep water—the electrical system may be wet. These temporary malfunctions can be corrected by filling the fuel tank with good quality fuel, properly closing the fuel fill inlet or letting the electrical system dry out. After three driving cycles without these or any other temporary malfunctions present, the service engine soon indicator should stay off the next time the engine is started. A driving cycle consists of a cold engine start-up followed by mixed city or highway driving. No additional vehicle service is required. If the service engine soon indicator remains on, have your vehicle serviced at the first available opportunity. Although some malfunctions detected by the OBD-II may not have symptoms that are apparent, continued driving with the service engine soon indicator on can result in increased emissions, lower fuel economy, reduced engine and transmission smoothness, and can lead to more costly repairs.

No code or other problem found by dealer.

No code or other problem found by dealer.

Any C-Max in Wyoming?

No, didn't try that. It's been 6 days since we bought gas. I thought gas filler glitches produced a check engine light. I didn't know they could produce the yellow wrench. I started the car two more times since the time the yellow wrench lit up and stayed on for a 20 minute drive. Neither subsequent start produced a yellow wrench. I'm going to have the dealer check for codes in the morning. I would be more patient except that my wife is taking the car on a 6 day almost 1,000 mile trip on Tuesday.

We got the yellow wrench symbol tonight. We will have the dealer check for codes in the morning. Coincidentally, at least I hope it's a coincidence, we had the 13C07 door chime update done earlier today.

We had 13C07 done today while we had our car in to have a faulty front passenger door speaker replaced. Then, when we got in the car after dinner tonight we had the yellow wrench symbol (page 112 of the manual) pop-up. So back to the dealer in the morning to see what's up.

Tom - I had an online chat with someone at Auto Anything too. I explained why I was interested in the Snow Shield and asked if it would be secure if I slid it forward/down so it bridged the gap between the lower windshield and the back edge of the hood. The answer I got was that it probably would be secure (i.e., the side flaps would still be held in place by the closed doors). The rep said that I could give it a try to see if it served my intended purpose and that I could return it if I was not satisfied. I figured it was worth a try with this custom cut product to see if it can save me from having to clean out tree debris under the hood and in the hinge pockets for 6-8 weeks every Fall and Spring. When my Snow Shield arrives I will test it out and report back. Dave

I ordered one on Wednesday. I am anxiously awaiting it's arrival.