RonS

On 1/28/2014 at 2:12 PM, Plus 3 Golfer said:

Changed mine today at 19.5k miles (before watching the video) and it took less than 10 minutes.  My second one will take considerably less time (assuming I can still bend over and then get back up from the awkward position). ?  My CAF was not nearly as dirty as fotomoto's CAF (I'll probably wait longer next time - at least to 20k).

 

I wonder what Ford's shop time is for this? Do they charge in 15 minute TU?  Local Ford parts guy wanted to sell me a CAF for about $25 plus tax compared to less than $20 including shipping online.  When I said I can get one from a Ford dealer online shipped free priority mail for less than $20,  he said he couldn't discount his.  Ordered CAF Friday afternoon and arrived Tuesday around noon.  

 

Also, so one doesn't have to spend 25+ minutes watching the video, one can follow the steps below. You'll need a T20 bit / screwdriver (a T15 will be a loose fit but will work) and a light to see.

 

1) put passenger seat all the way back, remove passenger floor mat (if you have a mat over the carpet it might interfere with procedure) and locate fiber cover between under side of dash and floor held in place by 2 plastic caps on posts projecting down from under dash.

 

2) remove two plastic caps from posts (turn / pull caps from posts), slip post holes in fiber cover over posts, and pull fiber cover out

 

3) locate CAF cover with plastic squeeze tabs to the left near firewall under the passenger dash on the center console vertical surface.and remove screw at bottom of CAF cover with T20 bit

 

4) compress plastic tabs on CAF cover and while compressing pull cover off (pull down and out while compressing tabs)

 

5) grab CAF and pull / wiggle out of slot (note the foam seal is to the engine compartment)

 

6) squeeze new CAF on flexible pleated sides to make rigid  top and bottom come closer together as you insert top then bottom into CAF slot making sure the foam seal is towards the engine (it's not as hard as the video makes it appear) and then push / slide / wiggle remainder of CAF into slot

 

7) reverse steps 1) - 4)

I wanted to change mine, searched the forum and found this post.

I followed your instructions and changed mine today. It looked hard at first, but I managed to replace it without too much trouble for the first time. 2nd time will be a lot easier.

The old one did not look too dirty from the outside, but there was a lot of dust in between the pleats that made a dust cloud when I shook it. 

Will replace it again before next winters heating season.

Lets say you have a 2013  cmax that had a new transmission in 2014 or 2015. 

Is it possible the replacement transmission you received is still one of the bad batches? 

If yes, then how many people have had 2 transmissions replaced? 

Just wondering if they had substandard fluid installed in the early years that accelerated transmission wear.

They would have to prove that caused the problem, not a very customer friendly Dealer I my opinion, my Dealer wouldn't have done that and they have seen my Grill Covers many times. :sad:  

 

Paul

Well, I guess every dealer is different.

The car was originally bought there and they have done all the servicing.

Anyway, the car climbed that hill again 2 more times since the foam inserts have been removed, no problems, and everything is back to normal, no other problems have come up so far.

I check all tires, lights,engine oil, both coolant levels, washer fluid before trips and at fillups.
Everything was full except the the washer fluid, which I added. So, yes, coolant was full.

The last oil change, they checked the coolant concentration, which was good.

I don't have pictures, as I discarded the foam, sorry.

Edit: The dealer took pictures of the foam when the hose was being replaced. Hope they do not use that against me in the future.

For engine overheat conditions, the PCM fuel injectors are disabled so that the cylinders with injectors disabled act as an air pump to cool the engine.  If a critical temperature, which can cause engine damage, is reached, all injectors will be disabled after the driver is informed of this to allow driver to safely stop the vehicle.   When I ran my covers, I always  monitored Engine CT, Cylinder Head T, Transmission FT along with electric motor coil temperatures with ForScan - IMO, the best $30 or so one can spend on the car.  

 

Also, if one monitors temperatures, one can take preemptive actions to mitigate temperature rise like turning your cabin heat up to MAX, stopping to remove a block insert, slowing down going uphill, and so forth.

Thank you for this information. I have printed it out for future reference.

There is more than 1 person driving this car and I don't expect them to know the  temperatures, remove and install covers.

If I were the only operator, maybe in the future, I will try it again.

But for now, the foam inserts will not be reinstalled due to my negative experience. The Cmax is operating as it came out of the factory right now.

Most of the members  on this thread are gone now. I think you could fought them on this, Grill Covers/ Foam didn't cause the problem, a defective hose connector did.

 

It was probably the same connector I had leak on hot side of heater input hose.  I had around 220k miles on mine, I have 234k miles now and my car is 2 yrs older.  I'm thinking you are fine now.  Having a ScanGaugeII or other OBDII scanner you would have been able to monitor your WT.  You should have had a wet spot under the car, I did when I had the problem.

 

Paul

I think its debatable what caused the hose failure, since it happened very shortly after the overheat condition. But it still could have been a defective hose.

But I still believe the overheat condition was cause by me when I installed the foam grille block inserts.

First how many miles do you have on your CMAX and can you post/send a picture with your Grill Covers on. If you like you can PM(private Message) me your phone#, would be curious to talk you to get more info. I'm guessing that you have more than 100k miles so warranty didn't cover it. I did have a heater hose coupling leak and replaced at over 200k miles.

 

Paul

It has 55,000 miles. I bought it used from a family member who has had it since new. 

It had absolutely no problems since new, just regular maintenance. And the 12volt battery has been replaced.

It only had problems after I owned it, that seems to have been caused by me. 

Its still covered under Ford ESP warranty but it was denied because of the foam I had in the grille. The dealer said it was an unauthorized modification that affected the operation of the vehicle. They also said the car has automatic shutter systems and blocking the grille is not needed or recommended. So I removed the foam blocks and have not used them since. 

 I'm just thankful that the car did not stop on me when driving up that hill with my wife and kids in the car.  

I was hoping to get some input from jus-a-cmax to see if there was any other damage that occurred later when theirs did the same, hope they are reading this.

Bad news, I have similar covers with middle and lower. Tonight the overheat warning came on with the outside temps at 33F!!! This was during a 3 bar burn climbing Sherwin grade at 66 mph set on eco cruise. Maxine was fully, fully loaded and it came on after 5 minutes of this moderately hard burn. I was shocked it came on at that speed and especially at that temp.

 

Took me 30 secs to process this "wtf" moment and  I backed down to a 2 bar burn and the temp dropped back to middle. That was scarier than running out of gas.

 

I checked Maxine when I got to town and nothing appeared out of ordinary and the engine functioned fine.

 

So yeah, it is possible to push it over...even in freezing ambient temp!

 

ps I have climbed at those speed, load and temp, no issues back then. Scary.

Hi, I just bought a used cmax about 1 month ago. I was reading through this forum and I made my own grille covers. 

I was driving up a long hill. Around the middle of the run, a chime was going off and the temperature gauge went all the way up. The same as what you experienced. My  car actually slowed down, I was blocking traffic and I could not pull over. 

I made it to the top and temperature dropped as the road flattened out and everything was ok, or I thought it was.

1 week later, one of the coolant hoses, the connector cracked and I lost all my coolant.  The dealer told me they have not seen this hose leak before and attributed it to the overheating condition causing it to go brittle.  I still had my grille covers on and they told me to take them off, so I did. I have not put them on since. This was very expensive to fix as it was difficult to access. 

Maybe its just a coincidence?  I'm scared now that I may have damaged more hoses. Did you suffer any hose damage later?