hybridbear

Awesome video, thanks!

At least Ford acknowledges the issue with C-Max sales. I fear that the C-Max nameplate is forever tarnished now because of the MPG issue. At one point the Ford spokesman in the article below says that Ford remains committed to the C-Max, I hope that he's telling the truth. http://www.autonews....ax-hybrid-sales

I would remove the lower one before removing the upper one. The lower opening is the one that allows air to get to the hyrid components radiator and the A/C radiator. The upper grille opening just blows air across the ICE radiator. You don't want to burn out your A/C compressor or hybrid components by overheating them. Ease of removal is one reason why many FFH owners have switched to using foam pipe insulation for grille blocking instead of plastic covers. Flexibility is the other reason. As temps warm we can remove one row of foam at a time to manage temps. When temps cool we can gradually add foam one row at a time. Foam is also much cheaper than the plastic covers. Under $1 of foam pipe insulation will do the entire grille on the C-Max or FFH.

This confirms what Ashley had posted on the FFH Forum. Glad to see that this info has now been communicated to the dealers. Previously we knew it because Ashley had told us but dealers were not aware of this.

I have no idea. The Prius usually behaves this way. The Prius rarely uses the ICE to charge the HVB. It instead runs the ICE a lot more but at a much lower fuel consumption, rates much lower than our cars can go. It also often uses the HVB power to support the ICE since the ICE is small & weak. In the Ford hybrids the ICE is much more powerful and it doesn't need help from the HVB but rather can be used to drive the car and charge the HVB. I've noticed that the Energi in hybrid mode behaves much more like the Prius and almost always uses this mode. The Energi in hybrid mode gets worse fuel economy than the hybrid, not just because of the added weight, but also because of the computer programming. I have no idea why Ford has programmed it this way or how the computer decides to do this mix mode sometimes. It does the mix mode most often on the freeway which is when it is really inefficient because I want the ICE to charge the HVB when it's on so that I can drive stretches with the ICE off in EV mode. Any time spent in this mix mode takes away the opportunity to drive in EV mode.

Congrats & welcome! I'm sure you'll be able to provide lots of insight about how the cars function with your engineering background.

This behavior is fairly common. In my observations, it seems to happen more often at colder ambient temps. Our FFH behaves this way quite often in the winter but almost never in summer. The solution is to shift into L as previously was stated.

I agree that this is a poor use of gas. When the ICE operates like this the engine is burning more gas per kWh of energy produced, i.e. it isn't operating in its most efficient BSFC region. Shifting briefly into L until you hear the ICE rev will get it to stop doing this. Once you hear the ICE begin to rev you can shift back to D and the car will then use the ICE to charge the HVB.

What formula are you using for amps? The XGauge code posted has an error and displays values that are half what they should be. If you translated the XGauge code into a Torque PID you might be off likewise in amps in Torque.

Like I said above, it wasn't hard to view the keycode to unlock the doors and the info needed to program a new key for the car. I don't know about much beyond that. There were other PIDs that we were more interested in than exploring the potential safety threat.

With a free program from the Internet he was able to remotely access his own car (a Fusion Energi) and view the door key codes to unlock the doors and also the info needed to program a new key. We also could access my FFH the same way if the adapter was left plugged in. I agree that the odds are incredibly small of a thief carrying around a laptop with the program and knowing how to use it. But the vulnerability of the open wifi network in general is a good reason to not leave it plugged in all the time.

Bob - did you ever share your VIN so that we could look up your car in Etis and look up its window sticker? That will help with solving the SL question. Also, what does the paperwork from your dealer say as far as make & model? They key in your VIN which then populates those fields. I'd be curious to see what the paperwork shows.

A friend of mine with a Fusion Energi made a good point yesterday when talking about OBDII adapters. If someone comes along with a laptop and knows what they're doing, they can very easily get into your car. Bluetooth adapters are slightly more secure since there is a passcode, but not much. I will now make sure to always unplug the adapter when done driving.

I usually unplug mine, but this past week I forgot. The FFH sat for 7 days without being driven with it plugged in with no issues. Not even a battery saver message. If you drive your car regularly I don't think it should be an issue.

Did you also run a Vehicle Health Report when the lights were on to document the issue?

Fascinating info. Lots of FFH owners have had battery issues. Few have come out to their car to find the battery dead, but very many have frequent "battery saver" messages (nicknamed BS msgs) on the MFT screen. It seems to be a design flaw more than anything else. A few owners have replaced their 12V with a higher capacity battery and the BS msgs have gone away. Some owners have gotten Ford to replace their 12V battery under warranty but their BS msgs have reappeared. The data you're gathering will certainly help prove the design flaw - the 12V battery provided is too small.

+1

Congrats! Looking forward to pics

What does the dealer say?

Mineeapolis isn't too bad for tailgating. We were in Miami 2 weeks ago and we couldn't believe how ppl drive there!! They all tailgate! And they wait until the last second to brake and then they slam on their brakes. We couldn't believe how many accidents we saw on sunny days with dry roads! It was insane! Coming back from that trip made me appreciate MN drivers more and made me realize that the tailgating and other issues here aren't that bad in comparison with Miami and potentially other places.

There are a ton of FFH owners with this issue. Check out this 14 page thread. Unfortunately Ford doesn't have any other solution except the temporary one of spraying a chemical down the vents. The FFH & C-Max have the same AC parts so I was surprised to not have seen C-Max owners with the smelly AC issue. Although, some of the comments in the FFH thread indicate that the issue has to do more with the orientation of parts within the system rather than the actual parts used. This seems to be a problem that afflicts many manufacturers and many vehicle lines.

Can you please include some pictures of where you're seeing this? That would make it easier for ppl to help.

The dash icon isn't linear. A jump in useable SOC from 35 to 55% would appear on the icon to jump from 1/3 full to 3/4 full. The dash gauge appears half full at about 40% useable SOC and 3/4 full by 55-60% useable SOC. At 60% useable SOC the ICE will stop charging the battery. ICE HIGH happened at 60% useable SOC. At 40% useable SOC the car begins to reduce the amount of charge going into the HVB. It's not unusual in my observation to see a 20% useable SOC jump when the battery cools from 70+ degrees to under 40 degrees

When the HVB cools the SOC increases slightly.

Thanks for the pics. This is fascinating.