SnowStorm

4+ years down the road I'd say I'm a "habitual" C-Max driver. Went to start our little Honda Fit today, turned key to start for a split second, let go, ICE failed to start. Oh that's right, this is one of those cars where you have to hold the start position until it crank-cranks itself to life. How archaic!

I sure took a hit on a trip today (I mean yesterday!). Only got 45 mpg when I would normally expect at least 50. On the trip out I watched coolant temp on ET screen. It averaged about 80F or a bit higher - all over the place of course as you go in and out of EV. OAT was 35 to 40F, heater set to 75F, #4 fan speed, Recirc and 65 mph. I then turned heat off and coolant temp went up 10F, maybe more. Even at highway speeds the engine was hardly ever above 95F. I really do need to try grill covers.

No, I took a quick look at my spreadsheet for several months before and after - can't see any difference.

Here's the results of my first alignment; -2.3 / -1.9 for rear camber. See rest of the topic to read about putting on adjustable arms. My latest alignment in Sept 2016 had the rear camber at -0.6 / -0.9. My second set of Michelins are now just shy of 70k miles and have worn much better. There is still some inside edge wear but nothing like before. For the new tires I think I'll have the right side brought to -0.6. Any real danger in pushing the camber too close to zero?? I don't see why a car should insist on wearing off the inside edges. Good grief, this is the 21st century!

Someone with an Energi seems to have had a similar problem here. I don't recall anything similar on this forum. Sit tight for some more replies - there are folks here with access to service data.

Actually, the manual (2013 anyway) says to rotate: front straight to backback to front crossingThis will move each tire to every location as well as change direction of rotation. Be sure to do it the same way each time. My second set is just shy of 70k miles with, I hope, about another 10k to go.

How did they get deformed? In the pictures shown here you can see the "undercut" (or whatever it is called) in the corners of the 6 point socket. Note (2) on that site under "Expert advice" says: "A six-point socket is designed to contact the head of a fastener well away from the corners so contact is made on the thickest part of the socket and the flattest part of the fastener. This dramatically reduces the likelihood of slippage and rounding over the corners." Impact sockets are like the 6 point one shown. On my car, you can clearly see marks where the socket (at my tire dealer) has been contacting the nut - they are well back from the corners. You can also feel the bulging on the very corners of the nuts. So, I'm quite certain that the repeated loosening and tightening is deforming the metal covers. But as I said, the 6 point (1/2" drive) socket I bought recently goes on fine. A 12 point socket won't go on some of the nuts at all - others with difficulty. Before buying 20 new lug nuts you might want to try spending a few bucks on a 6 point socket. Worked for me.

Except that the "Compatibility" box says they are not compatible with the C-Max! Does anyone know the stud tread size, bevel angle and all that stuff? Possibly, like mine after many tire rotations, you can't get a standard socket on them anymore! Those thin metal sleeves deform or swell or something. I did find a 6 point socket that has the corners back cut a bit and it goes on, but just barely. Not much point in carrying a spare tire if you can't get a socket on the lug nuts!

I remember that era but never had any exposure to those trannys as my dad was had core manual transmission (and no V8s!) and was always trying to get "good" gas mileage. Back then, he was happy to break 20 MPG! I still can hardly believe I now get 2.5 times that in similar driving. I wonder what ones gas mileage was back then with a big ol' V8 (perhaps a flat head!) coupled to "slip and slide".

I wish it would go negative showing miles past zero - our little Honda Fit does.

Welcome to the club! A few tips/notes: You may find the MTE (Miles To Empty) screen better for deciding how long you can drive. The gage does quite a song and dance to get you to buy more gas! It turns, yellow, then goes back up, turns red, plays a chime, throws up a warning on the left screen - I usually just watch MTE.Even at MTE=0 there is still some gas left - they don't cut it that close. I've gone past 0 quite a few times (but not out in the boonies!).The odometer is about 2% low. Mine is around 1.7% as checked against both GPS and Interstate mile posts. So I expect you actually got better than 50 mpg.My offset between car and pump averages about 3% after applying the odometer correction.

Ford was claiming 47/47/47 MPG when we bought our 2013 - I never heard of a 60 MPG claim. Of course 47 is quite doable if you don't drive fast and work at it a bit. My lifetime is now at 49.0 MPG and I just completed a 2000+ mile trip to Maine with a trip average of 53.1 MPG (car's number) and 51.5 MPG (gas pump with odometer correction). The trip included both Interstate and a fair amount of "back roads". You have to stay under 45 mph if you want to get 60 MPG - I've done it on several 500+ mile trips but its a real pain.

GPS is there alright - you can pull the data from OBDII with Forscan. Heading is in 1 degree increments and changes smooth as silk. Its frustrating that the compass is programmed to jump 45 degrees at a time. They should have spent more time programming the compass and less time on the leaves!

This message has popped up several times recently on my car that, also, has no touchscreen! Its annoying because you have to turn off the car to get rid of it. Until you can do so, you have no compass and no efficiency leaves! :rant2:

Oh no - now I won't get any sleep thinking about that! Back to a tent!

I've thought about doing the same thing for a night out camping. I think the ratio of ON to OFF time would be small.

Today I'm looking under the back to see how the tires are wearing (quite well actually) and, horror of horrors, I see a small hole in the muffler with black stains streaking back from it. I start calling around for a replacement. No one seems to have it - dealer item. Its $250 online, closest dealer says about $340 and several days to get it. I call the dealer where I bought the car and got a price of about $440 installed but was then kindly (!) informed that mufflers have "weep holes" to let the water out and some streaks therefrom could be expected after 137k miles! Well, the little hole is right at the bottom where a "weep hole" might happily live (see photo) so I think I'll just let it have a good cry. Now I'm wondering: Has anyone else heard of this weep hole or seen it on their muffler?Does anyone else have streaks coming back from it? P.S. I suppose this might have been a good chance for an unethical dealer to say, "oh that's not good, bring it in and we'll put on a new one."

So it sounds like the thump only happens when the ICE starts and goes quickly to high torque which would put a sudden twist on the engine mounts. Perhaps an engine mount is bad or there is something loose in the exhaust system that feels the jerk when the ICE starts and is making the noise. Pure conjecture on my part. I have heard what might be described as a hissing sound when the friction brakes first engage after the car has been sitting and (I think) a bit of rust has formed on the rotors. It seems to happen only when first driving off in the morning. They also tend to grab a bit at this time. With efficient braking, the friction brakes may get almost no use for a while and some rust might build up. Some folks here have suggested an occasional hard stop to help keep the rotors clean.

Oh yeah, I remember those from when I was a kid. I see they're called "curb feelers" and are available starting at about $10. More drag though - so down goes the MPG! Plus, don't think they will work on the front.

Interesting and a bit shocking actually: The idea that EV mode costs you nothing for fuel - bogus. Plus, I don't see where $2500 came from.About electrification: "We won't be able to avoid the technology, and that's okay." Like we want to avoid it! People still think there's something "wrong" with electric cars - something to be avoided.About car payments: "...not having one seemed strange and unnerving." Wow! More like having one should be unnerving (even though necessary).Anyway, glad he likes and is keeping his car but stuff like this is why I give about zero attention to all these car write-ups.

After some "slow-poke" trips I made solo, The Enterprise inched up to 48.9 lifetime mpg - but I've lost hope in catching you!

I've started thinking about mounting a "back-up" camera on the front grill. I'm forever inching as close as I dare, then checking to see how I did after getting out! Maybe there's a system out there that can receive two cameras - put one on front and back. Or perhaps some kind of home-brew proximity detector.

Welcome and glad you found this "best-kept secret"! Friends of ours just bought a 2017 SE Kona blue (really pretty) after riding with us and hearing our enthusiasm. It seems it's up to us to do the advertising.