SnowStorm

I've had the same exact problem - a little grease on the bar the latch clamps to fixed it for me. I think I've done it twice in 221k miles.

How far you can limp may depend on the exact failure mode but I "limped" along for 50k miles or more. Read my story here, mostly 3rd page. However, my sound was a faint whir. If a hole hadn't been worn through the case, I might still be "limping" along - the car ran just fine. I'm still thinking that my problem started after using the 'L' gear coming off a mountain with lots of engine breaking, followed by some nasty sounds when I stopped. My warning is to NEVER use engine braking ('L' on gearshift or the Downhill button). The TSB covering this problem refers to a "thumping/rubbing or grinding noise".

Uh-Oh, my wife wants one - the "baby blue" color in the video! (Is that the Area 51 color or what?) She's tired of the Fit. Just wish it was an EV!

Totally agree! Its a shame hybrid car manufacturers aren't doing this already. Everything is there: battery, high efficiency low pollution ICE, inverter and controls to start/stop the ICE as needed. You could have 10kW 240/120 volts no sweat. And its with you wherever you go!

Just changed my filter (2nd time I think!) and it was more than disgusting. Pulling the old one brought out a pile of gray stuff on the carpet- goodness knows what. It was all chocked in the filter and had to be vacuumed out of the filter chamber. Maybe it was "moon dust" from Craters Of The Moon National Monument! I guess it's just another example of why you folks, as I've said before, should NOT buy the SnowStorm Service Plan! A/C seems fine though.

Rear brake "rust" was a problem for me after the law was changed to require "full contact". Mine had developed bands (as many others have seen) that were interpreted as not being "full contact" so no one would pass them. I think they were quite OK but I had to get new ones to pass inspection. Front brakes are still original! Sometimes I shift to N and brake hard to try and keep off any rust - don't know how much it will help. I use synthetic oil and go several thousand over the 10k limit. Tires should be rotated at least every 10k as Ford says or you can end up with cupping and noise. My Michelin dealer rotates every 5k miles for free so that's when I do it. I didn't rotate my first set enough and they cupped badly and got real noisy - one passenger asked if I was running snow tires! I don't do any early maintenance - I'm rather lax, I'm afraid.

Make sure there's no battery acid in that water! We'll want to hear what you find - and thanks for the report.

I second the use of EV+ and Empower view. As to acceleration, its generally better to go ahead and kick on the ICE when, or soon after, starting off from a stop. Let the ICE accelerate the car and charge the battery some at the same time. Then use EV when less power is needed - level, coasting, down hill, etc. The reason is that an ICE is very inefficient at light load. When its running, you want to have a significant load on it. (That's the whole point of having a hybrid in the first place.) I generally accelerate at about "2 bars" on the Empower screen. That's not "flooring it" but its fairly brisk, keeps folks from getting annoyed, is more fun, AND should be more efficient. The C-Max is very responsive to throttle so "step on it" a bit and enjoy it! (At least it doesn't seem to have hurt me much. At 218k miles my Lifetime figure is about 48 mpg.)

When I talked to them it depended on model. See this post and the ones it links to.

Check the center dash vents that blow down towards your legs. There is a vertically oriented wheel right in the middle to turn them ON/OFF. These vents and the control are easy to miss.

But it says, "Does not fit Hybrid models"

Comments: The HVB is air cooled by its own fan in the back (see picture of mine). Air is drawn from inside the car - those vents in the back that you're not supposed to cover up!). The "Inverter System Controller" is cooled by its own liquid coolant system that, as you now know, is separate from the engine coolant. The Inverter System Controller is mounted on top of the transmission. It takes the DC electric power from the HVB and "inverts" it to AC power to drive the electric motors inside the transmission. (Of course during regen, power flows the other way round.) Tens of kilowatts can flow through the inverter with a small potion ending up as heat - so it needs cooling. The Inverter System Controller cooling system has nothing to do with the HVB or the electric motors - just that box of electronics. (The electric motors get cooled by the transmission fluid.) I don't know if there is a drain point for either system. Right or wrong, I never changed my coolant before my transmission was replaced at 172k miles - only added a bit now and then. As I've said before, don't buy the SnowStorm maintenance contract!

Bad transmission noises certainly seem to vary. Mine was very slight, it would come and go depending on torque applied while staying in EV mode and around 35-40 mph. It was more of a whirring sound - not a grinding one. It could have easily been ignored except that I was sure it wasn't there before. Even then, I went maybe 50k miles before a hole was worn in the housing and I lost fluid like crazy. I never tried listening for reflected sound through open windows. Push to get it thoroughly checked while you have a warranty!

Do you hear it with ICE not running (EV mode) or with A/C running or not? See if your dealer will run the car on a lift and check with a stethoscope. I think that's how my dealer verified my transmission was bad.

They both drop out the bottom, then you remove the transmission - (at least I've never heard of doing it any other way).

Leaks will likely show first on the big pan that covers the bottom of engine and transmission. Take it off and check it and also the seams between the transmission housing sections and the line where it bolts to the ICE. You can see the check level plug in plus 3 golfer's post here. I got to it by turning wheels hard left then reaching in front of wheel and pulling up the rubber flap. I also filled through this port with some hose and a funnel. The actual "fill" plug is on top somewhere and, as best I could see, impossible to get to.

A few notes: 20% charge wouldn't be 5 volts as that would be dead, dead, dead - way below 0% Modern multistage chargers can show a constant 50-70% charge for a long time (hours) during part of the charge regime. I've seen mine at 67% for hours, then finally go on up to 100%. At only 2 amps it could take quite a few hours to get past that plateau. I would think a new battery should be well above 20% charge when you buy it but I have no idea how well these stores maintain them. Again, the battery age parameter in the car has to be reset or your new battery won't be charged properly.

You also need to reset the battery age monitor or the new one won't charge properly (lots of posts by others on this issue).

We use this one with a "moldable" base - it works well for us.

Do you hear the " spinning noise in gear" only with the gasoline engine running or also in EV mode when trying to move? The transmission never "shifts gears" (not even for reverse) and there are no clutches. It only has the two electric motors and a bunch of gears that are always meshed. All the transmission problems I've heard of have symptoms of noise or fluid leaks - doesn't leave you sitting.

Have you tried real snow tires all around? See posts by fbov on using snow tires. If they don't rub too much, perhaps try the 215/65-17 28" size ptjones suggests above.

Yes, its ridiculous. I've been following virtually every new post for years but I think I'll stop - too much trouble. "Ignore" doesn't work - they just make new accounts (or it still seems to get by, some way). "Mark site read" is useless because you have to wade through so many spams to find the real ones before you hit that button. Many thanks to all who have given so much help! We still love our C-Max but this site is pretty much trashed. Sad. Maybe I'll check occasionally to see if they fix it.

You might want to read this post and also the link at end of my April 20, 2014 post. The 12v battery seems to get run down during the night by something turning on and off (or not off!) which means that you can't just check for "no drain" after shutting off the car and expect everything to be OK. Or its chaffed wiring which can be intermittent. The battery could get 100% discharged (10.5v) many times and the car will still "start". But then one night it goes below 8 and it won't start. These repeated discharges weaken the battery however. It seems strange that your battery was "good" 5 days ago and now they think its "bad". Anyway, a new battery may appear to solve the problem for a while but its likely to fail again eventually.

I'm worried about that possibility too. Everyone needs to take Plus 3's advice to get up to speed with Forscan and buy the service manual.

For long trips and remote destinations I simply bought a used C-Max wheel online and another OEM tire. It gets strapped down flat behind rear seats or goes on a luggage carrier (I installed a hitch recently). When new tires are needed, the spare goes on the car and the best old tire/wheel gets kept for the spare.