JayCo59

I had the upgrade done last week and I see about a 10% increase in Highway mileage.

Drove to my sons house in New Hampshire (from Ct) and using cruse control set to 65-67 MPH I would normally get 40 MPG.

Now after the upgrade on the one trip I got 44.3 MPG.  I noticed no issues with the AC, car had it on the whole trip and it worked fine.

Battery kicking in and engine shutting down on down hill mostly.

I know one trip isn't an exhaustive test but it is about 300 miles round trip and like I said, I saw about 4+ MPG.

I'll take it!

A co-worker mentioned this to me the other day and I found this article on the web.

Maybe we'll get closer to 47 MPG after this upgrade.  Max Speed will now be 85 MPH for pure electric!

Always wondered how they could claim 47MPG at highway (65 MPH in my state) when electric motor kicks out at 62 MPH!

Looking forward to getting this upgrade.

Jay

http://www.newsday.com/classifieds/cars/ford-fusion-c-max-hybrids-to-improve-mpg-with-software-upgrade-1.5710505

My SE has the MFT 8" screen and my issue didn't happen in cold weather.  From what I'm reading on these TSB's  they don't apply to my car.

I'll call the ford dealer but I suspect I'll get an "Unconfirmed" diagnosis and they'll just do nothing.

Thx,

Jay

Had my first (and hopefully) last dead battery just the other day. Car has 8100 miles on it, built 9/2012.

It has been wet (rainy) but warm.

Just had the MFT/Sych 3.5.1 upgrade done at the shop but I didn't tell them about the dead battery, figured it was a fluke.

But now that I've read all these issues I thinking I should have said something to them, not that they seem to have a fix for it yet!

Jay

Yes,

I had the aftermarket Gentex 50-GENK3345 mirror installed and its working great.

Not cheap but I like the integrated garage door opener and auto dimming (and of course the backup camera).

I believe the complete cost was $800.00.

Jay

Is there an update?

The warmer weather is definitely making a big difference in the MPG.  During the CT. winter I've been getting mid 30's on the trip to work and mid 40's on the way home (15 miles each way same path) averaging between 38 and 39 MPG over multiple tank fill ups.  Not sure if its cold mornings vs. warmer afternoons or more traffic on the way home slowing me down...either way today (temp in the 50-60 degree range) I got 40.2 MPG on the way to work (which is an all time record for me) but on the way home...brace yourselves...I got 58.6 MPG!!!  As you could imagine I was very pleased with that number. I'm finally averaging (at least on this one round trip to work) above the elusive 47 MPG.  Also I have about 5200 miles on the car so It's broken in by now.

Had to brag!

Jay

 Did they ever get back to you on this?

They said that was normal,  there is no light option for the key.  I did find a key light mod for a Focus on another Forum  that might be an option.  I beleive this was discussed in another thread a while back.

I have an SE with this color as well,  It was my favorite, and I get many complements on it as well.

Should the new "Other" category have a text field to enter what it was. Maybe if you get enough of a similar description you could add another problem category.

My issue was with a stuck key in the ignition, fix is to play with the shifter, making sure its pushed up into Park really well.

I know the Energi is capable of speeds up to 85 mph in EV, not certain why Ford chose 62 mph except to ace the EPA test.

I would think it has to do with the size of the battery, the Energi has a larger battery, just look in the back to see the (lack of) cargo room in the Energi version.

The larger battery can supply more current for a longer time.  The larger current demands at the higher speeds are what is probably limiting the speed to 62 MPH.

Could they have but in a few more batteries to get the speed to 65 MPH, sure, but everything costs $ and may be they where out of room without taking up additional cargo space?  You're point about "Acing" the EPA test could be a valid point. If 62 MPH gets a good number from the EPA test then that may be what the engineers did.

I would be interested in trying a set. My trip to work is only 4 miles and as it has cooled off outside the car barely warms up enough to go into EV for the last mile and that is at 40º. Last night was 32º and extremely windy. Mileage really suffered even though it was a longer trip and I was running 45 mph.

I turn the Climate control off in the morning so the engine does not run to heat the cabin.  I improved my MPG from 32 ot 35 MPG on a 15 mile trip.  I can turn climate control back on about 1/3 of the way there as the engine has usually started enough times for battery charging and acceleration demands.  I use the heated seats which helps a little and my car is garaged, I know some people do not have this situation and need the heat,  but it seems to be an option that can help the MPG's.

I'm glad to see someone is getting the rated fuel ecomomy, but not me. :rant2:   I'm driviing this car without the heat in the morning and using Hypermileing techniques and I get 35 MPG in the AM and I can sometimes get 48 MPG on the way home (my trip is about 15 miles one way).  But my average over the first 2000 miles is 39 MPG.  That's a far cry from the 47 claimed.

Just tonight I drove about 40 miles all highway with ECO Cruze at 61 MPH (so the motor would carry some of the load) and I got 40 MPG.  IMHO I should be able to set the cruze at 65 MPH and get 47 MPG.

I agree any class action lawsuit will probably net us next to nothing, but I bought this car based on the savings calculated with 47 MPG not 39, that's 20% (+ or -) and I feel cheated!

Maybe it's the winter formula's for gas and the cold temperatures.  I'm hoping that the spring and summer MPG numbers will improve.

Jay

This is my first car with heated seats and I also found the them to be very hot.  Anything more than a 2 and my butt is on fire!

When I do use it, and that is not often, I usually set it to 1 and then at 1/2 once it gets up to temp.  Not sure if 1/2 is even doing anything but even 1 is too much after it's up to heat.

I recently had my son's girlfriend in the car and she loved the heated seats and she had it cranked up to 5!  I felt the heat from the drivers seat and everyone in the back seat (2 Woman and one man) were complaining about how hot the car was!

The few times I have used it I thought it would be better if the heat was up the (lower) back as well, to warm up the kidney area.

Jay

JayCo - sorry to hear about your chip ... perhaps you should monitor when Dr. ColorChip will have a touch up paint kit available for the CMax.

 

http://www.drcolorchip.com/

 

Thx for the site. Pretty sure a 2013 Ford Focus Sterling Gray Metalic (Paint Code "UJ") is the same as a C-Max "UJ" Paint color.

I ordered the 2013Ford Focus "UC" paint kit and I'll give it a go!

I imagine many of the Focus items will turn out to be exact matches for our C-Max's.

Jay

Too late for me, I already got my first hood paint chip! :cry:

No surprise the owners manual doesn't mention how to change the oil - if the oil life monitor is like it used to be it is dumb (only counts miles driven) also the 7500 mile change frequency is for gas only models, 10,000 miles for hybrids 

My dealer stuck an oil change reminder on my car window that said 5000 miles, I read in the manual 10,000 miles.  I'm a fan of an early first oil change but I'm sure there are many points of view on that topic.  Personally I'll probably do once a year oil changes (after the inital 1400 mile change) which for me will be about 10,000 miles using Mobil 1 Synthetic and a high quality oil filter.

Please forgive me if this is a duplicate reply, My first post, and the one I just made seem to go in to cyber space.

 

Changing the oil with a pan cover is difficult when you don't have much room, as with my last auto, I changed my base plug to a valve, and made it much easier, if you can cut  an opening in the engine cover, just large enough to get to a valve you could use one, they can be found at:  http://www.quickoildrainvalve.com   Then make a cover to slide or turn over the hole when done. Another trick I used was a vacuum cleaner taped to the oil filler hole, when you remove the plug to change it,  the oil will not run out.

This may not work well for our cars.  As I have mentioned there is only about 2 inches max of free space between where the drain bolt is located and a large metal beam.  This valve might just fit but it may be impossible to mount it and actually use it.  I'm just giving you a warning from what I saw during my oil change experience and what I saw on this website.

I assume the cover is relatively light, and easy to get back into place?

5 minutes to remove - 8 torx.  Cover is very light material easily removed and replaced.  You will need to have the car up on ramps so you can get under there and have a bit of room to move about.  Oil flter is very obvious after the cover is removed.  As I had mentioned the only issue was a bit of interference between a metal bracket

 and the oil pan drain bolt, need to use a short ratchet.

Just performed an oil change @1400 miles using Mobil 1 5W-20.

The oil was an ugly greenish brown, looked pretty bad, but color isn't everything, still glad I did it. I like to do the first oil change at about 1000 to 1500 mles just to get any "Break-in" wear out of the crankcase.

Notes of interest:

15mm Plug.

8 - Torx screws (pretty large head) on shield - 5 minutes to removel, no big deal. See image 1.

Tight fit on the plug, use a short 15mm 3/8" ratchet or an open-end wrench. Interference with a bracket of some kind.

Shield:

Plug interference:

P.S. The Engine compartment was very clean thanks to the cover!

Well it happen again! This time I was able to get the key out after pushing up (higher into Park) on the shifter.

I'm gong to call the dealer and let them know that it happened again and what I had to do to get the key out.

Yes, you get two.

 

I will say however, with all of the technology ford put into this vehicle, the keys seem really big and bulky. I would almost rather have a smaller key and separate fob instead of the all-in-one thing.

I agree completely! It's big and bulky, would much rather have a small key and a seperate FOB or a FOB with a retracting key (Switch blade kind of a thing).

I've been lokking for a new key solution which I started in another thread on this site.

I've found them for 2013 Focus, look identical.

http://www.autotransponder.com/2013_ford_focus_keys_and_keyless_entry_remotes

This site seems to have the same combined key/FOB and a smaller "just key" version.

Is it me or does anyone else hate the Key\FOB combination you get with the SE model. I've always preferred a seperate (small) key and FOB or have a key that will fold into the FOB.

Does anyone know if there are other key styles available that can be used for a CMAX car? I'm starting to regret not getting the SEL with the proximity key.

Thx,

Jay

CNCGeek we got our bumper protector today. We don't have our car yet so it will sit here for awhile. Hubby said to tell you that it could do with a bit more 3M tape. There are two long horizontal strips of tape--top and bottom--about 1/4" from the edges. Hubby felt that they could have used two small extra pieces perpendicular to the horizontal long strips at each end. But over all it looks fine.

I used the stock tape and the unit is held in well, it's not going anywhere. The plastic piece is quite rigid and once it's down and rolled it not coming up! I wouldn't bother with any extra tape.

I'm keeping an eye on it.

Well the Clock was wrong again this morning. I changed it to be set by the GPS, hopefully that will fix this issue.