obob

Some winter notes: I have/had a strap on seat warmer. I was not very careful to keep it unwrinkled. Well it shorted out and something melted plastic onto my seat and/or the seat was scortched a bit. If I had a garage to keep my car in I probably would check for wind leaks. If it is an attached garage it has warm walls. I recently bought an old house and am finding ways to stop some of the cold air leaks. And these external faucet covers seem to work well to stop cooling the pipes in the house or garage: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Hard-Faucet-Cover-1981/204759083

I am noticing with temps in the low teens on shorter trips, even if the temp gauge is like a third of the way up, the system's tendency is to use the engine(ICE) rather than electric, even with high voltage battery gauge maxed out. It may be because the HVB is still super cold and for some reason it would rather wait for it to warm up.

Agree. There are a couple early message threads that go into detail but what I got from them is not to worry about the battery. Not only no discussion here about battery replacement, not even discussion about battery getting weak. Check this out to kind of look into the future. http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/6558-how-many-miles-on-your-c-max/?p=67635 The big deal is the transmission on the early 2013 and the above post from Spitinuri hasn't had that problem. Some people,more than normal, with 2013s have.

KEEP KEEP KEEP People have posted on this forum about the attractiveness of a 2013 that has had the trans replaced. The trans is the only big weak point due to a design problem that has been resolved. You may have smooth sailing for another 100,000 or more. I am curious what kind of driving you do. Some believe highway driving increases the stress on the trans bearing.

More discussion here: http://fordcmaxenergiforum.com/topic/7333-considering-2015-c-max-energi/?do=findComment&comment=48191

I know you said you wanted things that might go wrong but I'll mention this: The Energi vs the C-Max hybrid - the Energi has less space(less height) in the back storage compartment due the bigger battery and there is not a flat surface when the seats are down. To get 240 Volt charging instead of 110 Volt charging you need some extra equipment. The extra battery is something I would like if it were not for the loss of space and extra cost. It would mean a warmer car in the winter for I would use the heat more on short trips and I suspect it would have the potential for some awesome gas mileage. There is also a forum like this specifically for the Energi. http://fordcmaxenergiforum.com/ [ which I later realized you already know about ] Keep in mind a 2016 would get you what many people would say is a superior sound system. You might want to check out cars.com for other C-Max energi to get a better idea of what they are going for. As I see it. he resell value of C-Maxes makes it attractive to be a buyer. PS: There will be no spare tire. Some people, including me, have gotten a spare. There is a tire box that has a pump and a sealant. I have the spare in the back which in the Energi is already less spacious.

Thanks for pointing that out.

I think it would be a good idea when referring to lifetime mileage to add something like "for owners of a 2013 C-Max" for otherwise it is kind of implied that it is on there somewhere that is accessible.

I figure the lifetime mileage can be nice, but it can also be naughty if your mileage isn't that great. It can make the C-Max look bad. It also might have been a source of complaints like when the early updaters of the software updates had theirs reset. So Ford nixed it. I have a trip meter with like 52.5 mpg on something like 18000 miles. My lifetime is something like 47.7 mpg. My mpg greatly increased when I started to use neutral to coast. So I kind of use the trip meter as my lifetime which feels better than the actual lifetime which I could reset but don't. I will also add that being in just a little rush can really knock the mileage down.

on the 2013 there are only 2 trip meters. I think you have more than that and perhaps you can use one of those as a lifetime or longtime. I kind of recall reading lifetime is gone-zo http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/4170-why-im-glad-they-got-rid-of-the-lifetime-mpg/

The noise is wearing on me too. Are you going to do it yourself ? I have considered doing it myself but don't want to end up lacking equipment. I am interested in how it works out for you. I am considering getting another pair of tires but not sure of the cost of changing the camber will be worth it. I bought one of these https://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-Magnetic-Gauge-Tool-for-Car-Truck-Camber-Castor-Strut-Wheel-Alignment/172856810614?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649 Sticking it through the wheel spokes onto the brake rotor with its magnet I estimated my camber at -2.125 which is around what others have reported. ( Since my driveway is slanted I added the left and right wheel and divided by two. It assumes the camber is the same for both wheels and the driveway is slanted the same for both wheels. ) There are youtube videos on how to use this tool. As I recall from reading, camber of 0 gets better braking and acceleration because more rubber on the road. Handling gets better up to a camber of -5. One reason I might set it to .9 is if I were to get in an accident, I would not want it to be used against me. I feel Ford really should fix this. I was just thinking about a friend that will be looking for a car. What should I say. Get a C-Max but the rear tires wear badly and make noise and Ford doesn't care. Or you need to rotate tires every 2500 miles. I have thought about why it makes noise. Surprisingly I did not find much on the Internet why the way I wanted. My thinking: With a negative camber the outside of the wheel needs to have a larger diameter than the inside to match the road and it doesn't. So tire fights against itself and slides or stretches. And as the tire gets more worn, it can't stretch so much so it slides and vibrates. And perhaps the aging of the rubber and temperature also makes the rubber less flexible.

Using a big screwdriver/makeshift stethoscope to listen to different places to see if the sound has an epicenter. (Put ear to handle while metal part is at different points with the longness allowing reach for hard to reach spots. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=using+a+screwdriver+as+a+stethoscope+to+find+noise Here's one that does the job quickly. Start at 1:20

I just had my door latches done last week and I have been thinking about your dealer wanting you to pay to fix the handles. Glad you got a good outcome.

Thanks. I think I will cut some pipe insulation for in there when it is cold.

And what are your thoughts on the top vent under the hood. Perhaps a partial cover for the winter or for very cold ?

I noticed there are some deals on gas gift cards again. Maybe because it is cyber Monday there are more of them. Exxon/Mobil Speedway BP Chevron/Texaco I personally wanted to get a Sunoco card which has top tier gas that is reasonably priced around me but there hasn't been any and it may have something to do with Sunoco in negotiations to sell stations to 7-eleven. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=gas+card+only+svm&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xgas+card+only+.TRS0&_nkw=gas+card+only+&_sacat=0 Update: added conoco, 76 and phillips 66. sold out: BP Exxon/Mobil Update: Warning: I was reading on shopping site that one person got a chevron card and at the gas station he goes to gets charges the credit price. That has not been the case for me with the Speedway card.

I am wondering if they are going to sacrifice the spare tire.

You might want to provide a copy of the Plus 3 Golfer provided diagrams to your repair shop. You saving them time and frustration might save you money. And they may not have access to the diagrams.

When I was having that problem before the "fix" I bought something like this which gave me confidence I was not going to be stuck somewhere. With 4 dead batteries episodes I have a flavor of your experience. https://www.amazon.com/Nekteck-Starter-Portable-External-12000mAh/dp/B01MDUQRSO/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1511023278&sr=8-5&keywords=battery+jumper+starter It might even be cheaper on black friday and there are lots of companies selling them. (The one I linked is an "Amazon's choice" )

http://abc11.com/news/why-am-i-seeing-$999-gas-/1518144/ "The NC Attorney General's Office did look into a consumer complaint about that Sheetz and a company rep said the station reported that it had posted that price when it ran out of gas -- perhaps to scare people away? The rep said no customer had actually been charged that price."

Wishing you a good outcome.

So are you referring to the 2018? Very few 2017 fuelly results are 55 or over. http://www.fuelly.com/car/honda/accord/2017?engineconfig_id=341&bodytype_id=&submodel_id=

Did they say why they recommend the black ones rather than the chrome ones ?

Before this thread I wasn't all that careful removing the lugs and putting them back on. I was treating them like lug nuts of a previous steel era. I am planning on being more caring. I kind of like the way my last car did aluminum wheels - had steel lugs with a small plastic cap - so if one did loosen out it would possibly stay in the compartment and make a horrible noise that would alert me, and also might lower drag.

Video on removing the cap when it is stripped.