Smiling Jack

Kostby, Excellent find ! Thanks very much for posting. I surely agree that it is so much more convenient and useful to have a constant visible display of the voltage, readable at a glance at any time, rather than to have to drill down through the dash display menus. I have been looking for something like this for decades. I have long been using a similar device that has only red, yellow and green LED "idiot" lights to indicate range of voltage. I have found it extremely useful for quick checks and diagnosis, but I always wanted a digital readout instead. FWIW: I have one of the LED units in each of my cars. The one in the C-Max, I leave plugged in to one of the front "cigarette lighter" sockets all of the time. It is not a problem for battery drain since those sockets are powered down about 20 or 30 seconds after the car is turned off. In fact I have found it useful as a visual indication that the poewer to the socket has, indeed, been turned off. The digital one would be similarly useful for this purpose. Of course, if the system will not turn on at all, the front sockets will not come alive, but at that point, one could move the unit to the rear socket, which is always alive. IMO: With the number of dead 12-volt events being reported on the C-Max it is probably a good plan to keep a close eye on things. I have not had any dead 12-volt events with the C-Max, but I did have several (self-inflicted) dead 12-volt events with my Camry Hybrid. Those experiences have kept me vigilant.

Are there 4k projectors available? Does anyone think that an 80-inch diagonal screen is large enough for the difference between 1080p and 4K to be visible?

Kelley, You and I must be operating out of the same play book. I came into a nominal 70-inch motorized screen (i.e. 80-inch diagonal for 16x9) for free. (All I had to do was fix an open circuit.) So, in 2003 I went the digital projector route, and I did not even think of replacing my CRT TV's with HD until they "gave up the ghost." So we watched CRT in the den until just about a year ago. No problem there, since if we had someting important to watch in the large, we would just go to projection. I started out in 2003 with a projector at native 800x600 and later replaced with 760p. (It does 1080i, but I like the near-native 760p better.) Now I'm thinking of upgrading to 1080p. (Any suggestions?)

Share the concern - and the view about Medical facilities. An additional concern with this car is that there is no way to lock the rear hatch or secure the cargo area. Do not have a good solution. Last week I had a dinner meeting at a restaurant that had only a small regular lot that was completely full and a large valet-only lot. I gave them some instructions and took my chances. Outcome was OK. Last year, directly across the street from our office, a valet parked a hybrid car and left it in gear facing a building on a slight upward incline with the ICE engine off but the system in "ready." When the HV battery got low, the car started the ICE on fast idle and drove itself into the glass storefront, wrecking the car and damaging the building. To make it worse, the valet service was apparently uninsured. Now, I do not ever ask to see an insurance certificate when I let a valet service take my car. Do you?

I misunderstood. I thought we were talking about a way to find out how much of the stuff was in any particular gasoline. In 1982, when I got my first fuel-injected car, I was using Exxon gasoline exclusively. Eventually I had injectors to clog up. A friend recommended Techron. That did the trick. Exxon had no Techron at the time. Second fuel injected car had the same sequence of events I switched to Chevron, which I have used almost exclusively ever since. No more problems at all in 30 years! Exxon gas proved so troublesome for injectors that some manufacturers specifically advised their owners not to use Exxon. As time went on, most major brands added Techron (or equivalent), but I stuck with Chevron, figuring that since Chevron owned the Techron product they could afford to put more in. Last month my corner station switched from Chevron to Exxon. It's very convenient, and it has one of the only brushless car washes anywhere nearby. I thought I might just be safe to use the Exxon gas now, ecpecting that it has Techron, but I still wonder whether it has as much as the Chevron does. Does anyone know for sure?

Thanks. Where does one look up the MSDS? Is it posted at the station? Does it need to be updated every time they take a delivery?

Seems to me that if they were aware of this update problem they should have done the state inspection first.

A (perhaps momentary) switch to temporarily connect the HV battery pack to the 12-v system via the DC-DC converter, so that the whole system can start up (and the HV battery can begin to charge the 12-v battery). Not being able to start the car because the 12-v battery does not have enough vlotage to close a stupid relay, while all the time we're sitting there with enough electric power to light up a foootball field, is just dumb.

Golfer, Great answer! Thanks for explaining PEA. What about CEL? (In my world that means Combined Eulerian-Lagrangian.) and IIRC ? Related to IROC? (International Race of Champions, wasn't it?) and MSDS ? Is that a pump label?

Answering the original question: According to my currrent lifetime and recent tank-based trip displays I consistently get about 140 mpg and 70 mpge (in mixed city and highway driving). Trips on gasoline only are unusual for me, but on gasoline-only highway trips (typically over 15 miles) I usually see about 50 mpg (+/- 5). As I've posted previously, I use ample heat or A/C as needed for comfort. I accelerate smartly, brake gently and try to anticipate the stops. Otherwise I do not use any special driving techniques. (I got all of that fun out of my system in my previous life with my Camry Hybrid. Now I just drive normally and enjoy such great fuel economy as comes about naturally.) For the record, the Camry Hybrid was a very satisfactory car. (I did not care for the Prius at all.) My Camry Hybrid was entirely trouble free for 5 years. (It did suffer from a few dead 12-volt battery events, but those were self-inflicted.) It consistently gave me 45 mpg on long highway trips and could do up to 35 mpg in the city driving normally or 70-80 mpg with EXTREME hypermiling and a plug-in conversion. The Camry Hybrid was a great car. I like the C-Max a whole lot more !

Yeah, that is what we all hope. But then we have been hoping that for almost two yeras now. My fear is that 2 years from now we will still be hoping ..................... and waithing.

Obob: Thanlks. I suppose some leak in the tread could get worse and eventually show up. Golfer: That's one I did not think of. I suppose one way to ferret that out would be to put a new tire on that wheel or put a new wheel on that tire. I could do both in connection with my possible plan to get a new wheel and tire.

No. They had soap-film tested at the valve beforehand and had decided that it was ok. Do these valves with TPMS take the same stems as the ordinary valves? Thanks for the thought, Dave. Now I am thinking that wat I might do is swap valve stems with another one of my tires and see if the problem moves with the stem. Any special precautions in replacing valve stems because of TPMS?

I have one tire that has been losing about 5 psi per week over the last few months. Local shop removed the wheel from the car and could not find a cause or location of the leak. They took the tire off of the wheel and inspected it form the inside as well and still found nothing. At that point, I hoped that it had a leak at the rim seal, and that removal and remounting would cure it. No such luck! Anyone have any thoughts ? I am thinking of buying a new tire and wheel and keeping the wheel-mounted slow leaker as spare.

Doesn't actually cover the grille openings. Well spaced forward with openings on the sides. Plenty of space for flow into the center lower,

Brother Mike: As you can see from my signature photo, I also hated the look of the stock position, and I lowered mine. Very easy to do. From my earlier post: It was actrually much easier than I expected, extremely simple, actually. The stock front license mount is attached with 3 pop rivets. These must be drilled out. I went to the dealer's parts department and bought 3 replacement rivets, partly to see what I was getting into, partly to see what size hole to drill (1/4 inch diameter will do), partly for possible use in my new mounting, and partly as a hedge in case I needed to revert to the original configuration. With the rivets out, I decided to replace the rivets with screws. I found some black rubber grommet nuts just about the right size. Actually they were a bit oversize. I could have drilled the holes out a bit larger, but (still hedging) I decided to shave the grommets down. (Having it to do over, I would enlarge the holes.) I pressed the grommet nuts into all 3 original rivet holes and fitted them with machine screws and washers. At this point I had a removable, replaceable, mount for the original position. The stock unit mounts in three places. The two top places are secured to black plastic between the horizontal chrome grille strips. The lower centered one is secured to the body paint colored bumper cover. To make the mounting in the lower posirion, I simply turned the mount upside down, retaining the single fastening location. I then secured the new bottom two fastening locations to the lower grille slate with (releasable) nylon tie-wraps. Prior to tightening down, I lined the (new) bottom edge of the mount with a rubber piece I made by splitting a length of automotive vacuum hose. I hoped this would both prevent shifting an protect the paint from being marred. I simply left the two upper black grommet nuts in place. They are hardly visible. Actually they are less visible than the holes. Actually, Jack

Is there somewhere where gas is still sold by the Imperial gallon? I didn't think that any country still used the Imperial gallon.

I had a problem like this once. I finally blasted the stuff off with water and a high pressure hose nozzle. Slow going, up very close, and many repetitions finally got it off of the glass and paint.

The original Ford Escape Hybrid - at the time of its introduction - was, by far, the most fuel efficient SUV in the world. And today's Ford Hybrid and PHEV systems are more effective than those of that era. And the new Escape is a whole lot more arrodynamic than that model. I always had an Escape Hybrid high on my wish list. I settled for the C-Max Energi and I have loved the way that has worked out. A shade more cargo space (without giving up plug-in and lots of EV range) would be nice. An Escape Energi would solve that. So, I'm now putting an Escape Energi on my wish list. I doubt that I would trade in the C-max, though. If the c-max goes the way of the Edsel, one day these things are going to be worth a FORTUNE !!! Now a more worrisome thought has occurred to me. All of the auto makers are now making most vehicles smaller with each new design cycle. Considering that, now what I think is likely to happen is that Ford will continue to build what we now call a C-max but add an ICE-only model, call it the new Escape and simply retire the C-max name.

C-max sales undoubtedly suffer from the bad reputation related to ownner dissatisfaction over problems with Sync, My-ford Touch and - most importantly - the 12-volt system. Do or do not the Fusion Hybrid and Fusion Energi models have these same systems - and all of the attendant problems? If they do not, then why could not Ford have solved all of the C-max problems at the 2014 model year by simply using the Fusion components? If they do, then why would consumer dissatisfaction not extend to the Fusion models and hour those sales ? And why would Forn not discontinue those models as well?

Jus said............. ".............................., I used a Titanium Escape since its close in features with the niceties of Maxine......................... ....................." At time of my purchase, I also looked at 2 Escapes for price comparison. I bought a 2013 C-Max Energi (SEL) with roof. The same dealer had an Escape Titaniuim and another had an Escape SEL. Both of the Escapes were similarly equipped to the C-max, and both had asking prices slightly higher than the C-max - and that was BEFORE consideration of the $4007 Federal tax credit!!!!!!!!!!!! I suppose that the calculator would have told me that my break-even gas price was negative. Right?

I do not know about Spotify, but I do see the song and album info from Pandora via Android Phone and Bluetooth.

The 12-v battery is charged from the HV battery via a DC-DC voltage converter. Sure (with the Hybrid), all of the HV battery charge comes ultimately from the ICE (gas) engine (even the energy captured by regenerative braking is produced ultimately by the gas engine) but the engine does not need to be running in order for the system to be charging the 12-volt battery.

It's worse than that. The 12-v battery does not get charged by a running ICE (gas engine); so, whoever is peddling that explanation is either uninformed (in which case they are being deceptive by pretending to know what they do not) or they do know the correct charging info and they are deliberately saying something wrong (deceptive again). Deceptive, deceptive, pants on feptive!

Way back when, when I did the Camry conversion, there were no factory PHEVs; so, if you wanted to plug-in a hybrid, the aftermarket conversion kit was the only way to go. Now, it's a different story. As soon as I saw the C-max Energi I was hooked.