Explain 'ICE high' mode?

[troll334]

Hello all,

I know our treasured C-Max has been disco'd by Ford but thought I'd throw in my findings.

Model Year/Make: 2018 Titanium (absolutely no mods)

Current Odo: 13,500 (had it for six months now).

In town stats: computer says I'm pushing 54 MPG (since about the second day; quick learner

being a solar nerd with knowledge of batts and power generation systems).

 

Let me set the highway stage:

Location: South Florida

Highway: Florida's Turnpike (hilly due to overpasses)

Date: 12/16/18 (around 14:00)

Temp: 78 (is this really Winter?)

So, I embarked on a 60 mile trip to see the kid.

Put the dash into the Empower mode (never really watched it before).

After about 10 miles of being around 70 MPH, the battery bank was around 75% SOC.

I was getting about 40.3 MPH. Started tapping "-" on the cruise control, one-by-one.

At 69 MPH, the MPG rating started increasing slowly. After a few minutes, it got up to 41.

Tapped down to 68 then 67 (within a few seconds). I let 'er run for about 15 miles and

watched the MPG rating hit 45. I left the cruise there and just about the time I got off

the pike, the MPG rating was at 49. I did very little to the pedal when I hit the hills.

I strategically increased speed just coming to the top of each hill to ensure the ICE

remained running for the downhill segment; then very slowly backed off the pedal to 

ensure I wouldn't fall into EV mode. I was successful most of those times. When not,
I simply worked the pedal to quickly light the back ICE up.

I'm confident our Ford Engineers did, in fact, incorporate all your wishes and desires

into the code under which I'm running now.

Bravo. Sad to see Ford discontinuing the model. They'll be sorry.

mike

[plus 3 golfer]

Welcome to the forum. 

 

What you are describing on the highway is negative split mode operation which works great on "flat" highways as one can run long periods of time with ICE rpm reduced by the generator (MG1) but with ICE virtually at the same torque demand to operate at a more efficient point on the brake specific fuel consumption curve.  FE thus increases but generally the penalty is increasing time. Run too fast (requiring more torque) and it's harder to keep ICE in negative split mode.  So, one has to generally slow down: save fuel $ or time but not both.   The novelty wore off me fairly quickly and I generally just "drive" the car to save time.  Gas is currently $2.389 at Costco.   :)

 

If you haven't seen the video in this link, it demonstrates how the C-Max transmission operates in negative split mode.  Second, if you are "into" the operational aspects of your C-Max, I'd recommend getting the ForScan App for your smartphone.  You will need an ELM327 adapter to plug into your OBDII port to communicate with your smartphone.  I've found the cheaper adapters slower and drop out frequently.  I currently use the OBDlink MX BT adapter.

[troll334]

Greetings to you and thanks for the welcome.

I too have arrived at 'just driving the darned thing' in the city. However, I'm about to embark on my first

long distance trip; lasting 12 hours; and wanted to maximize MPG. So, I've been reading you; the experts,

to gain valuable insight. A month ago, I decided to leave my OBDLink BT adapter in the wife's car and get

a new OBD Wi-Fi for the trip. Didn't wanna step on the bluetooth channel for car audio and other BT functions.

I had the scare of my life. Off topic I know but... I had scantool's app on my android and was running at 60 MPH.

This was the third driving cycle for the Wi-Fi adapter. Suddenly, the car throws an error on the dash urging me

to pull off safely. I thought I had power but NO, I had to glide to a stop off the shoulder. Freaked out a bit, with

the South Florida idiots whizzing by, I quickly shut the car off, unplugged the Wi-Fi adapter, waited another

minute, and restarted the c-max. Thankfully, I drove off without incident. The folks at scantool had me perform

the all-popular adapter reset; and I've been fine since.

I don't seem to have many PIDs with OBDLink; may have to boot up Torque and give it a shot. I would have

thought I'd get more insight into the vehicle as compared to my old '03 Expy.

Anyway, thanks for the info. Clearly, you are a master of the c-max. I'm still havin' too much fun saving

180 bucks a month on fuel  :)

mike

[plus 3 golfer]

The issue with Apps other than ForScan is that they will have a limited set of the Ford PIDs and nothing on the MS CAN and very little on the hybrid operational PIDs. I’ve tried Torque Pro, Dash Command, and another one several years ago and unless you know the PID codes to enter, they are virtually worthless for hybrid data. Also, go to the ForScan.org forum and read about adapters as IIRC, they don’t recommend the OBDIink MX WiFi adapter for IOS or Android.