It's that time of the year...

[Jus-A-CMax]

1. To lift your hood

2. Right near the front windscreen, you'll see some gaps...

3. ...and its time to vacuum all the leaves, barks, and seeds that has somehow miraclously all gather there.

 

I pull out like 1/4 bucket ful before I vacuumed the rest.

 

I have to park under neath trees at work to keep the car cool in the 100+ valley heat.

 

For you ole CMax folks, you know this already...(if you recall that pretty beetle I found).

 

For you new folks, time to get started...unless you don't park underneath trees etc.

Cheers :)

[Kelleytoons]

Good to know, although here we'd probably have to wait at least until the end of November (fall doesn't really start in Florida until October, so no real leaves/foliage drops for a few months).

 

I'll try and remember and do it then.

[Jus-A-CMax]

Jus don't wait till the rains come in...thats jus asking for a biology experiment in your CMax. It's nutz here with the leaves, seeds and all...I was surprised how much junk I cleaned out.

 

Personally, this was a big miss as its really hard to remove the junk out of that spot without long nose pliers or a vacuum...hence, don't get it wet. I'll start looking for some heat resistant foam pads to fill out that area...there must be some way.

[mtb9153]

Brother Jus, I keep finding big huge Magnolia tree leaves under my hood.  I find them sticking out between the hood and the front fender allot.  It can be a mess under there.  ;)

[Marc Smith]

one of the lucky ones...car is garaged at home, yeah I'm one of the anal retentive types  that actually keeps TWO cars in a TWO car garage.

 

And at work I'm in a parking garage as well.

 

That being said.  even if you stop at a shopping center and it happens to be nasty weather, rainy, windy, ect.  its amazing how much leaf litter you pick up.

 

why not something like a stainless steel mesh/screen

http://www.twpinc.com/wire-mesh-material/stainless-steel

 

or a perforated metal.

http://www.pwsteel.com/petro_perforated_metal.html

 

here is some weatherproof foam...

http://www.foambymail.com/outdoor-foam-seats-and-cushions.html

[Kelleytoons]

Jus don't wait till the rains come in...

 

Again, talking to the wrong demographic here.  The rains ALWAYS come in, all year around (not *quite* as bad as, say, Seattle, but you get the general idea).  If anything, it will rain *less* after the fall leaves happen here (because that's also the end of hurricane season).

 

But as I allude, it's good advice even for us here and I will try and remember to revisit this thread in a few months.

[DaveofDurham]

It's always that time of the year here.  There is always something falling from the trees and we don't have a dry season. 

 

It only takes a leaf, pine needle, etc., or two to cover or clog the drain slot in the area where the tree debris collects.  Once this happens water pools up and cannot get out.  The first time this happened I had my dealer clean it out for me (no charge).  They told me to watch this carefully because the water can wind up getting inside the vehicle.

[Jus-A-CMax]

It's always that time of the year here.  There is always something falling from the trees and we don't have a dry season. 

 

It only takes a leaf, pine needle, etc., or two to cover or clog the drain slot in the area where the tree debris collects.  Once this happens water pools up and cannot get out.  The first time this happened I had my dealer clean it out for me (no charge).  They told me to watch this carefully because the water can wind up getting inside the vehicle.

 

Thats what I fear as well....that foam that use inside is not water resistant as far as I can tell. Won't be surprise if the rusting begins there...

[RockwallRick]

Where I live most of the leaves seem to come down in the Spring, when the new leaves push them out. I have some big oak trees which deposit boatloads of leaves on top of

the house and fill up the gutters for me to clean out! :rockon:

[DaveofDurham]

Thats what I fear as well....that foam that use inside is not water resistant as far as I can tell. Won't be surprise if the rusting begins there...

 

Are you referring to the little pieces of foam that are in the spaces just in front of the bottom of the windshield and next to the front fenders?  I get a little bit of tree debris accumulating on top of the foam. 

 

Much more accumulates in the spaces a little more forward and a lot more toward the center of the engine compartment right under the front of the hinges.  These area have drain slots that are easily blocked which results in pooling water when it rains.

[Jus-A-CMax]

Its that whole section...DoD. I pulled out a 1/3 bucket of leaves, bark, twigs and seeds...I could start my own forest. Mind you, the last time I cleaned this was a year ago....the last time I took that beetle shot...or whatever shiny bug that was...

[jmcgliss]

We just cleaned our 2018 engine bay and found more buildup of leaves, twigs, and maple tree spinners.  My wife had long forceps to help extract larger pieces.  Then we were able to flush both sides with short bursts of the hose. Water could be seen draining behind the front tires. I did not try removing the foam wedges next to the hinges since water seemed to flow thorough pretty well.

 

If it gets to the point where it seems water does not drain we'll have the dealer service it.

[Jerry Kinnane]

Ive been dealing with this LEAF WELL  for years. Just now discovered where the drains are. I use my wet dry vac first in the blower mode to blow out as much as I can, then the vac mode to take out the rest Major engineering fault by Ford.

[16redsel]

This leaf thread has been going for over 7 years, so I might as well concur that I've been pulling stuff out of there

since I've owned my Cmax - '16 sel - mine since April '17. We (mostly) love our comfortable, economical cars,

but this is one of the little flaws - a design compromise, I think - that keep us (somewhat) humble.

[takingittothemax]

I have an old pair of chopsticks I use to pick up leaf litter that collects there.

[jmcgliss]

After removing the leaves we can grab, I flush with short bursts from a hose (do not spray it continuously). Water drains out behind the front wheels. Then we drive it to circulate some air and engine heat.