ran C-Max transmission with very little oil and it ran for 1000 miles

[obob]

“I’m really proud of our little transmission. There’s no good reason that it should work at all under these conditions.”

 

http://theotherpta.com/a-strange-lesson-about-the-durability-of-the-ford-cmax-transmission/

Edited July 4, 2017 by obob

[plus 3 golfer]

Well the CEL came on which likely indicated over temperature of the windings of the motors and / or overtemperature of the fluid.  Jessica may not have noticed any difference in performance but I'll bet operations of MG1 and MG2 were limited and ICE was used more thus likely lowering these temperatures when a DTC was triggered.  Probably why the CEL would come on and go off.

 

Since the Energi has a electric transmission fluid pump, a liter or so of fluid was apparently sufficient to lubricate the bearings / gears - I hope.    No way of knowing for many more thousands of miles. ;)  Jessica should have demanded a new transmission or an extended warranty.  She just documented why Ford could refuse to replace her transmission should it fail while under warranty - failure to get recurring CELs timely diagnosed.  The DTCs that trigger the CEL are stored with mileages noted.  She needs ForScan. :)

 

 

[jestevens]

I've had my share of "can't reproduce" issues at the shop - not with this car but with others. 

 

I guess everyone needs to know that the car stores codes in memory but if the issue is as critical as consistently over-temp transmission where the windings could be cooked don't you think the CEL should stay lit? 

 

My 2007 Prius had the "triangle of death" icon on the dash for things like ABS failure, etc. and if you were really "lucky", a big warning triangle showed up on the LCD display when you tried to shift out of park with the "I'm not moving right now you better call a tow truck" type of messages.  (I experienced ABS warning from a bad switch on the brake pedal, but lucky none of the shift mode lockouts.)

Edited July 5, 2017 by jestevens