tcesni Posted November 26, 2020 Report Share Posted November 26, 2020 I have a 2014 C-Max Energi that I bought used three years ago. This past week while having the car at the Ford dealer for the state inspection I asked for the engine air filter to be changed as I doubt it had every been done and the car now has 55,000 miles on it. The service writer told me that this car has an air filter meant for the life of the car and to change it would cost $250. I've looked at the instructions to change and while more tedious than most filters he must have been mistaken. What was he thinking about? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grege Posted November 27, 2020 Report Share Posted November 27, 2020 16 hours ago, tcesni said: I have a 2014 C-Max Energi that I bought used three years ago. This past week while having the car at the Ford dealer for the state inspection I asked for the engine air filter to be changed as I doubt it had every been done and the car now has 55,000 miles on it. The service writer told me that this car has an air filter meant for the life of the car and to change it would cost $250. I've looked at the instructions to change and while more tedious than most filters he must have been mistaken. What was he thinking about? $250 is a huge markup as the filter costs around $20 and should take a mechanic 30 minutes if working very slowly (So, $50 dealer filter price and $60 labor = $110, which would be more reasonable but still a lot for a filter). Replacing the engine filter is tedious, but easy to do and it is NOT a lifetime filter. It does seem however to last 2 - 3 years easily before needing replacement. Cabin filter is also tedious, but should likely be replaced every 1 - 2 years. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fbov Posted November 27, 2020 Report Share Posted November 27, 2020 I can make a good argument that hybrid engine air filters are good for extended change interval. - paper filter particulate efficiency increases with age, so it's at its worst when new. "... (an) air filter that has been in service for a period of time works even better than a new one." - hybrid engines only run part of the time, so in terms of air flow, filter service age is the odo reading minus your EV miles. - hybrid engine speed is independent of road speed, so there's no benefit to high engine RPM when accelerating: maximum air flow no longer matters. Floor it and the engine RPM rises to the torque peak and no faster (or you'd slow down). Higher filter back pressure has no effect, within emissions control system range. I did used oil testing. My Si level, indicative of sand, dropped by a factor of 2 over the rated life of the air filter. Mileage didn't change. I think these are good things. Frank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptjones Posted December 1, 2020 Report Share Posted December 1, 2020 From the testing I did with a K&N air filter I don't think it made a difference on MPG , but It did make a difference in acceleration. Changing ICE air filter is a pain and will cut your fingers if you don't wear protective gloves. K&N air filter has more surface area and I replaced mine at about 200k miles. Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djc Posted December 3, 2020 Report Share Posted December 3, 2020 Plus these cars have a relatively long air intake hose, which should gather some dirt. Then in the filter box I believe incoming air has to go up and over a partition to get at the large filter surface. If one part of the filter gets restrictive, air will flow through filter area further from the inlet. Could last a very long time, depending on driving conditions. But then a single run following someone up a dusty road could get any filter dirty. I wonder if one could run an endoscope up the intake hose and take a look at the filter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noah Harbinger Posted December 30, 2020 Report Share Posted December 30, 2020 On 12/3/2020 at 11:40 AM, djc said: Plus these cars have a relatively long air intake hose, which should gather some dirt. Then in the filter box I believe incoming air has to go up and over a partition to get at the large filter surface. If one part of the filter gets restrictive, air will flow through filter area further from the inlet. Could last a very long time, depending on driving conditions. But then a single run following someone up a dusty road could get any filter dirty. Hmm, that is a good consideration. I first changed my air filter at 50k miles, but I have definitely driven a lot more dusty roads during the last 25k than the first 50k. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzchen Posted January 4, 2021 Report Share Posted January 4, 2021 I didn't have much trouble changing the air filter in our Energi. The Owner's Manual has a nice picture. Look at the picture carefully. Rotate the assembly as shown. Pull it out without a fuss. Miss the C-MAX. (We moved onto a '18 Clarity Touring with Nav, from a '13 Energi was it 401a, no self parking). My Ford Mobile was so much better than HondaLink, although I confess they are making improvements in functionality. Wonder what Sync 4 has to offer.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djc Posted April 1, 2021 Report Share Posted April 1, 2021 I finally changed the engine air filter in my 2013 Cmax. Pain getting hoses back on until I loosened lower end of hose to manifold. Car has 55k miles. This is what I found. After reassembling the air filter assembly, I cut a 2"x 5.5" rectangle of 1/4" mesh "steel hardware cloth" and pushed it into the grille end of the engine air intake hose - fits well and is snug. Lacienega 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill-N Posted April 2, 2021 Report Share Posted April 2, 2021 18 hours ago, djc said: This is what I found. Looks very familiar ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzchen Posted April 7, 2021 Report Share Posted April 7, 2021 I followed the manual's replacement interval on our ex-Energi. It did not look anything close to that, it was much cleaner. That mesh covering's an excellent idea. Looks like an animal set up a nest in there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lacienega Posted October 20 Report Share Posted October 20 On 11/26/2020 at 11:37 AM, tcesni said: I have a 2014 C-Max Energi that I bought used three years ago. This past week while having the car at the Ford dealer for the state inspection I asked for the engine air filter to be changed as I doubt it had every been done and the car now has 55,000 miles on it. The service writer told me that this car has an air filter meant for the life of the car and to change it would cost $250. I've looked at the instructions to change and while more tedious than most filters he must have been mistaken. What was he thinking about? He probably knows what a pain it is to change this filter and got advised from the techs to send customers away by telling them "lifetime"😁 I changed mine a few times already and it gets faster once you know how to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grege Posted October 25 Report Share Posted October 25 Cmax air filters are tedious. My engine air filter didn't look too different to the 'mouse nest' one above. I was tempted to 'let it go' for another year, but decided to change it; I similarly sucked up some monster cotton/felt/debris. Not concerning since the filter caught it, but that was unexpected. For my cabin air filter, I threw the retaining screw away since the plastic cover snaps into place although the cabin air filter requires some gymnastics. Greg Lacienega 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homestead Posted October 25 Report Share Posted October 25 4 hours ago, grege said: For my cabin air filter, I threw the retaining screw away since the plastic cover snaps into place although the cabin air filter requires some gymnastics. Heh heh, yeah good idea to do stretching exercises before doing that one. 😀 Lacienega 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestevens Posted October 26 Report Share Posted October 26 I've never heard of a "lifetime" engine air filter before .. apart from the ones K&N makes that are "washable" .. the internal combustion engine in the C-MAX is not "magic" .. I remember the dealer shop guy look at me strangely when I questioned him replacing it at 60,000 miles but I think he made the right call. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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