C-Max in for Maintenance, MFT Update and Fix for Hands-free Lift Gate

54 mpg so your C-Max is also getting the EPA numbers. What kind of terrain and weather have you been driving in to get the 54 mpg? I'm finding it real easy to achieve the 47 mpg EPA number and have no idea what all the bad press about the C-Max mileage is about. On Monday someone stooped me in a mall lot to ask about the C-Max. He wanted to buy the car but was concerned about all the bad press concerning mileage. I showed him my trip 2 readout showing 48 mpg over 80 miles. After answering a few more questions he said he was buying the car. Maybe a retest of the C-Max should be done.

 

I live in a rural area north of Kansas City and work downtown. My normal daily route is around 28 miles each way. About 11 miles is two lane rural highway with rolling hills and most of the rest is interstate. I try to stay 60mph or below. Through most of winter I was in the low 40'smpg and got up to the mid 40's as it warmed up. I didn't get into the upper 40's and 50's until I started using an alternate route which cut the highway portion in half. I just posted my 3rd +50mpg tank (it would have been my 4th if it hadn't been for the service trip a couple of weeks ago).

Up until very recently for me 47 highway was almost unobtainable. I'm now starting to do more highway driving and I'm finding it much easier to get 47 or better by keeping the SoC as high as I can. For some reason this is much easier to do now, especially after the MFT 3.5.1 upgrade. I've heard the PCM may have been upgraded (not sure). Now I can get a pretty consistent 40+ instant mpg with the battery display 2/3's full or higher.

 

Picked up the car 3.5 weeks ago and am very satisfied with the mileage hitting the EPA numbers (not driving like granny either). I'm in very hilly country here in the Hudson Valley. People with the Prius get about the same mileage some even less. My wife's commute is a 40 mile round trip with speeds between 25 and 65 mph and no interstates. About 30% is city driving and most days I take that drive twice as we only have one vehicle. ( BTW What does SoC and PcM stand for? Maybe there should be a glossary for all the abbreviations.)

 

Actually, there is a glossary. If you click on the abbreviations it will go there.

SoC - State of Charge. This refers to the battery packs current level of charge. Basicly it is how much juice the pack has in it.

PCM - Powertrain Control Module. The control Module that controls the vehicles propulsion.

Glossary:
http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/glossary.php

 

rmcmast, can you verify that the Ford dealer installed 3.5.1 for My Ford Touch. I just had mine in to have it updated and they installed the same version that I already had. The tech said they installed the latest version which was 3.1.3.

Thanks.

 

I'm sure I have 3.5.1. I checked on syncmyride.com after the upgrade and it says 3.5.1. Also, I now have 4 buttons on the bottom of the screen instead of 3. The new one is a leaf symbol and brings up the new power flow screen.

Here is what was on my service ticket:
BB/12285/V 3.5.1

Here is a site you can check to see what updates are available for your car. Go to the site and click on "Vehicle". Then you can enter your VIN.

http://www.etis.ford.com/

 

Thanks. I had been to that site once before and it did say I needed a software update, now it doesn't. I am guessing the dealer cleared it even though they didn't actually update the software to a newer version. They still insist they gave me the latest version, which is the same one that was on the car when I got it. I will let them know again that at least one C-MAX out there has a newer version and maybe call a different dealer.

Thanks again.

 

Good luck! I have heard others having issues with the upgrade on other forums.

I'm hoping you or Bob get the update. One thing I've noticed since getting mine is that it is much easier to get into a high MPG mode with the ICE (image below). It continues in this mode even up slight inclines (with the mpg reduced a little). You need a pretty full battery but every time I tried this before, it would always drop back into EV or the high mpg would decrease. I've heard part of the upgrade may have been reprogramming the PCM.

 

I saw this on Twitter. It's about the PCM update Ford said was due out in August. You'll know you have it when you can engage EV mode up to 85 mph.

@FordService: Owners will begin receiving letters by mail with the next steps on how to get this upgrade near the end of July. ^NM cc: @Ford

 

Yes. Thanks for asking. It took just fine the second time. I also had the headliner recall and the fuel economy update done last week. The jury is still out for me if that is going to help or not.

 

Marjorie just drives our CMax and gets about 42.3-42.9 indicated on the FCD. I just try to stay out of the mpg issue, just note the display when I start a segment.

We had the PCM update performed on Jan 17th. I drove it home and stopped at the grocery store on the way. Reset the FCD and drove about 3 miles home with the battery at 50% SOC when I left the parking lot. FCD indicated 100.X mpg when I pulled into the garage, but the battery was pretty much depleted as most of the segment was EV.

Certainly didn't notice any significant differences. It still annoys me that there is no engine braking regen, and a short segment at 55 mph still showed the same propensity to either run in full EV or engine on (with what sounds like high RPM) for battery charging.

I don't drive the CMax much, so I'm not real familiar with the CMax. I'll just see what kind of numbers show on the FCD in the coming weeks and months. She never resets the display, so it will be a good comparison in the near to farther out future for a 'regular' driver.

 

2014 C-Max same EPA miles per gallon as 2013 C-Max.

 

Anyone having recurring slow evap system leak issues? We have been getting the P0456 code after at least two visits to the stealer for repairs. Getting a little frustrated.

Thanks,

Bob

 

Make it 4 times in the shop to fix slow evap system leak.