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old one above. New one: https://www.tsbsearch.com/Ford/22-2396

Not to worry. The car will operate in normal hybrid mode. Cheers

Just found out that the coolant reservoir has an overflow tube somewhere by the cap. I must have accidently pointed the funnel in that direction while filling up the reservoir, hence the spilling of coolant. Guess because of the bad location of the reservoir, it's hard to get the funnel into a straight position while filling.

Hi all, just an update in case you are interested - i took the car to the same dealership, and they've identified an issue with the Body Control Module, so they`ll be replacing it and reprogramming everything. They managed to replicate the issue by turning the heat full blast and leaving it on for a while. Hopefully replacing the BCM will resolve the issue. A bit disappointed to be honest that a 2017 car with 30k miles, which was babied by both me and the original owner, requires such an expensive repair. I am not sure what could have caused it, or if BCM's are something that are prone to breakage, but that's where we are at the moment. Cheers and thanks everyone who read/commented!

Welcome, the forum is back alive!

All the listings I see have the same hatch fitting all years of the car. The tail lights did change in 2017, but all they did was flip the white and red parts of the lens and restyle the lenses slightly. They appear to be the same shape. Here's how to take the light off the liftgate on a pre 2017, but they seem to mount the same way on every year. I doubt they changed the mounting lug locations even if the lens got restyled.

Yes, you can mount the bracket as you want to. The original Ford bracket has contoured sides to fit over the grill ribs. It is riveted through the solid panel between the grille slats at the two points in the recessed rectangles marked with the yellow arrows. I drilled pilot holes and used short chunky self-tapping 1/2" screws that I had in hand to mount mine. There is some space behind the grille to work with. Probably at least an inch. The OEM brackets are still available if you look on the web. Ford part number FO1068151 Here's a link to one source: https://www.theautopartsshop.com/sku/replace-front-license-plate-bracket-fo1068151 One other thing I did was replace the nasty hex head plate screws with 1/2" #14 Phillips head screws which look nicer and also won't damage another car's bumper. The photo of the gray car is off the web (not my car), the bracket is mounted too high, the wide notch should fit over the painted section below the grille - see the second picture (which IS my car).

Thanks for finding a reasonable replacement. Knowing the group number will be a big help. Also, don't forget to reset the battery age monitor/charging scheme. Something like hold the brake pedal down, rub your belly 10 times, or some such. Search the forum for specifics. Cheers.

Yes, you absolutely can brick modules in ways that are not possible to recover, requiring installation of a new part instead. I don't want to mince words here, we are dealing with parts of the vehicle Ford never intended to be modified in the way we are modifying them. It is possible to permanently damage modules and your car. The safeties are off. It is dangerous to your wallet to do this. I had to buy three Parking Aid Modules because I screwed up one, got the wrong part for the second one, and the third finally worked to add automatic parallel park assist. The original one off my car and the other two are sitting in a box in the back of my garage reminding me to read part numbers correctly the first time before searching on fleabay. There are generally two types of 'programming' you can do with Forscan: AsBuilt config changes and module firmware updates. Modifying "AsBuilt" configuration flags is _usually_ safe. Save a backup of the original, make sure it's easy to find, then follow guide on the settings you can flip. I've written about those config settings here: https://github.com/Cellivar/ford-c-max/tree/main/systems/modules I've got links to sources where I get my information on those pages, and some of those have been myself , CR08, bookemdano, and others changing flags and seeing what happened. I say _usually_ safe here because some of those AsBuilt settings are actually one-time-change permanent flags. If you change some of them you can't put them back. If this happens to your Body Control Module or Powertrain Control Module those are expensive and complex to replace. And again, since Ford never intended anyone outside of Ford to touch these, those settings that can't be changed back are completely undocumented and have to be discovered by trial and error. The F150 folks doing this sort of thing have found a number of them in their Transmission Control Modules and, well, that's pretty annoying and expensive to replace. Module reprogramming is an entirely different beast. Ford provides very little external information about the different versions of firmware for modules, this is again pieced together through trial and error. We know things like "don't update the firmware of the IPC while it's in the car" because people have bricked their IPCs doing this. We know "don't update the BECM firmware on its own" because it turns out the BECM, DCDC module, and a few other things all need to be on a compatible-with-each-other firmware version. Which version is that for each module? That's right, trial and error. "Your car doesn't run until you try every combination" sorts of trial and error. And firmware module updates can take hours. All this to say: Nothing we're doing is 'safe to do', it's about making it 'safe-er to do'. Learn as much as you can ahead of time BEFORE you start messing around. There's a reason I started writing things down into my GitHub space. Have a backup plan in case everything goes horribly wrong. Backup config files. Backup module firmware versions. Backup your odometer reading. Backup everything so you can put it back in a hurry if you need to. If you can't live without your car working for a while wait for a better time to mess with things. Read all instructions and guides carefully before you do anything in them, making sure you understand them before you try them. Don't expect your dealer to bail you out, they don't know what we're doing and they often know less than you do. So long as you keep your head on straight, understand what you're doing before you do it, and have a backup plan in case what you're trying to do doesn't work, you will usually be okay. Usually. Good luck.

Hi! I am new to the forum and wanted to introduce myself. I live in Michigan and have fallen in love with the CMAX. Last fall (2022) our family went through some big medical issues so I sold my 2022 Bronco Sport back to the dealer and walked out with a used CMAX 2016 SEL with 96,000 miles on it. The salesperson was driving it as his demo car and couldn't stop raving about how it's one of the best cars Ford ever made and how Ford made a mistake not making them anymore. I said yes to a CMAX to help save money and to get better gas mileage driving my husband back and forth to the hospital and to and from numerous appointments. I love the car so much! My oldest son who is in college is now driving the 2016 CMAX (his car took a dump this semester). He loves it! A 2017 Ford CMAX Energi with only 54,000 miles is on its way to me this week and I can't wait. I am constantly reading this forum and fangirling over the CMAX, so thought I would join! I am excited to learn more and hopeful the batteries will last as long as possible.

Here is an old thread on the topic. best-highway-cruising-speed-for-mpgs

The rear suspension is built similar to many other cars on the road and should have no problem being serviced by a local repair shop. I would check the rear shock mount first. They are made of aluminum and tend to disintegrate over time. I recently had to replace mine on my 2013 Energi after one failed.

Welcome, I guess the previous owner bought a new car with the bingo winnings.

I love the steering in this era of Euro-developed Fords. I wish they were a little chattier, but barely anything from any brand in this era is. They're just well weighted, heavy enough without needing build your biceps, just enough feel, and stable at highway speeds so that a slight motion off center doesn't send you careening towards the next lane.

Energi will get you the used car tax credit if you buy it from a dealer, but if cargo space is important it's not the car for you. Same with small turning radius. I swear, Mack trucks could turn inside a C-Max turning radius.

Also in case you haven't caught the reply I made in your other thread, you really should avoid using EV mode (Auto with EV charge available or EV Now) on the highway as it really stresses the battery. If you have charge available, switch to EV Later. If the plug-in charge is depleted, EV Auto (it won't let you switch out of it in this case) will operate in the 'safer' hybrid operation. Other than that, the other comments here are correct. The battery still has some level of charge internally like 10-15% or thereabouts for that fallback hybrid operation that it constantly cycles up and down as you drive.

Another positive C-Max article. Enjoy! https://fordauthority.com/2024/02/2015-2016-ford-c-max-among-crs-most-fun-to-drive-cars/

Just to confirm, what exact module are you referring to when you talk about the 'radio' attempting to be replaced? There's a few audio related modules in this vehicle: ACM - The radio tuner/CD unit that sits behind the dash and CD slot APIM - The Sync module. On 4" equipped vehicles I believe this is inside the passenger side of the center console roughly under the cup holder area. DACM - This is the amplifier/Active Noise Cancellation module. This sits under the glove compartment. All C-Max vehicles should be equipped with it as it is necessary for the ANC function which I believe they all had standard regardless of trim. If you want to try to disable the ANC, you can follow the easy instructions at the thread below. However this does not usually cause complete audio failures, just the addition of some droning noise to the cabin while the ICE is running under certain conditions. More than likely the ACM (the actual tuner/CD unit behind the dash) is the culprit. It's a common issue on these vehicles for various reasons. As far as replacements go, I'd stick with something out of another C-Max, a Focus, or Escape to play it safe since they share the same electrical architecture. You will need to reprogram it to your vehicle though. Most likely this is why the noted attempt with the low volume happened because it wasn't configured correctly to your vehicle. If you are technically savvy enough, Forscan will do this for you easily. I'd recommend putting the old ACM back in and see if it is 'alive' enough for Forscan to pull the old AsBuilt from and then you can put the replacement in and write that to it. If the old ACM won't read properly in Forscan, there's a second option pulling directly from Ford as they keep a copy of the AsBuilt for most modules. You can do so at the link below. You're looking for the 727-XX-XX blocks of data. https://www.motorcraftservice.com/AsBuilt If you are not comfortable doing this, any dealer or mechanic with access to Ford's IDS tools should be able to do this for you. In their own tools it is usually referred to as a 'Programmable Module Installation' procedure.

Thank you @ptjonesfor all your info on this topic. We have a 2016 Energi and have implemented most of what you have recommended. Luckily we don’t have that long of a drive for work so even now we still have less than 60k miles on our energi. Currently our average MPG over the lifetime of our energi is 67.8 mpg. We have taken several road trips before, but we are about to embark on the largest road trip yet 4,000 miles over 10 days. So hopefully we will get some great MPG during our trip. We only have the grill aero shields on though.

Sorry this took a while, but the slightly taller battery that still fits group is H4.

Hybrids work best with low rolling resistance tires -- although a few of the ones I've bought over the years seem to start at 7/10" tread so you're paying a lot and getting less tire? That formulation makes it easy to get up to speed and then be able to coast around town. If the tires are too sticky then you aren't going to be able to coast on electric only and save gas. I've used Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max tires, Bridgestone Ecopia EP422 Plus and Pirelli Cinturato P7 I would recommend the Goodyears again -- or the Ecopia tire if you can find them (although they seemed noisier). Currently I am using the plain Goodyear Assurance tires WITHOUT the fuel max -- which ARE stickier than usual, and do cause the car's drivetrain to shudder with sudden stops .. That's what the dealership had in stock that day and I thought maybe they would eventually wear down to 7/10 anyway. There is a slight hit on MPG.

Heard that Ford finally "owned up" to unresolved tranny issues (through 2018s). Sadly, not a recall (yet), but at least a TSB: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2018/MC-10148717-9999.pdf

Thanks for the detailed response! Sure looks the same other than color. I’m going to go ahead and order it once I confirm my cars lights mount the same way. Swapping the lenses does indeed looks very easy.

I've only heard of like one battery pack that has seriously failed so far. . Having said that if the car is 10 years old and has say 150k mi on it you might need to expect to spend at least $5k within the next 5 years to replace the pack. There are some Prius cars with 10+ years and at least 200k mi that failing but those packs are NiMH .. the C-MAX was one of the first hybrids to use lithium ion packs so it's still a bit of a guess as to how long they will last. Batteries kept in the same environment as humans will last longer. Battery sitting outside in the AZ sun or used as a taxi, not so much ..

No. The hybrid models don't have the same degradation issues as the Energi. Ford unfortunately had poor programming on the Energi models in regards to the thermal protection and when EV use is allowed, allowing owners who just drive it like any other ICE vehicle to add extra wear to the battery. By the nature of how the hybrid models operate, they don't ever get stressed to the same level and can be driven normally without any extra precautions. The batteries should last the life of the vehicle. As for transmission issues, that's a whole confusing mess. Some owners who have been around the C-Max community for a while have recently started considering that the whole transmission failure concern is a bit overblown. That's not to say it can't happen, but it's been so heavily pushed as a major detractor for the early model years even from those who have not experienced it themselves and just parroting the same line (of which I have been one but I've dialed that back a bit). Also there have been some owners of newer model years including 2017 models that have had their transmissions start to exhibit the same failure symptoms so I wouldn't even count those out of the woods yet. On top of that, no one has really been able to narrow down what the true failure causes are. We all know it comes down to an incorrectly installed bearing installed from the factory that holds the transfer gear and can cause it to slip and eat into the transmission case but its unsure what triggers that to happen in the first place. I've made this recommendation elsewhere and gotten heavily criticized for it, but this is a hill I'll die on: I'd honestly recommend to shorten the transmission fluid change intervals on any C-Max vehicles regardless of if it is a hybrid or Energi or whatever model year it is. Ford's recommendation is 150k miles. I'd probably consider 50-75k but that's just pulling numbers out of my ass if I'm being honest. But the premise being to watch what the fluid comes out like and if there's any sign of wear particles that could indicate the start of a failure. eCVTs by their nature don't have any wear components to them so on a healthy unit there shouldn't ever be any metal particles in the fluid. Changing early can give you a bit of a heads up before a more catastrophic failure. Fluid changes on these aren't difficult or expensive so IMHO it's worth doing so more often for peace of mind. If a potential failure can be caught early, the transmission can be pulled and opened up and get the transfer gear/bearing replaced at a fraction of the cost of replacing the entire transmission.

From the effects that you are getting, IMO, it sounds as if your 12v battery is failing or borderline. A voltage drop even while driving will spark the SSN message & may go away when battery recovers. When voltage drops, stored codes are being erased. If you can hook-up a voltmeter, I believe you should get 13.5+ volts ICE on or in ACC mode. ICE & ACC mode off, 11+ volts. [please others with more knowledge chime in with better volt numbers]. You can check for a voltage drop when you put on breaks & hopefully it is a brake light short causing problems. Again this is just IMO, no sure fix. Hope this helps. Thanks for the read.

If you have another Ford dealer available I'd try them. I recently bought a second 2016 C-Max Energi with 59k miles and it has a low roar/howl under load my first 16 with the same miles does not. The dealer I use has a Shop Foreman who has a 2017 C-Max as his personal vehicle. We drove the car and he diagnosed it as the pinion in the final drive going bad - the dealer is replacing the transmission. The Energi has an 8/100k warranty on the powertrain including the transmission (in CARB states like California it's 10/150k) so don't accept one opinion. The C-Max should be very quiet if it's right. Good luck.

You may need to take the car in to get it scanned by Ford.. it's hard to say with no diagnostic codes. Another person recently posted similar .. maybe transmission issue or if you are lucky maybe a brake switch ? I say because it's bucking without you hitting the brake but it's all speculation until you get some codes.

That will depend on numerous factors like the current battery health/wear, ambient temp, HVAC use, driving style, etc.. Hence the aforementioned battery health test. A lot of people try to use their miles of range as an indicator of battery health which can wildly vary. Getting the actual kwh is the only true way to gauge battery health. But to at least give some answer to your question: The vehicle was originally rated for up to 20 miles of range. Some people have gotten more with weird trickery with constantly changing the drive modes, confusing the range estimator. My 2013 with ~3.5kwh of capacity currently gets about 12-15 miles on a good day.

I would think so too...never heard of a C-max having engine failure but plenty of trans issues

Actually there is. Many owners of newer model years have confirmed this on the FB C-Max groups. My 2013 didn't have it initially but I was able to add it. Need to go through the BCM Central Config in Forscan and there's a Global Open/Global Close option. It may need to be 'toggled' to get it to work, ie: If it already shows Global Close enabled, switch to something else like disabled or Global Open only, save/write, then go back in and repeat the process with Global Close enabled.

Saw some forum posts about this Roadtop system on another Ford forum. I think the on-screen functionality is fine, but the sound quality from the connected Android phone or iPhone is rubbish because it's going through Roadtop system and the AV inputs.

Hi all, just picked up my 2015 C-max Energi Titanium Plus with 145000 kilometers. It got traded in at a Volvo garage a friend of mine is running and he knew I was looking for a PHEV. Although working in EV industry for >6 years (CHPT) I never knew there were ever PHEV C-max sold in The Netherlands; actually less than 1000 have indeed been put on the road here. Hope to find useful information here.

WOW! Hope nothing was damaged. I would guess, take a look at the coolant thermostat. If that was stuck shut such that the coolant couldn't circulate maybe the pressure could built up.

Alright, I realize it's only surface rust, but I will only buy and install coated rotors from now on...I was thinking (probably more so hoping) that DFC daily driver rotors would also be coated in some fashion to retard rusting, but they aren't and for only 10 to 20 dollars more for a full set of rotors, it's worth it to me to go coated just for the better rust-free appearance. Live and learn I guess... Greg

40,000 mile service should be nothing special other than engine oil and filter change and tire rotation (and replace your cabin and engine filters if not already done). That's all I would do. Greg

Hybrid only goes a couple miles on ev so the benefits would be minimal. This is a joke, you could put the front wheels on an electric Dynamometer and press the brakes to charge the hybrid battery.?

Yes, but why not have the option to add a sorely missed feature in this vehicle? May not be up to everyone's skill set, but it's there for those that want to tackle it. Purely informational which is always a welcome thing in this small community. Also you may not use the rear washer regularly to notice. I know I rarely use mine in comparison to the front washer. There may also be some corner cases where you may not have the washer fluid available once it stops working and will be SOL. Think out in the middle of nowhere on a road trip. Another fun little tidbit and makes the actual low fluid level sensor better than relying on the rear washer stopping: The way the washer fluid system is built in our vehicles (as well as many other Ford's with rear washers apparently) is it is a single pump that reverses polarity based on which is used. The reason the rear washer may stop flowing first is due to the longer fluid line (as well as having to run all the way up to the roof line) and needing the entire thing to be primed to have a flow. For the washer fluid level sensor, it sits higher up in the bottle and will give a lot more advance warning when it runs low instead of being when the bottle is completely empty where the pump can no longer do its job. At that point you're relying on what little fluid remains in the lines from the pump to the front washer nozzles. Personally, and why I am posting stuff like this, is I am very much interested in finding ways to add features back in that Ford never bothered to. There's a ton of potential, largely due to being shared with the Focus platform which in some respects (especially overseas) had a lot more going for it. Unfortunately with the community being so small and many owners that are of the older age groups who just treat it as an appliance (no harm in that), that very few people like myself are willing to dive in to this stuff.

Here is the mpg vs speed graph from this review.

It is done. I downloaded the swap instructions directly from the Ford website. It took about 5 hours using a cherry picker. I am getting right at 60 mph going on a 52 mile daily round trip going 59 mph about 2/3 of the time, the rest being stop signs and lights.

FYI, there is no torque converter in the C-Max.

You should feel a large increase in air flow in the upper vents when you close the lower vents. Had a similar problem on my Ford Explorer which may not be related to your problem. The problem was where the solenoid push rod attached to the seal plate for the floor vent the plastic was broken. Was able to fix with a small cable tie to connect the solenoid push rod to the seal plate. This saved a lot of $ and work as I was able to do the repair without taking the dash apart and it lasted at least 10 years until the car was later sold.

It is a hybrid unique component which is covered by 8 yr/100,000 mi or 10 yr/150,000 mi if (first)sold in a CARB state. Unfortunately if your C-MAX falls under federal rules then you have passed the 8 years, as it’s whichever comes first…

Was changed in 2014. Mar 12 2014 4717 -2014 Fusion and MKZ Hybrid/Energi - Oil Viscosity Specification Change The oil viscosity recommendation of 5W-20 on the oil fill caps on some 2014 Fusion and MKZ Hybrid/Energi vehicles may appear to conflict with the owner guide and other service publications which recommend 0W-20 oil. Both 0W-20 oil and 5W-20 oil are approved for use in these vehicles.

Just wanted to update this thread. The dealership was able to reproduce the Stop Safely Now message while they had it in the shop. They did some pinpoint tests and determined it was the transmission range sensor wiring harness which was faulty. Apparently this is internal to the HF35 transmission. They can't service the HF35 internally so they had to replace the whole transmission. The HF35's are backordered at the moment so it took 6 weeks but was covered under warranty.

Front wheel drive causes larger turning radius.

Well, there goes the trade-in vaue of my 2013!!

Thanks Jus! This should be required reading for the SALESMEN at Ford dealerships! They have no clue on how to tell new drivers to drive their cars. One of Asia's running buddies picked up her new loaded SEL C-MAX last week and the idiot salesman told her there was no way she would get over 37mpg!!! Can you believe that? I told her maybe it was a challenge......for her to prove him wrong. I have given her the forum link and expect her to drop in sometime soon.

I only wish that there were aftermarket kits available. I'd like to have a sportier look that might improve fuel economy. On the other hand, I am no engineer, and I am not going to go to the point of fabricating components.

Was this plug kit one you could use without removing the tire from the rim? Here is a link to an article on tire repair which says that's not a good way to go. http://www.aroundhawaii.com/lifestyle/art_and_leisure/2011-02-repairing-todays-tires-beware-of-tire-plugs.html