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Hi everyone. I am a new C-Max energi owner. Picked up a fully loaded 2013 all black today. I have a level 2 charger on my house,so I'm all ready. As a long time Ford parts manager, I'm very familiar with them, and looked for about 6 months to find just what I wanted. One owner, 115k miles, selling dealer serviced from new. The transmission waa changed at 49k under warranty with the updated unit. I can't wait to start modifying it!

Failed vehicle inspection due to "leaking" rear shocks. Shop wanted $700 to replace both. Nope. DIY and casual 4 hours later, replaced both shocks (using TRQs), rotated tires, and cleaned the HVB filter/screen behind passenger-side rear wheel tub while "in there"; screen was clogged and read that can reduce HVB charge. Shocks were slow to remove and reinstall/retorque the bottom bolts (given limited/tight access) and went ahead and replaced both upper shock brackets as well although both looked fine. Not bad overall for $200. Greg

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

It's with great sadness that we're listing our C-Max for sale. We bought the car in 2020 during the pandemic, and it has served us well. It's taken the kids to school, to the supermarket, and many more exciting adventures well beyond Jersey City where we live. We're moving overseas, so the car can't come with us. If we weren't moving so far away, we'd be keeping the C-Max until its dying days. It's spacious, fun to drive, and perfectly sized for city life. It has custom fitted Husky floor liners for both rows, a 3D printed liner for the trunk floor, custom fit windscreen shield, tinted rear windows, and a Sync 3 infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support. Message me if you're interested.

When it bought my 2017 C-max Energi, I found it so solid and stable and smooth on the road that I called it my "Little LTD."

In case it helps someone else about 2 weeks ago my backup camera stopped working about 85% of the time with the error message saying camera not available, see dealer. My car is a 2013 SEL. Occasionally it would work and some of those times the image would be upside down. After reviewing this forum, I ordered the camera (Dorman 592-008 Rear Park Assist Camera) and some plastic trim tools from Amazon. Using the YouTube video below I was able to replace it. I did have one of the tabs on the camera bracket break. I secured it with a trimmed piece of duct tape, and I think it will be fine. If not, I know the camera works and how to get to it now.

Several folks here have gotten over 200k. Enjoy the car. Cheers

For those who may be unaware, the rear hatch cannot be opened if the 12v battery is dead, so do NOT keep jumper cables in the rear cubby.

Welcome, the forum is back alive!

My plan is to change both our trans fluids around 100k. Without any leaks, I'm expecting to add more than is removed due to "heat evaporation" from use (although I remember older transmissions having some venting option that cause some minimal loss). Greg

Now at 82K miles on my 2017 Energi. It's given 65 mpg lifetime, with no repairs, only maintenance.

Not sure about a dealer installed. And I think most have taken the '2014-2017/18' years on the original bulletin as a hard limit on which ones they'll upgrade even though personally I think it wasn't intended to be interpreted that way and just what they covered under the free labor provisions. But I have a 2013 SEL and DIY'd it and it's been running perfectly aside from Ford dropping all the useful features which isn't specific to the '13s and affects everyone.

Cmax lover, Tough call. In general, if you love your cmax and it's in very good shape and well maintained, I'd price a new tranny (hopefully one having a 3 year warranty or so) and if the price is reasonable, pull the trigger given you'll likely get 200K on it. If you want something newer, I'd look at used 2016, 2017, and 2018 cmaxes since those transmissions are purportedly 'better' (although my 2017/2018s were not). At this point, if my 2018 cmax crapped its tranny again, I'd want a 2017 energi, but that's me. Greg

If it were me, I'd just replace the 12v battery and see what happens. I don't recall of anyone having a power steering issue that called for replacement. Or a power steering issue at all, for that matter. Cheers. PS: Remember to reset the battery age monitor. Search the forum for info. BN

Try to find a second hand replacement from a scrap yard via car-part.com. It should make it much more affordable.

Recently traded in my 2016 SEL Hybrid at 85000 miles. 48.8 AVG MPG. Picked up a 2024 Escape Plug-In Hybrid and am loving it.

Took me a bit of time to get around to getting this done at the dealer. Here is the old one: Here is the new one with its protective cover: This is on a 2013 CMax SEL

I installed this one the other day because mine was all fuzzy and blurry on my 2013 CMax hybrid. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08V5321FZ?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details In the reviews on that site, you’ll see someone who links to their YouTube video on how to install it. He does a good job describing the process in that video. Basically pop off the plastic rear panel and remove some plugs and a few nuts.

Welcome. I'm sure you can be a big help to the rest of us, especially as parts get harder to find. Cheers.

A couple of days ago I walked past a neighbor's house and saw someone hard at work on a recent Ford Escape. Turns out the car needed a new battery, and my neighbor had called a skilled friend to replace it. To change the battery in an Escape, you must remove the windshield wipers and the brake fluid reservoir. Several hours of careful disassembly and reassembly are required for an amateur owner to completed this job. Another example of a system engineered to encourage owners to give up and take the car to a professional for even minor service. The 12v battery on my C-Max is buried under the floor aft of the HVB, and looks difficult to remove. Oh boy.

I will try to show a picture - in case it doesn't load.... I used some plumbers putty and sealed it down the bottom of the left side of the windshield. It worked! It appears the water can now find a path to the wheel well and not the floor or my feet.

Forgot to add, as a mature driver myself [70+] I feel your pain.

I happened to be driving my 18-year-old Toyota jalopy down a nearby county road when I spotted a maroon Ford compact for sale in a yard. Thinking it was a little Fiesta I might be able to afford, I stopped to check it out. The seller stepped out to talk about it: "2015 C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid, flexible on price" (OMG -- only nine years old, might as well be brand-new!). By the end of the next day, I was cautiously pressing the accelerator to silently drive it home. By now, I have discovered many of the little surprises that come with a used car -- one missing fob (the seller promises he's looking for it), mysterious warning lights that come on inconsistently, the rear hatch latch that occasionally won't open, and a weird howl from the nearly-new General radial tires. But hey, I'm drivin' hybrid-style, going all of 15 miles on pure electrons before the ICE kicks in and starts burning dinosaur juice (didja catch that use of "ICE" to refer to the piston engine? Yes, I've been reading the forum while I waited for membership approval). So, I am extremely happy to have found this place to humbly (and occasionally stupidly) ask questions of the much more experienced C-Max drivers here. I have a few already waiting to be researched and/or written up. Thank you to all here who offer their knowledge and experience to newbies like me.

Have same problem, check out ford service bulletin. TSB 17-0015 electrical cable chaffing. this is the best answer in can find after searching the net. lots of people having this problem

For me it would't be worth it even if you doubled the range to 20 miles. I would get an escape PHEV (39mile range) or an EV if you don't take frequent long trips. I did buy a Mach-E standard range EV last year after I sold my c-max.

You're fine. The battery has a nice sturdy metal case around it. In fact you can pull up the carpeting back there and see what it looks like. It's just attached with velcro. I know on my Energi I briefly had about a dozen bags of sand from the local big box store loaded, probably well over the vehicle's payload. The battery is no worse for wear.

I'm drinking my victory beer tonight. The punchline: right rear brake pads were installed backwards. Inboard was outboard and vice versa. That gave the outboard brake pad two anti-rattle springs and the inboard one had none. The pad that comes with the spring on the top is the inboard spring. The one that needs you to clip the spring on the outside of the caliper after you tighten the caliper bolts is the outboard. The longer version: the wife was in the hospital for two months, I found myself a single dad overnight trying to run a business and the kids and the household and deal with lawyers and police and court dates and in a moment of profound weakness I decided to let the local garage work on my car to try and lighten my load some. I usually never let other people work on my cars ever. I had posted in January 2023 how the rotors had developed unusual wear and corrosion because I was hardly using them trying to boost my braking score and driving like a saint. I knew the rotors would come off kicking and screaming and they sure did give those guys a terrible hard time. They earned their flat rate pricing that night. I clearly remember when I went to pick up my car the guy was swearing up and down at the last rotor he had to do that just would not budge. It was the right rear. He was good and worn out an hour after closing as he was putting the last wheel back on and clearly ran out of new swear words to teach me. In his exhausted state he got them reversed. As near as I can tell as the anti-squeak slowly wore out and rolled up into an orange booger and fell off the rattle got worse and worse and worse. I can't tell you how many times I inspected the brake pads to make sure they were not sliding fore-aft and they weren't. And when I checked them one last time today sure enough I found the culprit. If you pull the rear wheels off, look down in the top of the caliper. If you don't see the spring inside that top hole in the caliper, your spring has sprung, or you have the pads switched. Anybody in the market for a pair of slightly used but otherwise perfectly good rear swaybar end links and shock absorbers? 😉 At least I don't have to worry about the upper shock absorber mounts cracking for another 6 years.

Likely the number is just maxed out and won't move any further. Not too surprising. There should be an option in the menus to reset the lifetime stats here and start over so it can accumulate once again. But then you'd have to keep external track of these previous numbers if that matters to you. Also I wouldn't be too surprised to see 99.9% of the vehicle used in EV only operation. There were some members here early on who were REALLY particular about only operating in EV mode. I can't honestly think of any other explanation why the lifetime summary would show these numbers and not be legitimate. Even though this vehicle really isn't designed to be a full EV, it doesn't stop some from operating as such.

Look here

This is correct. If the battery or hybrid system completely fails, the vehicle will no longer drive. At bare minimum the starter/generator motor in the transmission is necessary for starting the engine as well as facilitating the operation of the 'continuously variable' aspect of the eCVT and allowing the engine to properly transmit power to the wheels. This starter/generator motor is powered by the high voltage battery. That all said, there are plenty of failure modes up to the point of complete failure where the vehicle will see the battery is worn/degraded and may not be reliable to use for EV operation or higher loads but will gracefully fall back to hybrid operation or full time ICE operation and still be drivable but with reduced functionality. With how most dealers are clueless on these cars, I'd always go for a second opinion when they call for costly repairs like this. At the very least, getting any codes read and posting to a forum like this with more experienced owners who can hopefully narrow things down or confirm/deny the dealer's findings.

I wouldn't stress out about it too much. We have a 2014 SEL made 03/2014 and it has now 175k miles with original transmission. I've changed the fluid at 150k miles. I've heard that it could happen to every year...not just the 2013 and 14 models. Not sure what the real reason for the bearing failure is. Maybe some "Monday" models😁or too low on trans fluid for some reason. Mine was actually a little low on fluid, but still No problems.

Welcome to the forum. There's not much to check on with a car with so low of mileage other than maintainance records & any accident reports. Since lead acid batteries degrade almost as much from age as they do mileage, unless it has been replaced, it is about 7yrs old, so if possible check the 12v battery. It is entering that age when LA batteries start to fail. [Not just on the C-Max but most 12v batteries in all cars]. With that low of use/mileage, it is possible fuel may show signs of getting stale, [easiest way to tell is by smell of the exhaust]. Would suggest using fuel system cleaner the first few tanks of gas if you decide to purchase. Merry Christmas & Thanks for the read.

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

Currently have a 2013 Ford C max and I’ll unplugged it from the 12 V battery in the hatch. Now it’s acting like it’s dead. It has no power to the dash but you can drive it. Has power to the windows etc. Also the back hatch won’t close now either.

To be clear, my 2013 never failed, but I traded it in at 66K miles. My lack of faith was bolstered by results of an early C-Max life test, service records attached, where 3 of 4 Hybrids, and 0 of 4 Energi's, had transmissions replaced at ~100K miles, in severe service. I can no longer find the data online, but can offer the attached for your perusal. For reference, the service records for many other hybrid/plug-in/electric vehicles in these tests went on for pages. There's very little C-Max service that's not replacing wear-out parts. And you may have the 4th hybrid, whose transmission will last. (Energi's have an electric oil pump.) IDL data 2013cmax HEV PHEV.zip

I'm also looking to put on taller tires, bumping up only the aspect ratio from 225/50/R17 to 225/55/R17. So all other tire dimensions would be the same except for a .4" taller sidewall. Does anyone know if they would rub with such a change?

I'm super interested in this topic too. As far as I understand it you can move from 17' to 18' without a problem. Not sure about bigger than 18' though. I do think that bigger tires will reduce your MPGs tough (basically the car has to do more work to turn the wheels)

After a year of inaction I decided to take the dive & replace the camera on my 2013 SEL, with hope that it would not be more than my auto repair knowledge. Turns out it was easier than I was afraid of. Research online showed cheapest was RockAuto/Amazon/Ebay, about $150 after taxes & shipping opposed to local parts stores or dealer, $200-$500. I am partial to RockAuto but whoever works for you. My car called for part #Dorman 592-008, I believe your 2014 uses the same#, but verify first. You will need 1. a Phillips head screwdriver, 2. A 10mm socket & 2in extension, 3. A small flat head screwdriver & a trim removal tool or dull regular screwdriver [dull to prevent scratches] or a dull butter knife, worked just as well for me. Optional: dielectric grease & crazy glue #1.Remove top center trim. Has 2 clips at 1/3 & 2/3 across & 2 plug-ins to side panels. #2.Remove 2 side panels. Had clips at top & center & 2 plug-in to big/main panel at bottom end. #3.Using small flat head remove buttons on hatch handle to access Phillips heads & remove handle. [ I needed a small flashlight to see heads & put driver in correctly but I am old and feeble at the worst times] & remove 2 rear light access doors to help pull big panel. #4Remove big panel. If you have the push button close, find a helper to hold big panel while you unplug switch before you undo the last 1-3 clips, [Murphy's Law dictates that wind will gust while you try to hold panel with one hand & unplug with other hand] #5.With 10mm socket & ext. remove 4 nuts that hold outer body with the license plate lights & camera. Be careful not to drop any of the nuts into bottom of hatch. #6. Remove camera from socket holding it in place. Mine had 2 "fingers" on one side holding it. Unplug camera, easier to unplug after removal than in place, plug in new camera & follow pattern in reverse to reassemble. Total time was about 2 hours, but I am a bit slow a deliberate when it comes to auto repair. #7.You may want to use dielectric grease on plugs to guard against water & use crazy glue on small plastic parts that may break, be sure glue is dry before reassembly. This worked for me & I now had a camera that works [better than O/E]. Hope this helps & Thanks for the read.

My personal opinion on this is I'd be perfectly fine bringing the Energi forum back but just lock it and use it as an archive. I think with the small userbase here, having both Hybrid and Energi discussions on the same forum is fine moving forward rather than as separate sites. But that's just my opinion and thought on it. ?

After 5 years, My FOB 1 would not work at all. I put in a new battery, and when I hold the fob next to the steering wheel, I can start the car. But it will not lock or unlock the doors. Any suggestions? The new battery is rated at 3 volts and reads 3.2 volts on a volt meter. The old one read 2.7 volts. The original FOB2 still works fine. Any suggestions?

And I'm still getting best MPG's that I have ever gotten. With 409 mi. on this tank and 410 mi. to Empty, currently 58.9 mpg with 50% HWY. :) Paul

Just found out that Rockauto has the Motorcraft rebuilt axle (Right) for $145 + shipping. I do have a competent local mechanic who can pull and install an axle within 45 mins(given there are no seized/ruste parts) just in case

So, I cut up some plexiglass, got some black adhesive, and... ...the contents of my glove box actually stay in place now! :)

Hi everyone and thx again to many here for the tips and sharing the Plasti-dip experience. My Max now has a black grill and rims. The grill has one coat of glossifier on it and the wheels are just straight Plasti-dip. I love how it turned out. I did have some problems with taping off the open areas of the grill and the paint lines where its was masked do show. Not sure what to do with this? My thoughts are to either touch it up by painting the area that were missed by brush or getting thinner and removing the Plasti-dip in that area. As long as the lines are clean I think either of these should work. Not sure what others have done with masking this area off? Anyway, We drove to Detroit and I took some photos near the old train station here. What a change to the look of the car. I really like the new look.

Geesh... How simple, yet needed. I wish Ford would take note of this, and possibly cut you a small check for the idea :)

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

those kinds of filters will hi-flow more dirt/dust into your engine. don't waste your money.

I put a hi flow filter in my truck 15 years ago.(still have the same one in there) I got a 5 mpg boost and has 300,000 miles on it now with no problems. Saves gas and only have to buy one over the life of the vehicle. What more could you ask for?

Why do people believe the C-Max has a restrictive filter? where's the evidence? and replacing it with an oiled K&N less restrictive filter is of benefit? where's the evidence? If you want more dirt in your engine, put the K&N filter in or any other less restrictive filter. If you want to save money on air filter changes starting at 120 k miles, put the K&N filter in (3 - OEM filters = 1 K&N filter). If you want to risk an oiled MAF sensor, put the oiled K&N filter in (of course K&N denies this is an issue with a properly oiled filter). It's one own choice but beware of seat of the pants performance and mileage improvement claims using a "less restrictive" filter (if there is a restriction, it's virtually always not the air filter) ;)

I've never liked dead pedals, this one is REALLY bad.