jeff-tx

Hi Everyone, Looking through the forums, I only found a couple topics addressing the creaking noise coming from around both front doors and possibly the back doors. For an otherwise quiet car, the constant, plasticky creaking while driving, turning, going up/down a driveway, around a corner, etc. where the body flexes is getting more and more bothersome because it's right near my ears. It wasn't like this during the first year I owned the car. During my last service, I had the Ford dealership investigate, they said that they lubricated the door seals, but that made no difference and I wasn't ready to leave the car with them for another whole day just for the creaks, so I decided to try and remedy the problem myself. I bought a can of silicone spray lubricant and went over all the seals. There are several layers of seals, on the door, on the body, on the trim, between the plastic, all over. I was generous with the spray on the seals and the body, hoping it would work. No luck. What I noticed was the cheap, shiny, plastic band of trim on the B-pillar, outside of the car, that goes along the rear, vertical edge of the window, (where you most naturally push to close the door) flexes a lot and creaks a lot. I sprayed the silicone all around that plastic and moved it around as much as I could to get silicone between the plastic and the metal of the frame. That quieted the creaks a little, but they soon returned full force. This is one junky piece of trim that looks and feels poorly fitted and fastened. Anyone agree? Another thing that I noticed is that if I lightly and quickly press down on the power window button to move the windows down a millimeter or so, the creaking nearly stops. As soon as you roll the windows up all the way, the creaking comes back instantly. I'm wondering if the pressure of the window glass being pushed all the way up into the door seal is creating an outward pressure and tight fit of all the plastic in the glass surround. If I drive with the windows down any amount, the creaking is not noticeable at all. Does anyone else have this creaking problem? Do you notice if you lightly and quickly press and release the power window button to bring it down a few millimeters if the creaking stops? Thanks for any comments you might have. I'm not sure another trip to the dealer to take apart all that plastic trim on the doors might help. If it's a design flaw that reveals itself after 1.5 years of use, I might be wasting my time. Jeff

Thanks everyone for checking their hatch and letting me know. I guess those stickers are meant to be there for some reason. I wash my car weekly with a regular bucket and hose, no high-pressure washer or anything so I don't know how the water is getting into the hatch. For now I'm going to just leave the sticker off on the driver's side and wait and watch to see if the passenger side traps water. Perhaps it is designed to completely drain out or dry out normally after a few hours. I did see the water right after washing.

Hey Fellow C-MAX Owners, I was washing my car this afternoon and while drying the hatch door, I noticed water trapped behind a clear sticker that is covering what looks like a drainage hole. I pulled the sticker off and let the water out, but I'm wondering if that sticker is supposed to be there, especially if it's keeping water in the hatch door. There was no water behind the passenger side hole, also covered with a sticker. The center of the door had a hole that wasn't covered. Do you all have these clear stickers applied on your hatch doors? Is there water behind them? Peel-off or re-apply? Thanks! Jeff

I was happy to get 47.3 mpg on a 163 mile trip from Austin to Houston on Highway 290. I drove between 55-64 miles per hour, with A/C on and no cruise control. I was trying to hold the car in EV around 58-62mph as frequently as possible. The hills helped a lot, but I was the slowest car on the road. It's nice to know 47 highway is possible, but I will probably drive faster in the future.