jzchen

My gripe about the battery, if I recall correctly, was that the + side is the near side. I would think they could have chosen the reverse so the - side is accessible for pulling the ground. Hopefully a bolt extractor would reach/fit?

I bought my dongle/USB to OBDII from a company in Russia. Not sure if it’d make it through the mail right now, nor the tariff rate. ?

If someone knew/knows the Fit Kit Part number the installation instructions could be found through Google search… Hmm. There are square bars and there are aero bars. The 480R uses the aero bars. The 480 would fit the square bars. I’m afraid we may have mixed up 480 with 480R?

I just want to clarify why I suspect the battery and not a power draw issue, and it’s because ours was a 2013 Energi model AND that day someone else on this forum had the exact same low/dead battery issue. I suspected some sort of SYNC communication with Ford issue. The ‘13 model year did have some sort of drain concern with recall/T-SB. It involved wrapping a wire harness to the trunk to prevent cutting and shorting, plus some sort of flash. I do hope they got rid of any similar type of issue by the 2017 model year, hence my hunch towards the 12 V needing replacement. Do you have SYNC 3? Please do follow up with any OBD codes you may find.

For ours way before needing a jump there was a indicator I believe on the infotainment screen (if not then the instrument cluster) that the 12V battery was low. I forget the message specifics but it was clear it needed replacement. (Car still started normally as we were leaving to go somewhere). I definitely suspect you need to replace it at this point…

I have experience with buying parts for the now old Thule system. Yes I believe the foot kit you got was the 480R which I vaguely recall use the aero blades. Thank you for sharing that instruction it looks like the newer Wing blade Evos also fit (pardon me if I got the exact name wrong. These feet are usually available for a long time past the “expiration” of the specific vehicle fitting, if you’ll just humor me for a second. The foot attaches to the roof of each specific vehicle with what is called a “Fit Kit”. This kit is vehicle specific and tends to disappear from production and then Thule will delist an available solution for the car. Did what you were sold include this kit? Basically it’ll be like a “L” to attach to the door frame. Those 4 pieces aka fit kit are/is probably the most difficult part to find…

No problem that’s what the forum is here for. I cheated and went to the Thule UK site and found this.

Here’s a page/document describing the process: https://www.fordservicecontent.com/Ford_Content/vdirsnet/OwnerManual/Home/Content?variantid=4097&languageCode=en&countryCode=USA&Uid=G1805903&ProcUid=G1730059&userMarket=USA&div=f&vFilteringEnabled=False&buildtype=web#:~:text=The format of the audio,WAV. I’m guessing off the bat that Fat16/Fat32 is the formatting you need to change to….

Sometimes the automotive parts stores code reader displays the wrong code. Be careful not to chase the wrong issue! Where are you in California? If nearby a member with Forscan may help verify the code…

It’s Ford website content here if I’m successful: https://www.fordservicecontent.com/ford_content/catalog/owner_guides/14hybwa1e.pdf

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…

Interesting, (I'm tinkering with the Mobil oil selector with our '18 Clarity). The next oil change will be at over 75k mi, and if I check that box top choice is Extended Performance High Mileage, 2nd choice Hybrid. If I uncheck it meaning less than 75k mi Hybrid is top choice, followed by Extended Performance (non-high mileage). I have stocked one 5 qt of the Extended Performance High Mileage for the next (over 75k mi) oil change, prior to this Hybrid release...

I checked the http://www.mobiloil.com website and see 5W-20 listed. Did Ford switch to recommending 0W-20 at some point? (Ours was a 2013 Energi). It's a bummer their website makes no mention of it from what I saw, (maybe I missed it somewhere)... EDIT- Checked what oil it recommends for our '18 Honda Clarity PHEV and low and behold 0W-20 Hybrid is top of the list!

When we traded in ours there had developed some kind of whine/noise (60k mi ish) from what I suspected the transmission. There was battery degradation but the car doesn’t seem to throw error codes due to that alone, and people have reported driving Energis basically like the Hybrids due to so much degradation. If your two choices both had around the same amount of mileage I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the C-MAX, but that is a huge difference for me to consider recommending the C-MAX over the Buick…

I would absolutely not replace the battery unless the car has some sort of error/check engine light saying it needs it. I loved our C-MAX Energi and even offered my wife to buy it off her when she ultimately traded it in for a ‘18 Honda Clarity PHEV. BUT if I had to choose between a C-MAX Energi with 100k mi to a 29k mi, newer ‘19 vs at the latest ‘17 (C-MAX), I would definitely choose to give her the Buick.