emcdonnell

cr08 - Thank you. Guess I need to improve my forum search skills as well as my engine part search skills. I took the opportunity to change the ari filter while I had the air box out so at least I feel better about the time I invested this morning. Taking it to the dealer on Thursday, so I'll be able to check and see if they actually do anything. Again, thanks for the help. Ed

I've got a 2018 c-max hybrid and I thought I would check out the condition of the shifter bushing. I didn't find any online videos for the c-max. Based on videos for other ford models subject to the recall, it seemed like removing the airbox might let me check it out. I can't see it. Where is the lever/bushing on a c-max? Ed

Thanks for the suggestion. So, I went out to clean the touch area on the handle, but it didn't unlock as I approached the passenger side of the car. Worked just like it should, only when you touch it. When the problem started it had just been driven for about an hour at highway speeds. When I just went out now it had been sitting there for a couple hours. So, I started the engine ( in case it had something to do with a component needing to be recently powered up), turned it off, locked the car (from the driver side), walked over to the passenger side and it did not unlock. The problem seems to have vanished. I had previously checked to make sure all the doors were completely closed. Temp is about 10 degrees cooler and humidity is lower (cold front coming through). Maybe the electronics are getting fussy about the weather. Not sure what to think at the moment. I'm going to check my battery tomorrow and make sure it's in good shape. I've had weird things happen in the past when the battery was on its last leg.

2013 Cmax Hybrid SEL. When walking by the passenger side door (not touching it, just walking by within a couple of feet) the car unlocks. Walk by the drivers side and it doesn't unlock. All locks work as expected with touch. It doesn't matter how the car was locked (touch, door button, key fob). If a key fob approaches the passenger side door it unlocks the car. Just started doing this. Read a lot of threads about locking / unlocking issues, but I didn't find anything like this. Any ideas? Ed

Have a small tear in the rear plastic bumper cover (which is part of the larger rear panel). It would be easy to fix myself if I know the exact type of plastic used for the bumper. TPO? TEO? PP? Somethng else? If I pulled the rear panel I might be able to find a code, but I would rather not pull the panel off until I have everything I need for the repair. All help appreciated. Ed

The tech wasn't able to get the handle lock working reliably. They are ordering a new handle. As part of the diagnostic the tech swapped the passenger and driver door handles. They left the passenger handle on the driver side and will replace the passenger side when the new part comes in. The driver side (with the previously passenger handle) now works great. Interestingly, the new handle will have to be painted to match when it comes in. I guess Ford doesn't keep painted handles in stock. That's one way to reduce inventory. Don't paint them until you are ready to install them. Or is it that my dealer is getting a used part off a c-max that found it's way to a junkyard? I didn't think to ask about that. Hopefully it's a new part from Ford. The new part is supposed to be in any day now........ Ed

New seat is in and works great. Hopefully it will prove more durable than the last. It is supposed to be the new improved modified version. This is the first day in a long time I haven't been asked when the seat will be fixed. Woohoo!!! :happy feet: Ed

Thanks Frank - It's going into the shop on Monday for something else. I'll see if they can fix this while they have the car. Ed

My c-max has keyless entry (pushbutton ignition). In the last 6 weeks, on the driver side, sometimes the car will not lock when you touch the black pad on the handle. On the passenger side it always works. The unlocking on the driver side works fine. Just sometimes the lock won't respond to touch. I've replaced the battery in the fob. No change. Holding the fob close to the lock to make sure there is no interference makes no difference. I've tried to figure out if it's weather related. It seems like maybe it does it a little more during rainy weather, but it also does in on sunny dry days. It doesn't happen often enough that I can demonstrate it for the dealer. I can't make it happen. It just does it every now and then. But when it works, I can sit there and lock / unlock for 20+ times without a problem. Then I drive somewhere and go to lock the car and it won't lock by touch on the driver side. When it won't lock, if the car is then locked from the passenger side or from the fob button then it starts working again. I push the button on the fob to lock. I can then unlock and lock by touching the handle with no problem. Really strange. Anyone have any similar experience or any thoughts? Ed

The finish line may be in sight!! :) The dealer finally received the new seat and I'm bringing the car in on Monday for the replacement. It will be really nice to not have my wife asking me "When is the seat going to be fixed" every day like she has for the last 3 months...... Ed

Hi Paul - I did send a message to Crystal asking for help. She came through for me earlier this year on another part unavailability issue. She's my last hope at this point on getting Ford to fix my seat. Ed

Here's my update to my rear seat latch saga. On September 17 a new seat for my c-max showed as "shipped" in the dealers system. There is no ability for the dealer to track the part. They just have to hope it shows up. All their repeated estimates on when it would actually show up came and went. After 30 days the Ford system cancelled the order for the seat. The dealer re-ordered it. It again shows as shipped. A couple weeks later and they still haven't received the seat and don't seem to know how to do whatever it takes to get the Ford parts system to switch from "Shipped" to "delivered" or whatever it says when a part actually makes it to the dealer so they can install it. 3 months and I still can't fold down the rear passenger seat. I have lost hope that a replacement part will ever show up despite Ford's systems showing that the Part has been shipped. On a more positive not, I recently got back from a trip from Florida all the way up to Vermont and back to see friends, relatives and fall foliage. The c-max was a joy to drive on the trip. I love this car. But this is the second time in a little over a year that I've been hung out to dry by Ford on parts for the c-max. In addition, when you factor in all the shop visits to deal with the multiple recalls, it sure is hard to keep feeling the love for the c-max.....this was supposed to be a positive closing and not negative....I tried..... Ed

Wow! I sure hope Ford is better. I'm pretty sure they are. I used to order camera equipment out of NYC. They always sent shipping notices right away so they could collect payment in advance of actually shipping. Who knows, maybe they didn't have any inventory and used my money to buy whatever they eventually shipped. It seemed to always be one to two weeks before anything actually shipped (in the sense I use the word which to me means "in the shippers possession and on it's way to me"). Their prices were good, so I just considered it a cost of doing business out of NYC. Eventually I got fed up with them and switched to other vendors.. Hope you get your camera! Ed

so we finally got a sunny day and my wife wasn't taking the c-max anywhere. Just as I'm heading out with my tools I get a call from the dealer saying the status on my new seat has changed to "shipped". They are not sure what that means, but they think it sounds good. I think so too. I guess I'll just wait and see what happens next week and not mess with trying to take the seat out. I was kind of looking forward to it. Oh well. I'm ready if I ever need to do it. Ed

Marc - I really appreciate the help. It looks exactly like what I need. I didn't have any luck searching online myself. You are the master. Thanks!!!!! Ed

If I manage to get it out I will post a picture. Ed

Marc - That would be a huge help, except for one thing. The seat no longer folds down, which (from looking at the pdf) appears to be important if you want to be able to remove the seat. Ford is going to replace the seat someday. Hopefully in my lifetime, but who knows. I've been waiting 6 weeks and the latest estimate is at least another month. So I was hoping I could take the seat out and rig up something to allow me to fold the seat when needed. Well, now all I have to do is figure out how to get the seat folded. Once I have that worked out the pdf you linked should get me the rest of the way there. Thanks!! Off to google to try to find the trick to folding a c-max rear seat where the latch no longer does anything....... Ed

I want to try and remove the driver side rear seat on my 2013 hybrid sel. A quick look didn't reveal an easy / obvious way of doing this. Anyone have any tips or know where I can get an affordable shop manual that might help? Googling hasn't turned up anything for me, but I will continue to search...... Ed

Sadly, it's the bigger side that won't fold down. I really miss that cargo capacity!! Especially when I have to take my F150 because something wouldn't fit in the c-max with the non-folding seat. 14 mpg in the F!50 is hard to take when you've gotten used to 40+ in the c-max. Ed

Still waiting on a fix for my broken back seat latch. Ford decided to redesign the seat / latch. The new design was supposed to be in production and available in September but I just got word that it will be October at the earliest. Not being able to recline the back seat sure limits what you can carry around with you. I'm tempted to try and take the seat out myself to see if I can rig up something to get the seat to recline when needed. Just in case things drag out to November...December....2015..... I'm also wondering how good a match the new seat will be or if it will look like a frankencar when they finally do the repair. Ed

I miss the old days when I could go to the dealer and buy parts off the shelf to use to fix my car myself. I opened the hood on the c-max when we brought it home. Took a look and haven't looked again since. :) Even if I knew what to do with most of what I saw in there I probably couldn't get the parts. I have to admit that it is pretty nice that the cars today need a whole lot less attention than they did in the old days. When I look at the scheduled maintenance for the c-max I am always astounded at how little there is. Maybe I don't miss the old days all that much after all. Ed

I'm off to the shop to pick up the c-max. The good news is that we didn't have to leave it in the shop overnight. Turns out it was the seat latch that was broken. The tech couldn't figure out a way to rig it so it would work. So a new latch is needed. Here's the interesting (and depressing) part. The latch is an integral part of the seat bottom and can't be ordered separately. You have to order a whole new seat bottom. And right now they are estimating availability sometime after Labor Day. I didn't ask, but I assume that's Labor Day 2014, but maybe I should have asked. :) I can't believe that the whole seat bottom will have to be replaced because of a simple broken latch. Who designs these things? And why such long lead times on parts? Big sigh........ So, that's my story. Ed

Hi Crystal - I'm hoping it's going to be a simple problem to fix. I'll report back on how things go. Keep your fingers crossed for me!! Ed

Just completed a trip from South Florida to Dallas (~3000 miles roundtrip all in). C-Max performed like a champ and made the long distance travel a pleasure. Unfortunately, on the first day of the trip the lever on the passenger side rear seat went "boink" and would no longer release the seat back for folding down. That made loading luggage and stuff a bit more challenging on the trip. I tried to see if there was anything I could do to fix the problem, but I couldn't see an easy fix. I'm guessing a cable came loose somewhere inside the seat. It's going into the shop on Monday and I am hoping it will be fixed that day and won't require an additional visit at a later date. Talking to my service rep, it sounds like my dealer is having trouble staffing up the service department with mechanics that can work on the c-max. I guess the electrical systems take some specialized training, but I would think the other stuff (like seat release cables) would be the same in all their cars and only require generic mechanical knowledge. But maybe even the seats in a c-max require specialized training. Beats me. I've had more recalls and service issues on this car than any car I've ever owned, but my wife and I still love it. Ford customer service (dealer and beyond) has been great through all of this. Now if manufacturing and engineering could just get their act together. Ed

Good news this morning. Thanks to some help from Crystal, Ford has authorized a part pull from production and is shipping the part to my dealer by Fedex. We should be back cruising in our C-Max early next week. I can't wait!! Ed