Adrian_L

So no problems for 10 years with my '13 Hybrid, apart from needing to replace the 12V battery last year and replacing the injectors about 4 years ago. The other morning, I started the car. Heard the engine running quietly. But then when I shifted into R, there was no power to the drivetrain. Then a warning light popped up, "Pull over immediately and stop engine". Turned off the car. Tried again. Same thing. After 4 attempts the engine sounded like it was revving higher and everything worked. Drove off and no problems since. It was about 3 Celcius/37 Fahrenheit and the battery indicator was reading low. Not sure if either played a factor in the temporary non-driveablity. Curious if anyone else has had his problem. I'll probably plug in my code reader tonight to see what comes up.

Dang. I definitely love my automatic tailgate, but I could learn to live with regular struts, given that price. Have you thought about checking a wrecking yard?

Great post. We bought a 2013 Hybrid. The lack of trunk space in the Energi was a deal-breaker for my wife. But we also didn't have the extra money at the time. I know the trunk has expanded somewhat in later model years. Our Cmax has never let us down. Great reliability, apart from an injector failure around 120,000 km., which I fixed myself. I would buy another Ford in a heartbeat.

I can think of a few things that bug me about the car, but the turning radius is about 3 out of 100 on the importance scale for me. Overall this car has been a 9/10 for me. I had to replace a bad injector about 3 years ago (decided to replace all four) and the horn stopped working due to rust/corrosion inside the connector. Compared to Audi and BMW that I have owned in the past, I have been amazed that the car is so reliable.

Great question for the Energi forum.

Hi folks, I recently changed the oil in my 2013 Hybrid. About a week later, I noticed oil on the bottom of the engine and on the black metal retainer that lies under the transmission. No oil higher up on the engine, as far as I can see. 1.Usual suspects all checked: oil pan bolt, oil filter etc. everything is fine. This is motor oil, not transmission fluid. 2.zero oil leaking when car is parked. It seems that this is only happening when engine is on. The annoying thing is, these damn cars can't be revved up when parked, so I can't get someone to stamp on the gas pedal while I look to see where the oil is spraying out. I'm 90% sure it is the oil pan gasket, which I have just learned is actually RTV silicone. But grateful if anyone else has experienced something similar to this.

My horn has not been working (intermittently) for about a month. Last week it stopped working altogether. I found out that inside the two plugs attached to the two horns, the metal connectors were heavily corroded and surrounded with moisture. It has been cold and snowy here in Vancouver, Canada. I used a toothbrush, alcohol and Q-tips and now the horn is working fine. Covering the outside of the plugs with silicone, Goop or grease might be a good preventative measure.

This is a Canadian site, but they call it a fuel line disconnect tool: https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/fuel-line-disconnect-tool-0252017p.0252017.html?gclid=CjwKCAiAmO3gBRBBEiwA8d0Q4spnpdkW3mrhJELzf6LjZsQ3MfNMvS5CbAcA4T0gxR9f9AihjRcReRoCVEMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds#store=603 To be honest, I didn't have time to confirm the injector was dirty, stuck or simply bad. But it would make sense to check it out.

Using the injector cleaner after the engine light started flashing and all those error codes came up? No way.....#3 injector was done. I suspect the earlier engine shuddering was caused by the injector being on it's last legs. Maybe #1 too. In any case it made sense to replace all four as it only cost $160 in parts and the car is almost at 60K miles.

Problem fixed. The vibration seemed to get better for awhile, so we didn't bother with the injector cleaner. Then a few weeks ago, after a 30 minute drive on the highway the engine light started flashing and I experienced a rumble from under the front wheels. Fortunately it was only 5 minutes to home. OBDII indicated #3 cylinder misfiring and injector open. I decided to replace all four injectors as they're only $40 each (Motorcraft CM-5148) Fairly straightforward but I recommend you buy the special tool to disconnect the fuel line from the fuel rail. They're about $5-10. Car is running like new now. Smooth as silk.

Well the Volt is getting old, and the Bolt is a much better car. Range anxiety isn't what it used to be for electric car owners, with all these charging stations around. What depresses me is that GM and Ford are focusing on SUVs and Trucks because they sell better. Maybe they should invest in coal mines and tobacco fields.

Lifetime 44 mpg, mostly city driving, since we bought new in March 2014. A very quiet and refined car and until recently (a fuel injector died) zero problems in 4.5 years of daily driving. The best car nobody's heard of.

Ok, so have removed the cover and unplugged all the injectors and various sensors around the fuel rail. Only problem is I can't see a way to easily disconnect the fuel line from the fuel rail. There is a small metal tube leading from the fuel rail into a bell shaped metal connector. I don't know if I can just pull the fuel rail out of this bell shaped receptacle or if that will damage anything. It doesn't appear as if there are any other connections further up the fuel line. Any help appreciated! (UPDATE: ) Figured it out. It's a push on style fuel connector with four little tabs inside the "bell". You can get a disconnect tool, but I just took a 3/8" length of PVC tube, cut down the middle. I jammed it in the bell part with a screwdriver and the two tubes came apart. Job took me about two hours in total. Removal of the fuel rail, with that rat's maze of cables, was the only daunting part of the job. Speaking of rodents, I needed to vacuum out some droppings from around the top of the cylinder head. I guess it's pretty cozy under the air cleaner cover when the mercury falls. Car is back to running smoothly. Incidentally, a Ford dealership in Vancouver wanted to charge me $140 CAD for each injector. I found them for around $40 USD online out of the States.

Amazon.com let me down big time. They promised 2 day delivery on four Motorcraft CM-5148s then when I went back to check on the status it told me arrival date was Jan 1-Feb 1! Back-ordered, apparently. Anyway it all worked out because there are 4 injectors now waiting for me in Bellingham at Walmart. I watched the youtube video and it looks pretty straightforward. Stay tuned....

Looks like I lost #3 on the weekend. I took a 40 minute drive on the freeway and when I was nearly home I noticed the engine light flashing and a bit of shuddering from the engine. OBDII reader told me that I Had an "open injector" and "misfire in cylinder 3" and "random misfire". We're at 55,000 miles or 88,000 km. Car has been perfect for 4.5 years. I'm tempted to replace all four. Thanks for the repair tip djc. I'll check out the youtube videos. Carbs and manual chokes are more up my alley, but I should probably get with the 21st century. (interesting reading this topic. I'd completely forgotten about Dr. Diesel and all that nonsense)

This weekend. Injector cleaner, that is. I thought premium included higher levels of detergent? Are you saying that all octanes of say, Shell, have the same detergent levels?

We're going to try a few tanks of premium and see what happens. My wife hasn't complained lately so that must mean that the condition is better (I drove the car very aggressively for a few days).

Thanks, I'll look into these cleaners. Terra clean was about $200. To answer your question, golfer--I use regular 87 octane.

I'm going to drive at 6000 rpm for an hour. Hopefully that will clear up any build up.

I paid $588 for the diagnosis, clean and reprogramming. My wife says the "shuddering" is still there, just like before. What I suspected has now been confirmed: Ford ran a barrage of tests and found nothing wrong. Rather than tell me this, they recommended this terra clean thing to appease me. However, it didn't fix the problem and I'm basically stuck with the same car, same problem and less cash. I was reluctant to go to the dealership, because their technicians clearly lack the old-school intuition and intelligence to actually fix a problem through feel and trial-and-error.

Picking the car up tonight, so I'll know in a few days.

Thanks for the tip. I suspect my wife has been babying the throttle to save gas. I guess I can't complain about a $500 repair bill that has been the only one in 4 years.

My wife's 2013 C-max has been problem free since we bought it in March 2014. Recently, however, she noticed a bit of excess vibration or "shuddering" when the ICE was on for the first 5-10 minutes of her journey. I suspected transmission or linkage problems, but after taking the car into our local dealership, apparently the transmission is fine and the problem is carbon build-up. Ford is recommending a "terra clean". I have a fair bit of experience tinkering with 60's-70's era cars, but this is beyond my scope of knowledge. Does it sound reasonable that carbon build-up could cause initial excess vibration, but then the car runs perfectly after that? I have to admit I'm skeptical.

Thank you

Our C-max has done 50,000 miles. On Saturday, I noticed a slight 'shuddering' from somewhere under the engine during the first 10 minutes of driving. The engine light has been on for unrelated issues (restraint module and GPS) but it started flashing. After 10 minutes everything was normal and the problem hasn't returned. I'm taking it in to the dealer on Thursday, but has anyone else noticed a similar problem? The shuddering seemed to only happen when the ICE englne was running.