jestevens

One of the fleet cars we had, an SE did this on the highway - the guy driving said it was pretty scary and he had seconds to go from 65MPH in the middle of the highway to a complete loss of power and pull over to the side. I think for whatever reason the SE's had more problems. Personally I have SEL with 88,000mi and the biggest service I've had to do so far is an oil change. Did have some 12V battery issues but that was because after 5 years the 12V battery was legitimately going dead in 4F temperatures. Since I've forced Ford to replace the battery (they didn't want to because all of their tests showed battery was fine) the car has been trouble free for the most part. I do notice now that the engine seems a little rough on cold start since my last oil change but no codes set. Love the car, the only thing that is making me want to switch is Toyota Safety Sense, is getting darker out now and I've had too many instances of people wearing dark clothing early in the morning and late at night trying to jay walk..

If the modules really are corrupted or fried then you may need to rely on a Ford service shop to replace them. Depending on your situation you might inquire as to what other used stock they have available? Dealer at the shop where I go is always trying to sell me their one 2017 C-MAX, but I like my car better because it has the panoramic roof and 203A technology package. I would imagine this repair might cost some money, unless you get lucky and it's some critters chewing on a wire harness or something.. Sorry, I hope you are able to resolve. Some shops do better with hybrids than others but if they have all of their internal scan tools and can't figure it out then wow..

Hey I finally had an MPG worth reporting, yesterday. I drove 1.2mi total and 1.1mi of that was on EV, according to car I had 153 instantaneous MPG!! I didn't take a photo, I think it's just the universe trying to tempt me to buy a Tesla but I'd rather pay my house off first.

I don't think the all electric range of the battery is that great in the hybrid anyway, maybe 2 miles? Paul is probably one of the best fuel economy experts on C-MAX I'm aware of so he could speak better about that than I could. What it does do is make stop and go city traffic more economical, It uses the battery to help even out gas usage. plus they provide more features for trim level, the ride is a lot less noisy and you get the power of a V6 with the fuel economy of a 4 cylinder because of the electric torque. The best gas only crossover gets 29MPG on a good day, driving many miles on a perfectly flat road. The C-MAX gets 40MPG without even trying most times. Make sure your car has low rolling resistance tires on it.

EV+ - These cars have a GPS module in them that detects if you've been to the same location frequently, about 11 times or so - if the car detects that you are in the vicinity of a frequently used location it will delay running the gas engine and allow extended electric only range on the battery. The theory being that when you get in the car and start it tomorrow the engine is going to have to run a while to warm up the catalytic converter, condition temperature of passenger compartment, etc. anyway so it can charge the battery then. The battery gauge you see on the dash and the actual state of charge of the battery are calibrated differently, I think the HVB charging algorithm tries to keep the battery between 20% and 80% state of charge - so even if the dash shows 100% full that may not mean the battery is truly that full. It's always possible that a battery could be failing but your model year is newer than mine and my battery pack is still doing fine, someone would have had to really abuse the car ...as in it spent the majority of its life in open Nevada desert..

If I remember right the Prius had a gel battery, to help contain spreading of electrolyte in the event of a leak, I don't know the design of the motorcraft battery but maybe it is the same?

In reply to original post it would seem to me that the vent tube for the 12V battery was missing or disconnected, hence the acid in the compartment?

My HHR had a dimmer dial with dirty potentiometer contacts that would do that - similar to a "noisy" volume control .. you had to find a good spot on the dial where the control wasn't dirty and then the flicker would stop. I guess this car is a little more advanced, even the dimmer control is digital pushbutton I think.

It sounds like while it was experiencing unreliable power the storage in your APIM got corrupted, the computer that controls the infotainment/touch screen. A disk check (the "scheduled maintenance") would normally fix this but if it is severe enough or corrupted in just the right way you could get a loop as you mentioned.. Do you have Navigation? If so have you tried pulling the SD card from the media hub in the center console in case the SD card is what is corrupted? If it's the APIM I don't know if anyone can fix that but a Ford dealer and I don't know if it requires replacing the APIM or if they can just reflash the existing storage. I think the infotainment system is separate from the systems that regulate the drivability of the car, but for all of those codes to set you definitely experienced low battery or an electrical short or something. I'm not sure exactly why they are making you buy a Ford battery, hopefully you can still return the other one. I'm sure it's going to be a fun problem to diagnose..sorry.

I was able to change my (amber) bulb without taking the assembly fully out since I was having a hard time removing the wiring harness, you still have to do all of the steps anyway to at least pivot the assembly a little. I was surprised just how much the car both flexes and doesn't flex. Be careful of the stupid push pin retaining clips near the front, easy to bust if you aren't patient..I don't have the right tool so I use small screwdriver and "help" them by reaching around to the other side of the top radiator cover. ..auto supply store has them. It sounds funny and maybe a little unnerving when you start peeling up the adhesive for seal on the HVAC cowl.

I suspect they wanted government funding to develop the transmission, and originally they were trying to compete with the Prius V, in which I think they would have succeeded if they weren't more worried about selling Focus and Escape. Plus the MPG overstatement, plus the 12V battery issue with the SE's. I have never had a 12V battery issue with the SEL until it was time to actually replace the 12V battery after 7 years.

I mean, it's entirely possible that the brakes could need serviced due to different driving styles, changes in climate, etc. it just seems peculiar - and for all four of them at once? (unless you asked them to do that). How do you get C-MAX to apply friction brakes, hard stopping - or put it in N? If you notice actual pulsing or grinding then I might agree otherwise I wonder..

I think I've heard that noise during emergency braking. Last time was when someone driving a sedan in the left turning lane swerved wide in my lane, looked like they were about to cut me off and then they turned left..

I think there is a distracted driving mode setting on the iPhone that might interfere with Siri Handsfree - try looking at your Settings under "Do Not Disturb" and you may find that Apple has defaulted some of the settings to be active when the phone is locked, etc. to keep you safe?

My guess is that the lake is a long way from your house? 'cause otherwise I would use the big truck to tow and have peace of mind. ..and I did have the exact problem that instructor states in the video, Toyota service thought they were doing me a favor flushing the transmission on my Prius with good standard less expensive transmission fluid instead of the WS ATF that was spec'd to help cool the windings rather than degrade the insulation on them. I think the HF35 has a mechanical oil pump, In the hybrid it operates whenever the engine is on, in the Energi it is electrically driven since you can go longer without using engine. For a while people thought maybe that was an issue, that people going extended range with the hybrid on battery might cause more stress on the transmission. If you are towing I'm pretty sure the engine will be on, so the transmission will get cooling but I don't know if it's sufficient or not, your engineer friend apparently thinks so. From what I understand the liquid coolant loops are for the engine and the HV charging electronics, the DC to DC inverter, etc. gets pretty hot.

I tried doing a google search for towing on the site figuring that someone might have tried it in the past, here are some results: http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/2399-suitability-for-occasional-towing/ http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/6561-towing-with-a-c-max/ http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/forum/19-cargo-hauling-roof-racks-towing/ I agree that there are similarities in the design but it is not the exact same transmission so I can't say that it would have the same strain as the Prius or not. The power split device for hybrids was apparently thought up by TRW engineers in the late 1960s, it took a while for battery and electronics technology to be reliable enough to be used in production. https://patents.google.com/patent/US3566717?oq=Baruch+Berman https://www.autoblog.com/2009/01/02/so-you-think-toyota-invented-the-modern-hybrid-think-again/ A friend of mine rented a pickup from U-HAUL thinking he could use it to tow a camper but didn't have proper controls, electric braking, etc. - He lost control coming down a hill and jackknifed - destoyed both the camper and the truck pretty thoroughly. I know you are planning to tow a lot less, hopefully it will work but I guess my only point is my friend didn't think there was any problem with his tow either until he came down the hill and the front end got lighter than the back. Hopefully that wouldn't happen in your case.

Can you ask your Ford Engineer friend why the 2013 HF35 had bad bearings? The HF35 is not a Toyota design, the CMAX is not rated to tow anything, people use it as a TOAD for RVs, and even then it seems to put stress on the transmission if you tow it with wheels down? ( I guess because if the hybrid ICE isn't running it's not being lubricated).

I use 87 octane discount (supermarket, etc.) gas and have never had a performance problem with the engine, I was just trying to theorize about what their logical line of reasoning would be for performing the service(s). It sounds like they already put additives/injector cleaner in your car so not sure why they feel a fuel system purge is necessary..or a coolant flush..or replacing the brakes.. If the check engine light threw an injector related code maybe that's why they think there's contamination in fuel system? I have topped off the coolant in the inverter pump once, I have over 87,000 miles now..the coolant is supposed to be good for a LONG time. Unless you never washed off winter salt treatment on your brakes for an extended period of time I doubt the brakes need replaced. I can't believe a service shop actually expects you to believe you need these services, and if they are that ignorant of the true service schedule then I wouldn't trust them to do the CORRECT service (as printed in the owner's manual, not the "enhanced" schedule they try to upsell) that my car actually need either, I would find a new dealer service center. The most maintenance I've EVER done on C-MAX was changing headlights, oil changes and cabin air filter, oh and a 12V battery after 7 years..that's it..and I had to beg them to change the battery because they didn't think the car needed it (the keyless locks were acting funny, problem solved). I've also replaced the tires a lot - between the way I drive and low rolling resistance tires I guess they don't last long for me. Service center probably doesn't like this car very much since the engine only runs half the time you are operating it.

Run as far away from that shop as you can - wow .. What does a check engine light have to do with replacing and "flushing" (wtf - are the lines corroded??) the brakes? Is the entire bottom of your car rusting away? Does the car shimmy or vibrate excessively when you use the brakes hard? Check engine more or less has to do with emissions mostly right? If there was a problem with the brakes or suspension I would expect the VSC or ABS light to come on, not check engine. I guess if you use discount gas maybe the check engine would light if there were excessive knocking or some such thing. The GM shop I used to take my HHR to use to try to sell their "enhanced" service schedule which included things like injection cleaners, etc...friendly guys but always wondered about that..

They already made an Escape Hybrid, it was one of their horrible Gen I hybrid cars that got not much better MPG than the gas equivalent (e.g. before they cross-licensed the Toyota/TRW patents) .. errgh. I still grind my teeth when I see the EcoSport because the C-MAX is a better car from the same parts bin. Sadly I still don't think domestic manufacturers have done more than paid lip service..they'd rather sell trucks and SUVs. I would like to see a six passenger van like Nissan's e-NV200 .. they did have a limited run of transit vans converted to electric but the conversions were outsourced I think.

Maybe you have to go at the right time. My service center is open late hours, til 6PM most weekdays so I went in the late afternoon around 3:30 - asked for the 90,000mi service and state inspection - I think somehow that turned into a The Works oil change and inspection - they were happy to get me in and out quickly so they could go home?

Just turned 87,000mi and passed state inspection with almost no brake wear - the hybrid system uses regen braking first so the regular brakes should last quite a while. You do give the car a bath to wash off the road treatment they use in the winter?

That's awesome Paul, I'm glad you were able to get so many miles out of your car..

I bought weathertech for the front only, and I like them but you are right they are expensive, and they still don't completely cover the hump where you rest your left foot which is the whole reason I wanted custom mats to start with. I bought a cheap set of mats for the back seat and the "trunk". If you try these new ones let us know how they fit and if they cover everything?

I'd imagine the latest C-MAX with Sync 3 probably has a better way of reporting this data, maybe they are still supporting those. For for my 2013 I think the last vehicle health report I have in my Email is from May and the car hasn't asked me to run a health report recently. They used a funky sort of dial up system to transmit the "vehicle health" data for the older cars that apparently they are no longer supporting.