Hafro Samurai

Wow.....well you both are severely lucky to have the experience you've had. Well back in 2021 by uncle reached out and asked if I'd like to inherit the 2013 SEL my aunt purchased new passed away the year so he had no use for it. I said "Yes please!" as my Triumph Striple was giving me some electrical grief (was an all season rider for years living in the Seattle area since my 2000 Subaru GC8's trans was shot and sat during that time). Skip forward to picking the car up from my uncle. Not a clue which model it was, nor what color (blue), but when I got in and looked at the odo my jaw dropped at seeing just under 17,500mi. Here I was thinking I just scored a new car hah for free......little did I know what was in store. The 1st year my uncle already had got a year of insurance so it was under his name.......during that year I popped 2 of the 4 og tires as they were brittle and riddled with micro cracks. Other 2 were replaced soon after. (GRIPE #1): Not firing the geniuses who thought up and approved, "Remove the spare, give them an 1 shot device that will only help with a small leak! Oh and since they won't have a spare and clearly that's the only reason people jack up their cars." Wow I didn't see this to urning into a novel hah...I pick up the pace. Fast forward to summer 2022. Time for me to put the car in my name we had already filled out the proper documents. Get to the dol and...low and behold you can only gift a vehicle once (in WA at least). Slapped with tax on fair market value of over $12k (Seattle sales tax was 10.1% at the time too haha). I didn't know how to work the system until afterward. Then my move to OR is when this thing just gained some baditude. Now I had already made 2 or 3 trips down to the Portland area and it was smooth and quiet. By now I was maybe at 32k miles and moved in July. Buddy of mine hooked it up with a job when I got here delivering luggage airlines lose. I figured what a perfect job with this hybrid with ample capacity. For those of you not familiar with the great PNW, our roads are seemingly always in need of attention. I would say about late August I was noticing more road noise and the ride was not as smooth anymore. Got rotations and balancing at appropriate mileage and everything. Got an alignment and by then I was getting that rear squat look (and no, I am NOT into the stanced look nor functionality). The alignment shop said my suspension was all good and brakes too. During a 2 week period I have the balance checked 3 times and was all good. Now in all of this one day I got a screw in my tire around 4am (doing late night/morning deliveries), had to go home until discount tire opened across the street from me (this was my second time since moving I got a leak). Back to delivering by 9ish and on my way to last delivery ding.....check engine light. Auto shop let me scan it and was thrown p0304 (misfires in cylinder 4. By no means was did I know my way around cars let alone a hybrid. I knew just some of the basics like oil changes brake rotors/pads, spark plugs and the sort. So being a hands on learner and craving some new knowledge I decided I'd do as much as I was comfortable with. So after all new spark plugs was still getting misfires so I did the ignition coils next. Nope! Okay so logically based on no other related codes being thrown I could afford a new injector. I curse the buttfaces on the internet who give out incorrect info. I red the number 4 cylinder was the third from the left. (It's not, it's the last one on the right) well that check engine light would go away and reappear a few times before it went out for awhile at least. Sometimes in Sept I took my car for a real good inspection and asked them to really get into the suspension and figured they'd run into an issue they could diagnose and fix. Also to clear any codes they found. They didn't see any codes nor find anything wrong with the car.....I was seriously thinking I was going crazy at that point. Not 1 mechanic or technician who all know more than I can find the issue or feel/hear it like me. Oddly enough I went back to the auto shop for a scan and sure enough that p0304 was still present. Then not a month after the Ford shop's inspection I hit a long and wide pothole on a county road during dusk. No popped rire yay. a week later by shock gave out on the freeway and evey tiny bump sounded like I was bottoming out. Fast forward to now, I have replaced (learned to and did the work myself too!) Both shocks, front lower control arms, outer tie rods, front and rear sway bar links (twice now as the first time I torqued while unloaded), rear upper control arms (yes the forward ones to correct the camber). I went with Moog parts and got them for a steal on Amazon. Well at this point I realized that I didn't trust the factory suspension so I found some coilovers as I figured it'd be nice to be able to adjust my damping to better tackle crazy roads we come up against delivering. This took a lot longer than I had guessed it would. Not having a place to work on it at home means I'm using what little windows of good weather there are to work on it in flat parking lots around here. I legit succeeded with the install but then had a lot of adjustments so was going to have a shop take over so I could let my body heal. Needless to say. I'm quite certain this sour faced lemon joke of a free car is the bane of my existence. Had to run up to Seattle before that appointment and a car up ahead and a lane over ran over a deer and caused it to come over to my lane in front of me. I actually didn't feel thuds or crunches but more glides over it. no tire leaks but blood fluids and fur were all up under the car and wheel wells. And something was indeed wrong. Pulled into a shell and looked see the coil springs on the front and the coils were almost touching. Spent an hour plus adjusting them and got back on it only to pull off in another few miles. After all said and done I discovered one of the springs is permanently 5mm shorter. Then I did some digging and discovered the Godspeed project monoss coilovers for the C-max have the very same spring rates as the roughly 600lb lighter Focus. Which I think was more the problem than the deer. It would explain why the rear at near maximum ride heigh setting is still pretty low. And would certainly cause springs to overcompress. Regardless, I like how much I've learned but I've been out of work since the day before Thanksgiving. Though I like to say I saved a ton (likely in the $4000 range from doing work myself). I also highly recommend a bidirectional scan tool (I got a ThinkDiag2) as you can test components from your phone app rather than hunt down the part then run texts. Okay wow....I'm done (definitely left out much more) but I need some sleep and to regain feeling in my frozen toes haha. I am also more than happy to try and help out whoever. Once I get the coilovers sorted though I'll try And post my thoughts and feeling of them. Maybe throw up some pictures too Not all were created equally hahaha. I've ever my car a C-min(imum). Good luck!

Don't completely write off led headlights as an option quite yet! 2013 C-min owner here and I have successfully swapped to led exterior lighting minus fogs and high beams. While I agree the led market is over saturated with cheaply made bulbs, it's a combination of low quality bulbs and people neglecting to be considerate of others on the road by not adjusting their beam angles. I can tell you that there are indeed some quality products out there and it pays off for doing the research. I hate having my pupils blasted with the focal point of low beams as the next person. I opted to pay some extra money in order to have a tight beam pattern with minimal glare and have been continually adjusting my beam height as I dial in my ride height through adjust the new coilovers I installed. I recommend, if you'd like unbiased reviews of all types and brands of bulbs, to check out bulbfacts.com they lay out how they test the bulbs and rate them separately (low/high/fog) as well as overall. They show you the beam patterns as well. They are constantly updating their data. I wanted clearer lighting for doing deliveries through the dark hours and drive anywhere in WA and OR. Especially since both states are useless when it comes to repairing potholes and even warning of them. My car has less than 43,000mi and had to replace several suspension components which began failing around 37k miles. Essentially I'd really like to see em slightly earlier if at all possible. I will try to get a good pic (of course pics never do lighting justice and look distorted), but it should give an idea of what to look for in bulbs. After all, there are other things that every driver does (bahaha.....okay like maybe %15 of drivers) that are for everyone else on the road (cough....blinkers!....cough), so I try to get my needs of increased visibility met while simultaneously respecting the sensitive and delicate needs of the human eye to not be bombarded with insanely bright lights after you've adjusted to dark county roads or highways (examples include lame people, those that can't move their finger an inch or perpetually forget to fill up on blinker fluid, those that forgot SMOG so they practice MOSG/MSG/MG/GS/you get it, and law enforcement who can but decide to not put their lights on chill mode after pulling someone over). Feel free to reach out if you're having trouble with swapping to led exterior bulbs. I am still working out one issue where I'm not getting codes thrown but my high beams won't turn off low beams or fogs. My ThinkDiag2 isn't detecting the high/low combo as active when they're on either.

I feeeeeeel your frustration. I inherited my 2013 after my aunt passed away. It had 17.5k miles and boy was in for a surprise. I moved to Oregon maybe 6 months ago and began working as a contracted DD river delivering peoples' luggage that airline had lost. I have learned very quickly that at least the mechanical motorcraft and ford parts are of pretty sad quality for the c-max. I've been replacing component after component on the suspension and have yet to get it back to even a faint resemblance for the smooth ride it once provided 6 months ago. Almost 42k miles on it presently and have replaced far too much! I cannot recommend it enough though......to all of sound body and mind enough to take on the work themselves, I firmly believe you should. I'm no mechanic, however I am persistent in learning to do my own wrenching and troubleshooting if I'ma keep this car since I just can't......I CANNOT take it to another professional mechanic and then tell me it's completely fine. For a moment there I thought I might have be actually losing it, but luckily no haha. I can tell you that it's worth looking in to what goes into each repair or replacement and just tackle the things you're comfortable with. Haven't touched the brakes yet however on normal cars replacing the rotors and pads is among the easier services to learn. Not sure how much extra time with these regenerative type but I'll learn that soon enough. Regardless of doing the work yourself or not I cannot stress how useful odb2 scan tools are for these modern vehicles and their canbus networks that are so akin to our nervous system. Touchy as hell and sometimes things are connected that aren't quite logical. I originally purchased the bluedriver scanner but it didn't do enough. A YouTuber recommended the Thinkcar scanners and I ended up getting the ThinkDiag2 for only a tad more than the bluedriver. It's a bidirectional scan tool that gives you the ability to not only read and clear codes but run tests diagnostics as well as actuate different components and systems making troubleshooting much easier rather than. I do believe you have to pay for access to the software after the first free year that is likely still included. Pays for itself though, especially when you can pull all the codes and show up to your mechanic with PDF you can email them saving you at least a half hourish of labor. Anyway, I registered here after realizing that I now have some knowledge about these cars. Not as familiar with the Energi where the differences matter. It's nice to know there are others who have felt some of the things I have.

I'm having issues with mine too. Picked up some dielectric grease and was thinking it might be time to disassemble the brakes and grease em up while looking for any parts needing replacement. Though I doubt it as I'm at just under 42k miles on my 2013. Not sure if it's the same exact code yours, but from my live parameters, my brake pedal position (%) never reaches 0%. I'll let you know what I find out. Busy busy next few days for me before my c-min can go back to being c-max haha. After suspension started to fail at maybe around 37k miles or so and noticing that not one mechanic nor technician has shown me they have even a mild understanding of the car. Long story short here I am being out of work for over a month doing all my wrenching and repairs myself as I have more confidence in myself than a shop. Coilovers and adjustable upper control arms are in the works for me along with the brakes somewhere in there. I'll let you know my findings. With my mileage though, I highly doubt it's a faulty sensor.

Finally figured it was time to hop on here and and talk to people who actually drive these things. I straight up have been dealing with suspension issues since shortly after moving to the Portland area from Seattle in July. My 2013 was smooth and quiet until maybe the end of August and then started what I can only describe as an endless temper tantrum hah. Road noise was more noticeable along with the ever increasing bounce party. I soon realized that three places I took it too about the symptoms all said the typical "everything looks fine and in great condition," "Oh, I couldn't get it to make the sound you're talking about, it's probably because it's a hybrid," etc. Well, not month after a Ford specialty shop did a $250ish inspection with a focus on the P0304 code for intermittent misfire in cylinder 4 and suspension (from the research I had been doing) and a good sized unmarked pothole, my right shock threw in the towel and was bottoming out on the slightest of bumps. I had self diagnosed that with the bounce test. Fast forward to now......having no experience doing suspension work or much engine work either (let alone on a modern and hybrid car), I have replaced the spark plugs, ignition coils, 2 injectors, both shocks, rear and front sway bar links, both front lower control arms, and both outer tie rods. So here's the kicker.....my car is just about to hit 42,000 miles. No joke! I really don't drive like the crazy a$$holes who always go WOT and brake hard. I do however it up with people's found luggage and deliver it for different airlines. On top some bad roads at times. I have acquired the clunk that you're talking about and it surfaced after I had replaced a top hat(?) Bolt with a smaller flanged bolt rather than the wider washer resulting in having to fight a stripped bolt for hours only to lose the nut out of the underside. I said screw it and have the 2 bolts holding it poorly as I am certain they are loose. If you do the work yourself it's not too bad getting access to them but please save yourself the headache and note, mark, and/take pictures of how your wiper arms are placed while in the service position as when you plug in the harness they will need to be at that spot when you start it next. Also try not to drive it much with the wiper motor disconnected, it threw me some codes for the low beams and also made the car run rough. Found this out after replacing some parts too. If you do your own wrenching, hand tighten any suspension fasteners with it lifted or on stands, but make sure you load the suspension either on ramps or with a jack before torquing them. I realize you may have already figured out your issue, but I just wanted to let you know that you are NOT crazy and that you ARE hearing the clunks. I about lost it the last time they said nothing was wrong and they didn't find any codes thrown.... would've been really nice if someone had faced similar problems haha. I've been learning a metric butt ton by doing the work myself and even been dabbling with the electrical canbus side of things. To you or anyone else who's trying to save money and gain that life xp, I'd be glad to share my knowledge, help or at least make an attempt! Oh, and wish me luck as I said to hell with OEM suspension components, replacing what I can with Moog parts and Godspeed coilovers arrived the other day. Figured adjustable damping for those dirt/gravel, mile long driveways would be noooice!