kyledamron1

Pretty sure it isn't the plate. But I'll check! If you bang the plastic on the inside of the car, it definitely sounds like something is loose. Thanks for your help guys :)

Hi everyone! So I've got the notorious rattle/banging noise coming from my tailgate latch and I wanted to get inside of the trim and investigate. I tried pulling it off with my trim tools... but it just doesn't want to budge. Is there anything specific I need to be removing/looking for to get the panel off?

Ptjones is up in my neck of the woods! What are you doing up here?

Trust me, I don't buy them directly from Ford. That's what eBay is for. I'm still on A3. But I'm waiting for A9 to come out before I get a new card.

Checking the Ford navigation site. The A8 chip is out of stock, and it is saying that a new update will be available starting on May 1st. So, for those of us who have nav, and like to use, keep this in mind if you're looking for updated map information! http://ford.navigation.com/product/Catalog/Catalog_Ford_C-Max_2013/U.S.-AND-CANADA-SYNC-NAVIGATION-SYSTEM-MAP-UPDATE-VERSION-A8/sku/GM5T-19H449-AB/en_US/FordNA/USD

Oh absolutely. They're doing alignment and balancing with this new rim. I want them to throw in a free detail or something since this has been in a pain in my rear-end for six months!

My mechanic retired last year before I traded in my Focus, and I haven't been able to find a new shop that I like.

Yep, getting the work done at the Ford dealer. They even had problems previously getting the alignment in spec, even with the bad rim. It seems to be the trend with the C-Max. They ended up having to use a torch to get the parts to move around enough!

Oh trust me. Before they put the new tires on last week it felt like I was going to die. I was afraid to drive on the freeway, and I had to take a friend to a doctor's appointment. 80 miles round-trip. I was terrified. I'm probably not going to be able to get it fixed before Thursday... and I have a doctor's appointment myself that is 110 miles round-trip... Gonna be interesting.

It's apparently really noticeable. The wheel itself is $240... which is what I've been seeing on eBay. They're going all-in $350 for a refurb. That includes mounting, balancing all four wheels, alignment, and taxes and fees.. Plus they did all this work-up for free. I swear I'm cursed though! But yeah, if it's out of round like it was, it can really screw you up.

Well... I've got some good news... and I've got some bad news. They found the problem. Wasn't the suspension or anything. I've got a bent rim, and it HAS to be replaced. They did a crap ton of work. Pulled the whole thing apart for me. But the cost of that rim is insane... so if anyone has a spare rim available, I'd be greatly appreciative...

Hmm doesn't look too bad. I called the dealer and sent the pictures I took over to them. They'll review them before I can get the car in on Tuesday.

So, I decided to crawl under the car today and see if I could see anything in the left rear. If anyone is more familiar with suspension tell me if they can see anything, I'd be greatly appreciative.

So, when you first start your car, and your heat is on, it needs to use the heat produced from the engine as quickly as possible to warm up your car. It's similar to a car with stop/start where if you first start it up it needs to warm up first. So, with the C-Max, once the engine kicks on, the oil temp, or radiator temp, I don't remember which one it is, but one of them has to reach 128 degrees F. This is the warm-up cycle for the engine, after this, the vehicle is allowed to return to EV operation. You should be able to cruise with the heater running and be in EV mode, this depends on the battery's stage of charge, the outside temperature, the temperature your heater is set to etc. If you have heated seats, those are going to be more efficient than using the traditional heater in the vehicle that uses your engine heat like a traditional vehicle. The battery is a 1.4KwH battery, it should allow you to cruise, but it's actually more efficient to accelerate using the gasoline engine. You don't really want to accelerate in EV as it takes a lot of energy to accelerate, but not a lot to cruise. So the tried-and-true method of accelerating for best fuel economy is to go up to around 15 miles an hour in EV mode, and then use the 2-bar method on the Empower screen and go to your cruising speed. Accelerating purely in EV is very inefficient.

I buy Goodyear since they're local to me. They price-matched it to the Goodyear website for $115. All-in, including balancing, mounting etc for two tires was $230. And no, it hasn't had Michelins since I bought it.

They're eliminating the service entirely. I believe that since the data is sent via phone to the internet through the bluetooth calling system to a Ford number that it won't be supported at all :( They're recommending that you turn off the automatic reminders as well. The only way I could think of to get similar data would be an OBD reader.

And this is why I'm not going with OEM. That is almost five months of car payments for me. I don't think it would save enough in fuel.

They said that it wore out somewhere on the tire. They said it could be a balancing issue. I don't really want to take it somewhere else since then they wouldn't pay for it. Wear was not even across the tire. Tire pressure averages around 40. I don't really like setting them any higher. Lifetime braking score since I bought the car is 99%. And the tires are Goodyear Assurance All-Seasons.

Well, they said that one of the new tires had a manufacturing defect and will be replaced under warranty. The other one (rear left) wore out the same as my prior set. I keep telling them it is the suspension, but they just say it's the tires. Definitely something wrong, they just don't know what... very frustrating! It has definitely gotten worse in the mean-time since I was in on Monday. Had to take a friend to a doctor's appointment, and even on a smooth road it felt like I was in a tractor. Very scary! I didn't even want to go above 55.

Bah, who cares about gloves. I almost never use them doing anything. Only time I use them is when it involves blood or other contaminants. Gloves always make me feel uncomfortable. Plus, it wouldn't be the same without all the blood, sweat, and tears! My car is my labor of love (and hate sometimes). I've been wanting to get that, plus the engine cover off since it's dirty down there. I just don't have the patience. And yes, I clean my engine bay.

I have just over 73,120. Not as much as y'all. I don't drive nearly that much!