raucous

When I posted back in December I was seeing errors from the battery management system on my 2013 C-MAX Energi only when temperatures were in the mid-30s (about as cold as it normally gets here). Now, at the end of March, I'm occasionally seeing them even when temperatures are around 50F. So, as predicted, the HVB battery does seem to be deteriorating. It's still an intermittent problem. Sometimes I won't see a problem for weeks. If it gets colder it might be every other day. I'm uncertain where to go from here. It might be clearer if the dealer could see it but it's not that consistent yet. The dealer was told by Ford's warranty system that the HVB battery in this 9 year old car is no longer covered. But I live in a CARB state (Washington). Shouldn't a HVB battery replacement be covered for a car that's less than 10 years old? I know that Ford won't cover degradation, but this is more than that now. One of these errors completely disables the hybrid system, resulting in uneven acceleration and braking until I restart the car. Will Ford see it that way, though - especially given that the dealer has yet to see it happening? They're just reading the codes after the fact. Maybe I need to wait until it gets worse? I hate waiting... I could also just stop charging the HVB battery. I've never seen this happen except when the car is running off of the HVB. It works just fine as a straight hybrid. That seems like a waste.

It looks like the URL is: https://www.besthybridbatteries.com/products/ford-c-max-energi-2013-2018-plug-in-hybrid-battery now with a surprising "205 sold." The dozens of reviews there seem to be spam. Neither of those gives me a warm feeling about the product.

I finally got my Energi into a dealer service department (long backlogs). The code they found (POB42) indicates a larger than normal voltage variance between HV battery sections. The Ford service manual says that cold and hot conditions exacerbate these differences (which I'm seeing) and that they will get worse as the battery continues to deteriorate. It's also possible that the behavior I'm seeing is being caused by a separate module that controls regen, but the dealer thinks that's less likely given the code. Ford won't cover replacement of either of these here on a car this age and with this mileage. My cost for a battery would be $6,300 or so plus installation. They wouldn't recommend doing that, though, until I can get the car in while this is happening so that they can take a closer look at it. I can't argue with them there. Right now the behavior is intermittent enough that this might be hard to arrange. I'm not sure it's a worthwhile repair once we are sure - even allowing for the crazy used car market these days. Sigh... And, yes, one option we discussed was just driving it until it dies. They don't see it as a dangerous/breakdown situation. It's certainly annoying when it happens though.

My 2013 Energi has 85,000 miles on it. Around 80% of those are EV miles. The plug-in battery capacity is now strongly dependent on the temperature. That's always been true to some extent but it seems to be worse now. This summer capacity was 3.7 kWh at 60F. Last week, with temperatures in the 40s, it had dropped to 3.1 kWh. This week, with temperatures in the mid-30s, it's 2.9 kWh and I'm seeing power train issues (surging, lack of regen) after shifting out of EV mode. Maybe that's the battery degradation/drivability limit? I'm not looking forward to this dealer visit.

I received a settlement notice for this class action lawsuit today. It states, among other things, that Ford agrees to make the 3.10 update for MFT available to all class members. The update is not, unfortunately, available online for my early 2013 Energi - just like it hasn't been for the last few years. I asked the dealer about installing it the last time I was in and they couldn't find it either. Has anyone seen this show up for a 2013 era C-MAX?

I received a "MyFord Touch Class Action Settlement" notice today. It's for MyFord touch equipped vehicles purchased before August 9, 2013 in California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, or Washington. I guess it's this same same action? "The wheels of justice turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine." The notice referred me to: https://www.myfordtouchclassaction.com/ for more information and claim forms.