Diversion

Edit: Yes the "lean" burn mode i'm referring to is when the battery is charging (near max) and getting over 40+ mpg. It only gets to this point *IF* the battery is almost nearly fully charged.. the problem is now the battery doesn't get nearly as high as it used to on the highway, no matter what, flat land or not (i'm in Florida, we are very flat here) it will force the battery to discharge a bit before charging it back up a little and do this cycle over and over.. a behavior I haven't seen before until recently.. Normally it would just sit almost always almost fully charged and does the EV split mode for assist.. It's still assisting, I see a blue section of EV power while the ICE is on but it's just not charging the battery as often as it used to. Well I did have my car in for service to have the Sync system replaced (black screen problems) and it does kind of seem ever since I got my car back the highway behavior has been worse. but city seems to be the same.. I've hit 50+ on many city trips by taking it slow and easy around town. I actually asked Ford to update the ECU software while it was in the shop but they wanted $150 or so to do so I said no.. but I'm wondering if they flashed it to the latest.. Any way of knowing what ECU software the car is running? I do have a ODB2 usb dongle that can interface with applications but I have no idea what software to use to check this.

Got it.. So the "Other" power feed is always on? Just wanted to make sure i don't have anything sucking juice off the battery.. Well I bought the car used at 73k.. Early on I noticed that when I'm on the highway MPG would be poor until the battery charged up almost to the top and then it seemed like the car goes into a lean burn mode and I'd get about 40-44mpg.. Now the best it's getting under the same conditions is about 36-38 on the highway.. Can't get the meter to pass the 40mpg anymore.. Same tires, checked pressure, etc.. nothing new, nothing different. The battery now stops charging itself on the highway, it will actually use a down arrow while cruising and just cycle the battery up and down on the charge but it doesn't get high enough to get back into that lean burn or whatever it's doing.

Is the “Other” power feed always supposed to be on? Does it ever turn off? Picture attached.. trying to figure out why my gas mileage has been poor ..

I asked Ford to flash the latest ECU updates to give me the above 63 mph EV mode and they wanted $190 to do it :/ You'd think Ford would just do it because they are the ones that screwed up on the MPG claims to begin with.. It's not showing up as a "recall" on my VIN though. . Maybe I have some of the updates but I only see that my car will go into EV mode over 63 mph if I completely remove my foot off the gas pedal, and it's only coasting in EV mode at that point in which it slows down rapidly below 63 mph again. I'd imagine Ford would love to charge me $190 for an PCM/ECU update my car may already have since Ford can't even tell me which version of the PCM update I currently have.

I've been to 3 dealers with my Cmax's completely black screen'd MFT Sync 2 system and they will all attempt to blame the problem on a component NOT related to the APIM so that they don't have to replace it under the known 12M02 recall that calls to replace any APIM.. My car is at a dealer for 2 days now where I signed a $116 diagnostic fee and their latest comments to me is "The APIM is communicating, it must be the screen that is broken." That being said, I know it's a complete lie and i'm tempted to tell them to replace the screen to prove a point. As I know it will not magically get a display going.. I know with 99% certainty the APIM is messed up as it kept randomly rebooting and after doing a Master Reset it just plainly never booted back up all the way.. Whatever "communication" they are getting out of the APIM it's probably just random communication about not being able to start up anymore and or failing upon boot up. Since Ford doesn't take the time to completely format and reinstall whatever Windows CE/OS that they use for Sync on the APIM, it's clearly the problem. I would actually expect them to replace the screen and APIM just so that they can charge me for $900 or whatever it costs. Luckily I took a picture of the APIM's serial number on the screen before I took it in, in case they decide to "frame" a problem so that they can charge me a lot of money. Otherwise, i'm not sure why they are so adamant about charging me when Ford USA would reimburse them for the APIM replacement and still get paid for the work. I'm sure it's always an ordeal for them to make a claim via Ford re-reimbursement is why they don't want to go the "easy route" and just replace my flippin' APIM. Lastly, i'm likely to have to pay a stupid 5-minute Ford IDS ODB-2 scanner job in the amount of $116 and replace the APIM myself via Ebay and code the VIN back into the replacement using Forscan and my ODB-2 scanner. It's sad when I know the real amount of work that it takes to make a diag scan and they charge you an hour of labor for it. I just need a dealer to actually just replace the broken APIM under 12M02 and get on with it.. They want to keep my car another day because they feel the screen is the problem and not the APIM.. If the APIM is truly working fine, why does the right-cluster screen have no access to any GPS functions? I should be able to select my Home and other GPS points of interest without the Sync screen working.. Man, do they really not understand how easy it is for someone to debunk their "made up" faults.. Not really mad at the C-Max itself, it's a wonderful car and it gets great MPG, it's a delight to drive around and it's a BIG value for the money spent. Can't exactly get too mad at a 33k car for $8500 5 years later, but Ford is really working every single "fake" angle to get out of performing a KNOWN 12M02 recall.. Wow.

Feel your pain, my '13 APIM just went out too, 3 months after the 12M02 warranty expired. Ford said "Oh well, it's around $1000" too. Good stuff, i'm wondering how hard it is to replace it myself, there are PLENTY of APIMs on Ebay between $99 to $400 that have the same plugs and connections as what mine has.. I'm not sure what is needed to be done to make it work after replacing it.

Well the 12M02 is apparently just a 5 year instead of 3 year on the Sync.. this particular car was purchased in late '12 so technically 5 years has lapse.. but hoping Ford still covers it.. I just called my dealer and left a VM with the last service adviser I worked with so hoping I hear back soon.

Pulled and did a visual check on the fuses, they are not blown. Also pulled negative terminal and no dice either. Weird that a Master Reset would kill the unit :/

Welps, it seems my Sync/MFT took a crap completely now.. I performed a Master Reset through the settings menu and it never came back up.. Just have a blank/non-lit screen that doesn't do anything now.. Ugh. I just wanted to clear out all the previous owner's BT connections!

Guess my Ford dealers in my area didn't get the memo! Sigh.. I'm about to just give up and deal with the original flaky firmware and the stock ECU.. It did seem like I could get it in EV mode over 65mph but i'm not sure because it slows down very fast in EV mode at those speeds for some reason and holding the throttle any more just triggers the ICE.

Well, nobody seems to know if there's a way to know if you have the current or old C-Max ECU software (not sync). I'm not sure how much of a difference the ECU piece will make on my MPG but I figure it should be free either way to be on the newest version from Ford and it shouldn't be a charge for it since it's a recommended upgrade from Ford to "help increase mpg".

Nothing shows up, but I do have the APIM extended warranty which should be covered by this.. An APIM swap is required for the system to be updatable.. This is my problem, they will not replace it because it's "working fine"..

Also, Ford wants 1.5 hours of labor to do the ECU update that allows me to go 85 mph on EV mode.. Why should I pay for that? It was Ford's problem that they fudged the MPG numbers and I have to pay Ford to get better mpg? Wow. Edit: Local Ford dealer called back claiming "Straight from Ford you have the latest Sync" which I know is complete BS. CCPU S/W version is 4.27.12058 which is VERY old compared to the latest version.

Sorry for the late response.. definitely no leaf on the bottom (I have seen this on other C-Max's).. I'm on the very first C-Max Factory version and my car is sitting at Ford right now and they literally just called me and said "You're already on the latest".. What a bunch of clowns.. How is it possible that I know more than Ford does? Lol, hilarious.. This is two dealers that are too lazy to think for a second to check for a newer version instead of blowing the customer off. I'm not sure what I need to do, but it seems I'll need to reach out to Ford Corporate to make a complaint in order to get it resolved.

Received - thanks again. Update: Could not upgrade to the 3.6(2) update either.. i'll have to try another dealer.

Please please can you host it somewhere for me to download? I would love to see if I can upgrade to it! Thank you!

Thanks for the reply - like I said already, I tried going from the stock Sync software to 3.8 and it pops up a screen saying I have to go to the dealer to upgrade my Sync software because my current version is too old to go straight to 3.8.. I need to find the interim Sync upgrades between like 3.2 and 3.8 because it likely needs to be upgraded to 3.6 first before I can get to 3.8.

Loving this new to me 2013 C-Max SEL, for the money I paid you really can't find a better car with the luxury and great mpg! So I was doing some research after getting the car.. Found out my Sync software is VERY old.. it appears the car was never updated since 2012 and I have no idea how to know if the car ever received the "Up to 85mph EV mode" ECU update either.. So I scheduled a visit one of 3 local Ford dealers to ask them nicely to please update my Sync firmware and check the ECU for the latest updates and they immediately said "You have to pay for that." I figured they were thinking of the maps update which yes, I know that's $149 at the dealer for the new SD Card. I literally COULD NOT get through their head i'm talking about the Sync firmware and the actual car ECU update. So I got fed up and left with a chip on my shoulder. Any ideas on how I can convey what I need to get done to these guys? I attempted the update for the Sync myself but it's so old I get the message "Go to the dealer to update Sync software" trying to go from like version 3.4 to the newest 3.8. I bet I could upgrade in increments if anyone has the files hosted somewhere.. Thanks for any help in advance! Jay