Max Power

Thank you, I did send a PM referencing the earlier case number you had assigned. Please try both emails. My concern is that my work email may be blocking the emails in some way, but the first couple were going through. What I would very much like is to be able to communicate with the CSM, and the service director at the local dealership by email to fully describe the history and current problems of this car.

There are very specific definitions of what qualifies under the law. Essentially, every part on your car can fail once and there isn't anything you can do other than complain. What is required is that the problem occur within the first 12 months (check), the car is out of service for thirty days (not met) or three unsuccessful(?) attempts are made to correct a single problem. This doesn't mean your batteries fails three times. It means that three specific corrections are applied. In my case this has been met, however there is not yet evidence that the last applied fix did not work A part of my problem is that I had to switch dealers in the middle of this so I am not complaining to the same person. The other problem is that I had to move myself, my eight month pregnant wife and my employer two states away in the middle of all of this. I simply haven't had the spare mental capacity to address an issue that went 6 months without recurring. Making this list makes me feel like the proverbial frog in the pot of water. I work with students and very ill people all day so it takes quite a bit for me to get upset. That's not always good when it comes to problem resolution.

I spent some time getting my documents in order over the weekend and thought I would post it for everyone else's enjoyment. Overall it has been frustrating to deal with the multiple issue but I still love driving this car. I've had service done in Harrisburg, PA and Charlottesville, VA. I'd recommend either of them as courteous and knowledgeable. I think corporate has been responsive to most issues, I just wish there weren't so many. 2/16/13. Purchased 2013 C-Max (base except winter package) in Feb of 2013. Purchased 75,000 mile 84 month extended service plan with it. I don't think Ford when I think hybrid so the warranty seemed like a good choice. Production date: Jan 2013 2/17/13. First dead battery was observed. Documented with call to Roadside and emails to dealership. Roadside jumped the dead battery and I let it run to charge. Assumed it was a problem with the car sitting on the lot or my mistake. 03/??/13. A dead battery occurs that I jumped myself after purchasing portable charger on earlier advice from this site. 14C03 Seatback weld problem. Car is from affected production date but not part of recall. No problems yet. 04/05/13. Replacement of vapor management valve as the result of a dashboard warning while driving. I think it took two days for the part. 12V was tested and shown to be good. TSB 12-11-8 was applied to flash the FCDIM to address the 12V discharge problem. 06/2013. While on trip, car flashes 4-5 warnings related to issues with HV system and does not start. Roadside is called, but car starts fine after sitting for 40 minutes. I was never able to recreate this. Heat related? 8/12/2013. Oil change. Recall 13C02 Headliner was performed. Recall 13B07, PCM recalibration is performed. 10/02/2013. Mileage refund is received ($550), 13B10 customer satisfaction. Updated to 43 MPG combined. This was my average at the time so this seems like an adequate solution. At some point in 2013, TSB 13-7-10 was applied. Also I vaguely recall an update affecting mileage in response to 13B10, but don't remember that date. These were not on my other invoices so that is another two trips to the dealer. 1/03/14. Routine oil change. No issues. 5/17/2014. Routine oil change. 12V battery fails test. Replaced. Reprogrammed 13b12C. Recall 14S04, reprogram restraint control module is performed. Invoice shows code P2610 appeared requiring reprogramming of PCM. TSB 14-0020 is referenced. 07/16/14. Fuel economy is again updated to 40MPG combined with an additional payment ($475). I currently average 45 without much effort so I don't think this was warranted. 8/18/14. Find car 99% dead while parked in garage. Have car towed in. Dealer performs TSB 13-7-10, clears codes and notes SSM 44559. 12V discharge is currently being investigated by engineering, inspected water pump connectors. Contacted by regional CSM that indicates that he believes the problem is related to prior service not reprogramming all modules. I tell him I've had TSB 13-7-10 done before and don't think this will fix things. Ford offers to refund one car payment as show of good faith. 9/13/14. Routine oil change. Sometime prior to this the rear washer quit working. Faulty lines have been reported by others on this forum. Dealer orders parts but is not able to fit my repair in when I bring the car in for appointment. Contacts me 5 hours after I dropped it off to tell me this. Still need to resolve this. Notice TSB 14-0155. Related to wiring harness and dead 12V. I suspect this has similar routing to rear washer fluid lines. Definitely want to have this done. Maybe it's good they missed the wiper appt., they can look at this at the same time. 09/25/14. Recall 14S21 is issued for my car, restraint control module replacement. Need to schedule. 09/28/14. Notice creaking noice from plastic part on front driver and passenger door. Rear driver door has seal folded under when door is closed. Still need to resolve this. 10/03/2014. Ford follows through with one month's payment. CSM unresponsive to email. I hope he's okay. I need to contact the dealer when I can clear the time to discuss this.

I'm leaning towards thinking it is a harness short somewhere in interior. Hopefully TSB 14-0155 does the trick for me. It's a good thing we have this forum or I would have had no clue about it.

45.0 lifetime average for 23K miles. Recently I can make my commute with no need for AC or heater. 50.0 MPG has been my average over that period.

I've been posting since Feb of 2013. Long backstory for a troll, no? Other than the 12V, these things do get fixed. My problem is that every time one thing gets fixed there is another problem found. I've been working on a timeline to illustrate the shear number of random problems my 2013 has had in addition to recalls. I'll post it when it is done. To be fair to Ford, they are generally responsive it's just that the pile of things I need to manage doesn't get any smaller. I think I have had one oil change where I got my car back as expected. I still recommend Ford and I would still recommend the two dealerships I have dealt with. I just don't recommend buying a 2013 C-Max

No, it doesn't get fixed. The CSM assigned to me doesn't respond. The dealership schedules a repair and then says they don't have time, five hours after I dropped the car off. My car currently has 3 recalls and a TSB for the dead 12v. This is after a previous recall for the headliner, 4 dead batteries, and a service call to replace the canistor valve. And now the creaking noise has begun. I feel bad for recommending this car to other people at this point.

Just realized I may have this problem after digging through the back of the car to look for the non-existent second reservoir. You'd think they would have noticed a bad line while they were doing the headliner recall. :) Has anybody else had this problem develop over time? I remember some talk of a liftgate wiring harness being a potential dead battery culprit and this would be routed through the same area. So far that is the headliner, purge valve, the 12V battery drain and now this with factory defects for me.

This car is maddening. Such a pleasure to drive and I get 44.8 MPG while driving aggressively on mountainous roads. But alas today another dead car. No response to key fob and a continual brrt, brrt, brrt noise from the back when I turned the key back. I called roadside and had it towed to the dealer today and will have to contact them in the morning. Not sure what to do since I moved states since buying it but I am in Virginia now and they state the same problem three times in the first 18 months make it a lemon. PA law is a joke. I bought the SE (base except winter package) in Feb of 2013 and had to call roadside the next day to get it jumped. I figured it was just from sitting on the lot but it happened again. I jumped it myself which the dealer acknowledged and applied TSB 13-7-yadda yadda yadda to it at my next visit. After moving to VA the dealer again updated the software and replaced the 12V at my last oil change because they stated it failed to charge fully. I think they reapplied 13B12 the time before. Less than two thousand miles later on a brand new 12V battery leads up to today. I'm curious if they applied a wrong update? I really like this car but I need it to be reliable. I guess I'll PM Ashley. I vaguely recall the up and down HV battery arrows not appearing on my display the day before this happened so kostby might be on to something. The darn car knows the 12V is low, why doesn't it tell me?

I am too lazy to keep a log of voltages, but after a week of doing nothing but commuting my charge levels are much better than I remember. I am no longer in the frightening 12.0 range by the end of the week and recorded a 12.45 after getting to work this morning. he short three mile commute I make is doing a much better job of re-charging the battery. There is still a .2V decline when letting the car sit, but the improvement appear to be in the ability of the car to charge, I regain at least .15 V whereas before it was .1V which left the battery rather depleted at the end of the week. My personal guess as to the total dead battery problem is that at some lower system voltage they relays don't work properly leaving one of them open to completely drain the battery. I'm glad to be not operating close to that range anymore.

Looks like me dealer forgot to read step 4. I had to reset my own clock. My voltage ranged between 14.4-14.8 while driving. I'm wondering if the update modified the converter setting or reduced the system draw while driving. Maybe the radio staying on was a symptom of a larger programming problem? Either one would increase the battery charge. Is the converter interfaced into the FCDIM? Battery voltage today after arriving at work and burning off the surface charge... 12.6, Complete charge

I would follow the advice of Mbedit, who has been in contact with the Ford engineers after they bought his car back, and go to your dealer and tell them you want the FCDIM software updated. Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) 12-11-8 should be enough to get their attention. There are like 5 different battery threads to read through on this site, and the consensus that people are coming to is that the software has been fixed, you just need to go ask for it.

An interesting thing to see is what happens when I turn on my blinkers. There is not so much a swing in voltages as there was before. I think the converter is able to compensate and let more charge out. I should add that I believe the new software is doing much more than fixing the issue decribed in TSB 12-11-8, but the mere mention of that should be enough to get the dealer to update your software.

Beautiful stuff, now go get the software update and see what you get. TSB 12-11-8 I get a continual 14.4 now when the car is on after having the FCDIM flashed on Friday. Resting is a steady 12.55 now. I was getting as low as 12.1 before the update

I have not noticed this problem at all. Thanks a lot if I start noticing it now. Kind of like the floaters in my eyes that I don't notice until someone brings them up. Dang, I just did. :)