nogoodbum

Ford did a very poor job of explaining the different modes of the HVB programming via the owner's manual for average drivers. If anyone has figured it completely please post. One thing to keep in mind as you travel. the HVB performs best & last longest at the same temps as humans do [60-80 F] I you travel to an area of the country with high temps & low humidity, you may be comfortable at 85F+ & a light breeze but your HVB won't be. As I understand it, most of the cooling air for the HVB comes from inside the car cabin to keep cool. May want to keep the AC on in spite of what little gas you may save with it off.

Hello Ctgriffi. fellow 2013 owner here. Car looks great, made me want to give mine a bath to keep up but its cold & rainy here. I'm at 172k without any problems except with replacing a bad 12v battery with another bad 12v battery until I got a good one. [both via Ford dealer] There has been a lot of speculation concerning the failures of the C-Max transmissions & the causes. There was some reports of failures that involved ones used as govt. vehicles in the Phoenix, Ariz. area. Whether the cause was bad builds, high operating temp. conditions, or improper upkeep are all up for debate. The facts are the C-max came standard with standard fluid subject to heat related losses & without a dip stick for checking level far too many non-Ford service centers & owners assumed it was a non service item [know this from personal experience]. I assume you have had the trans fluid changed as it is a service item at 150k per owners manual. Any C-Max owners out there reading this should look into changing their trans fluid & making sure level is checked at every oil change [per owners manual] regardless of what their service tech tells them. Sorry for the long reply & Thanks for the read. PS. My last two Fords [89 Festiva & 98 Taurus] lasted 350k & 400k. i was driving 40k-50k yearly for work but now retired. I hope & believe my C-Max will out last me, 5-10 yrs.

Don't know if this could help. I had a short lived problem with key less touch during a spell of rainy, heavy dew in the AM weather. On the drivers door only as I rarely or never open passenger door first. Changed my daily parking to put driver's side into more of the sunny side. Has not recurred since. Hope this helps & tanks for the read.

Hello, welcome to the forum. After reading your post, i assume that your have read the codes & they are misfire related. You appear to have attacked the problem on the ignition & air as the source of the codes. [I am unsure what you call the engine igniters]. You may need to look at the fuel-related part of the equation. The C-Max seems to throw codes more quickly than most other cars I have owned, [may be my mis-info, no verified stats]. You may help the problem by using a good fuel injector cleaner for a couple of tanks of gas & on a recurring basis if this helps. Thanks for the read.

2013 SEL, Having a problem with the driver's side seat belt not retracting with enough tension or not at all occasionally. Do I need to replace or will lubrication help or is there an adjustment possible on the return spring? Any help is wanted including how to access retract mechanism. Thanks in advance.

2013 C-Max SEL. Car has begun to alarm the front parking sensor [solid beep] when coming to or stopped when driving in the rain. Suspect sensors may need replacing & am unsure where they are located in front & how hard they will be to replace. Do I have to remove front bumper cover or more to replace? If is above my limit I'll just live with it, can't afford the 5 days or $500 it will take dealer to fix. THANKS for the read & any advice given.

Update: Replaced the rear shocks & mounts on my 2013 SEL. Right side shock was about 50% effective, both mounts hard rubber parts showed signs of wear. Neither mount was cracked. Cured about 90% or more of noise from rear. Hopefully I can replace front struts in due time. 2013 SEL 160K. Thanks for the read

Welcome to the forum. There's not much to check on with a car with so low of mileage other than maintainance records & any accident reports. Since lead acid batteries degrade almost as much from age as they do mileage, unless it has been replaced, it is about 7yrs old, so if possible check the 12v battery. It is entering that age when LA batteries start to fail. [Not just on the C-Max but most 12v batteries in all cars]. With that low of use/mileage, it is possible fuel may show signs of getting stale, [easiest way to tell is by smell of the exhaust]. Would suggest using fuel system cleaner the first few tanks of gas if you decide to purchase. Merry Christmas & Thanks for the read.

Hi, Welcome to the forum. One possibility that you may not want to face, but honestly have to, is that the previous owner/dealer may be overstating repairs and/or upkeep done to the car to increase the resell value. This is hardly the first time this has happened & will never be the last. Without actual paper receipts from the battery replacement sellers & the shop that did the installation or reported via CarFax, I would be wary to believe what has been claimed to have been done to the car. If you bought the car with any kind of WRITTEN guarantee, you may have some legal recourse. IF not, it's as is, sorry it's on you now. Probably need to check for any codes & search the forum for others with like problems and their solutions. Really hope you get it worked out & Thanks for the read & sorry for being a Debbie Downer.

Thanks cr08 for the info, I knew someone out knew more than I did about the voltage #s. My suggestion of a bad 12v battery is based on my experience with one. First SSN message stopped at light, second, driving at 55mph, third. driving at 30mph. Ford dealer service center was never able to get the problem to reoccur & had no codes to tell them what to check. They spent 10 weeks total "looking" for the cause. The last week was waiting for their transmission tech, thinking that was the cause. He or somebody finally checked the 12v battery & found it was bad. I believe they did not think it was the problem because it was "only" a year old from when they sold & installed it. I believe the battery had been sitting in their stock for years prior to install but I'm not a "Ford certified tech". Hope this helps & thanks for the read.

From the effects that you are getting, IMO, it sounds as if your 12v battery is failing or borderline. A voltage drop even while driving will spark the SSN message & may go away when battery recovers. When voltage drops, stored codes are being erased. If you can hook-up a voltmeter, I believe you should get 13.5+ volts ICE on or in ACC mode. ICE & ACC mode off, 11+ volts. [please others with more knowledge chime in with better volt numbers]. You can check for a voltage drop when you put on breaks & hopefully it is a brake light short causing problems. Again this is just IMO, no sure fix. Hope this helps. Thanks for the read.

Add to my post [sorry], my car is a SEL Hybrid, reg model. 155k miles. has not needed to add oil between changes since I bought car [knock wood]. Had trans fluid changed at 100k no issues with it before or since.

As I read your post, it sounds like you are concerned with the life of the HVB & possible failure. The vast majority of HVB failures have happened to the ENERGI models of the Ford C-Max. The ENERGI model has a HVB that is three times larger than a standard model is more prone to heat related damage. IMO, the cooling system for the HVB is more than enough on standard but fall short on the ENERGI in some cases, [outside temps, driving styles, & other factors]. The ENERGI model also has controls that allow owner to have input on charging & battery use, the standard is controlled by the car's programming. Again IMO only, I suspect failures have been more prone due to high heat in battery pack & some owners unknowingly putting too much stress on HVB for long life. The ICE in the C-Max is a solid little motor, more than up to the job as long as you take care of it with regular maintaining, [good oil & filters, good gas, & quality replacement parts]. The transmission failures reported in the 2013-2014-mid/2015, IMO, may have been pushed by the fact that without a regular dipstick. owners & a lot of mechanics make a mistake & believe that the trans is a sealed unit. This happened to me at a national chain, [cough cough Firestone cough cough]. The C-Max came with reg/non-synthetic trans fluid & is much more apt to heat related loss than full synthetic. I am not stating that this is the cause but just something that may have helped the problem occur. This problem is not just a Ford issue but is a CVT issue across the board. Have a neighbor with a Nissan Altima with a failed CVT right now & no dipstick on CVT [but he drives like Richard Petty, so who knows]. If you decide on one or the other C-Max, the first thing I would suggest is to change trans fluid if it hasn't been done before. A lot of owners of the Ford C-Max have had issues with the 12v battery. It seems to cause a different effect when it fails for every single owner, making it hard to pinpoint. Totally unlike what we are expecting, some of us for 50+ years of car ownership. Sorry for the long post & Thanks for the read.

As I understand it, rear shock mounts are made from cast aluminum & are prone to breaking with a harder than usual hit. I have like noises from my C-Max also, but am waiting for my budget to replace both rear shocks & mounts. [Social Security sucks sometimes.] If this turns out to be the cause, please let me/us know. Thanks for the read.

Had this occur also. For me, it turned out it happened if I had my cell phone held/placed between key fob & ignition. hope this helps but no sure fix, sorry.

Sorry, but from my limited knowledge & experience, signs are pointed to a head gasket failure. Cap & tank are made to deal with pressures in the 15psi range & temps in the 200f range. With a blown head gasket pressure can easily reach 100+psi & temps 400+f very suddenly depending on the cause. With the metal bolt noise, I suspect a broken valve, spark plug, or even a possible broken piston ring. As the broken part rattled around in the combustion chamber it may have got caught between the head & piston & opened enough of a gap between head & block to break the seal between them. You may be not getting the tell-tell white smoke of a coolant leak because of where the crack in gasket may be [intake, compression, or exhaust sides]. Also in order to see water vapor depends on volume, temp of vapor & outside temp. Engine light on indicates a repair code[s]. I'd check that first, Then check each of the plugs for which one is mis/not/firing. If after finding their condition & none of then are the source of damage, have or do a compression test to pinpoint the possible bad cylinder. An oily plug may indicate ring failure. Head gasket replacement is not very hard but is labor intensive. Really hope I'm speaking to a worst case scenario & you find a much less intrusive cause. Thanks for the read.

As a prior sufferer of this, it is a good possibility that the replacement 12v battery is also bad. The specific battery for a C-Max is a seldom used part# across the Ford line. Where you purchased if from may have had it in stock for years prior to your purchase & has degraded sitting on their shelf stock. If possible check voltage via a meter, engine on [ready to drive mode] & engine/acc off. I believe you should get 13.5+v with engine on with a good charging system & if you get 10.5 v or less with engine off, you have a bad battery or a power drain. If it is possible I would take battery back to purchase point & ask them to load test it. Hope this helps & Thanks for the read. By the way, a cig lighter/power point voltage meter is a good investment of $10 or so IMO.

In your other post, you said the car was a 2014 that has had no prior problems. Assuming that you are still on the OE 12v battery, I would check & see if or how weak it is after 9yrs. A weak 12v battery is notorious for oddball effects prior to failure in the C-Max. Do check the bulbs also as if one or more may effect the timer that shuts them off. Thanks for the read.

sorry I misread where you rotated tires.

Couple of questions. You said a couple of wheels needed excess weights to balance, are these two mounted on the same axle or side? Have you rotated tires to see if any effect changes?

Hi. A little background first: 2013 SEL, 140K, daily drive includes 5 miles one way [10 total] on county road shared with a lot of dump trucks from local rock quarry, [very few pot holes but asphalt is badly rippled & breaking up in spots], four wheel alignment has been good when checked at 90k & 120k, no noticeable driveability problems; pulling to one side or other, bouncing, or excess body roll [keep in mind I don't drive like I'm in Formula 1 or Baja]. At 125k I started getting a thump or two from rear suspension on right/passenger side during low speed breaking. Sounded akin to a rubber-headed hammer hitting an old chrome bumper or other solid metal object. No noticeable vibration felt just noise. I was thinking it may be the start of a shock sticking & was looking into replacing both rears when the sway bar end links symphony began. Now that those have been replaced & quieted down, back the shocks. With my limited knowledge & on-line research, the only up-grade over OE was the KYB Gas-Adjust that I could find. ? Are there other that will work without any modification & have anyone used the KYB's with good or bad results? Also during my research I saw steel shock mounts that are supposed to cure a potential problem with OE aluminum cracking. Since I can't determine condition without disassembly, has anyone seen or heard of this problem before? THANKS for any thoughts or answers on this & sorry for the long read.

As an outside observer, who has dealt with 12v battery issues on a non-Energi SEL model, I agree that this does sound like a bad 12v battery. I would like to point out that the particular 12v battery size and/or item number is/was used in a very limited number of Ford models. This means that a dealer or auto parts supplier will have a very slow turnover on this battery resulting in the fact that a battery may have sat in storage for years before you purchased it. If this happened once, it can happen twice just as easy. If you can check the battery build date not the sale date, [code translation for different makers available online]. If possible have the 12v battery load-tested. You can also get a voltage meter to be able to note voltage engine on, in accessory mode. & engine & accessory off. Try and note if you get voltage drops while in normal use especially if you get a large drop in engine & accessory off level as this may point to a battery drain problem. Hope this helps, Thanks for the read.

I believe it is common knowledge that the ICE coolant reaches it's highest temp shortly after shut-down. Water pump & cooling fan stopped. This is on a properly operating system. It would be very interesting to know or have some idea of when or what factors into the highest temps on the inverter/converter side. Is it the same as an ICE or is it during heavy discharge/recharge cycles. Hopefully one how the resident gurus [& I mean that respectfully] can chime in for the rest of us to benefit. Thanks for the read.

Hello, a few things to note: You did not state your year & mileage which may have bearing on problem. As part of regular upkeep Ford recommends changing coolant at 100K or 6years use, to replace/refresh coolant anti-freeze/anti-boil components that wear out after time or heat-cold cycles. A search here will give you the how-to instructions [I'm too much of a PC idiot to post a link, sorry]. In my experience, most if not all coolant tanks marking for MAX level is pretty much a hard & fast one & will overflow every time you may put in even a little extra. Also your driving conditions may be called as harsh due to things totally out of your control that are favorable to higher heat conditions [outside temps, traffic. for example]. With this in mind, you may want to keep an extra eye on your transmission fluid, level & condition, as extra heat may have negative effects. If your mechanic or repair shop tells you your transmission is a sealed unit [as the local Firestone did me] don't walk, RUN away. THANKS for the read.

To all who have noticed less fluid coming out than going in when they change their trans fluid please note that Motorcraft Mercon LV ATF [part# XT-10-QLV] is a petro based fluid, NOT SYNTHETIC. This means that there will be fluid loss due to higher temps over the life of the fluid due to "boil out" of the fluid over the life usage of the fluid. Just like usage of standard oil in the ICE that would lose qt. between changes, no leaks or signs of oil burning but basically oil "boil out" over the 3-5K between oil changes. Owners manual calls for a trans fluid check at every ICE oil change & assume topping off for losses. Personally my car was down a pint after 100k but it is driven almost always in a low stress situations [hwy. 50-60mph, small town, no long traffic jams unless there's a wreak, little AC usage]. If you drive a lot in high stress/temp situations, it wouldn't hurt to be sure to check that fluid level at every oil change. The only real trouble with checking it is that ICE oil should be drained while hot [as I have understood it for 40+ yrs] & the trans fluid check should be done on a cooler [not cold] transmission. It does have chance to extend oil change time by a extra 15-30 minutes. Thanks for the read.