Is the C-Max still the way to go? What would you do today?

[Sara K]

On 3/5/2023 at 7:25 AM, jzchen said:

 

Only at the LA Auto Show.

Speaking of LA, I'm looking for a good mechanic to start working with--I recently purchased a 2016. Do you know of places familiarized with the C-Max in the LA area that you'd recommend? 

[Kristen]

On 2/25/2023 at 5:02 AM, Hafro Samurai said:

Wow.....well you both are severely lucky to have the experience you've had. Well back in 2021 by uncle reached out and asked if I'd like to inherit the 2013 SEL my aunt purchased new passed away the year so he had no use for it. I said "Yes please!" as my Triumph Striple was giving me some electrical grief (was an all season rider for years living in the Seattle area since my 2000 Subaru GC8's trans was shot and sat during that time). Skip forward to picking the car up from my uncle. Not a clue which model it was, nor what color (blue), but when I got in and looked at the odo my jaw dropped at seeing just under 17,500mi. Here I was thinking I just scored a new car hah for free......little did I know what was in store.

The 1st year my uncle already had got a year of insurance so it was under his name.......during that year I popped 2 of the 4 og tires as they were brittle and riddled with micro cracks. Other 2 were replaced soon after.

(GRIPE #1): Not firing the geniuses who thought up and approved, "Remove the spare, give them an 1 shot device that will only help with a small leak! Oh and since they won't have a spare and clearly that's the only reason people jack up their cars."

Wow I didn't see this to urning into a novel hah...I pick up the pace.

Fast forward to summer 2022. Time for me to put the car in my name we had already filled out the proper documents. Get to the dol and...low and behold you can only gift a vehicle once (in WA at least). Slapped with tax on fair market value of over $12k (Seattle sales tax was 10.1% at the time too haha). I didn't know how to work the system until afterward. Then my move to OR is when this thing just gained some baditude. Now I had already made 2 or 3 trips down to the Portland area and it was smooth and quiet. By now I was maybe at 32k miles and moved in July. Buddy of mine hooked it up with a job when I got here delivering luggage airlines lose. I figured what a perfect job with this hybrid with ample capacity. For those of you not familiar with the great PNW, our roads are seemingly always in need of attention. I would say about late August I was noticing more road noise and the ride was not as smooth anymore. Got rotations and balancing at appropriate mileage and everything. Got an alignment and by then I was getting that rear squat look (and no, I am NOT into the stanced look nor functionality). The alignment shop said my suspension was all good and brakes too. During a 2 week period I have the balance checked 3 times and was all good. Now in all of this one day I got a screw in my tire around 4am (doing late night/morning deliveries), had to go home until discount tire opened across the street from me (this was my second time since moving I got a leak). Back to delivering by 9ish and on my way to last delivery ding.....check engine light. Auto shop let me scan it and was thrown p0304 (misfires in cylinder 4.

By no means was did I know my way around cars let alone a hybrid. I knew just some of the basics like oil changes brake rotors/pads, spark plugs and the sort. So being a hands on learner and craving some new knowledge I decided I'd do as much as I was comfortable with. So after all new spark plugs was still getting misfires so I did the ignition coils next. Nope! Okay so logically based on no other related codes being thrown I could afford a new injector. I curse the buttfaces on the internet who give out incorrect info. I red the number 4 cylinder was the third from the left. (It's not, it's the last one on the right) well that check engine light would go away and reappear a few times before it went out for awhile at least. Sometimes in Sept I took my car for a real good inspection and asked them to really get into the suspension and figured they'd run into an issue they could diagnose and fix. Also to clear any codes they found. They didn't see any codes nor find anything wrong with the car.....I was seriously thinking I was going crazy at that point. Not 1 mechanic or technician who all know more than I can find the issue or feel/hear it like me. Oddly enough I went back to the auto shop for a scan and sure enough that p0304 was still present. Then not a month after the Ford shop's inspection I hit a long and wide pothole on a county road during dusk. No popped rire yay. a week later by shock gave out on the freeway and evey tiny bump sounded like I was bottoming out.

Fast forward to now, I have replaced (learned to and did the work myself too!) Both shocks, front lower control arms, outer tie rods, front and rear sway bar links (twice now as the first time I torqued while unloaded), rear upper control arms (yes the forward ones to correct the camber). I went with Moog parts and got them for a steal on Amazon. Well at this point I realized that I didn't trust the factory suspension so I found some coilovers as I figured it'd be nice to be able to adjust my damping to better tackle crazy roads we come up against delivering. This took a lot longer than I had guessed it would. Not having a place to work on it at home means I'm using what little windows of good weather there are to work on it in flat parking lots around here. I legit succeeded with the install but then had a lot of adjustments so was going to have a shop take over so I could let my body heal.

Needless to say. I'm quite certain this sour faced lemon joke of a free car is the bane of my existence. Had to run up to Seattle before that appointment and a car up ahead and a lane over ran over a deer and caused it to come over to my lane in front of me. I actually didn't feel thuds or crunches but more glides over it. no tire leaks but blood fluids and fur were all up under the car and wheel wells. And something was indeed wrong. Pulled into a shell and looked see the coil springs on the front and the coils were almost touching. Spent an hour plus adjusting them and got back on it only to pull off in another few miles. After all said and done I discovered one of the springs is permanently 5mm shorter. Then I did some digging and discovered the Godspeed project monoss coilovers for the C-max have the very same spring rates as the roughly 600lb lighter Focus. Which I think was more the problem than the deer. It would explain why the rear at near maximum ride heigh setting is still pretty low. And would certainly cause springs to overcompress.

Regardless, I like how much I've learned but I've been out of work since the day before Thanksgiving. Though I like to say I saved a ton (likely in the $4000 range from doing work myself). I also highly recommend a bidirectional scan tool (I got a ThinkDiag2) as you can test components from your phone app rather than hunt down the part then run texts. 

Okay wow....I'm done (definitely left out much more) but I need some sleep and to regain feeling in my frozen toes haha. I am also more than happy to try and help out whoever. Once I get the coilovers sorted though I'll try And post my thoughts and feeling of them. Maybe throw up some pictures too  Not all were created equally hahaha. I've ever my car a C-min(imum).

Good luck!

 

 

 

You're the only other person I've heard of with so many issues! My 2017 C-Max Energi has given me a lot of grief also. After leasing it for two years the seat heater gave out. Dealership spent a month replacing stuff until they just replaced the whole front seat. I was leasing it at this point so this was covered by warranty. This was minor compared to the next issue.

A couple of years later my C-Max would overheat and I would have to pull over to let it cool down. Context: My husband and I would often take ~2000 mi (round trip) road trips a couple of times a year to visit family. The C-Max always handled it very well until the engine overheating issue started. We brought it to the dealer and they ended up replacing the whole transmission. Car only had 78,000 miles or so on it. The dealership had the car for six months because the transmissions were backordered from Ford. Silver lining: I had gotten a warranty when I purchased the car after the lease ended. So I didn't have to pay for the repairs.

So yeah, now I have a love-hate relationship with my C-Max. I feel your pain lol.

 

Also C-Min(imum) is great lolol.