mikekoz Posted September 1 Report Share Posted September 1 A few months ago we were having a problem where the engine warning light was always on and according to the local place we send the car to, the thermostat is bad. A friend of mine knows something about cars and he also has a car with the same problem. He says on his the thermostat is stuck open so he still drives it like normal. I did the same thing in 90+ degree weather and the car ran fine. Engine ran smooth and did not overheat after driving it like this for the last few months. About a week ago on a cool Monday morning after not driving the car all weekend, I started her up and got that warning. There is no way the engine could be overheated as the car did not run for two days and it was about 60 degrees outside! I did not risk it and just drove our Edge to work and back all this past week. I checked the fluid levels under the hood and they seem fine. Could this be a false reading due to the thermostat being bad? We did not fix it because it would have ran us a bit more money than we wanted to put into the car. We are now considering trading it in for a used vehicle, and may have to get it fixed anyway beforehand, but just wanted to see if anybody on this forum has run into this problem and get a few suggestions! Any help would be appreciated! 2013 Ford Cmax Energi 51300 miles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lacienega Posted September 1 Report Share Posted September 1 When you get that warning...what does the thermostat in the dashboard show? If you start it cold, it should be all the way down. If it's already all the way up, I would think it's an electrical issue. We got the warning once on the way to Vegas in summer and I found out that our automatic shutters in the front were shot and stuck in the closed position. But that's a different story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikekoz Posted September 2 Author Report Share Posted September 2 Thanks. I will take a look at it tomorrow if it is not storming! I will try to see if I can find the shutters and check them while I am at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lacienega Posted September 2 Report Share Posted September 2 I don't think it's the shutters in your case, since you get the warning already on a cold start Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikekoz Posted September 2 Author Report Share Posted September 2 (edited) I just checked my display and the temp on the engine shows that it is cool like it should be. I started the car twice this morn and the first time I got the overtemp warning, and the second time I did not. The warning is not consistent so maybe it is an electrical problem, or just has something to do with the bad thermostat. I may drive it a bit today around our neighborhood and see how she does! Edited September 2 by mikekoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cr08 Posted September 2 Report Share Posted September 2 Check the hybrid inverter coolant on the driver's side as well. The overtemp message will also come up for that even though it is not clear that it could be for this. Pull codes as well as those could help narrow down the cause. So many things are monitored and reported in these vehicles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikekoz Posted September 3 Author Report Share Posted September 3 Started the car again twice last evening and once early this morning and the error did not pop up. I am now getting a message stating "Eng Oil Maintenance Engine Will Run". I get this every now and then and it should be normal, but it has done this the last three times I have started the car and while it is doing this, EV is not available. Could the Coolant Overtemperature warning have something to do with the electric motor?? Just a thought! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikekoz Posted September 3 Author Report Share Posted September 3 (edited) 21 hours ago, cr08 said: Check the hybrid inverter coolant on the driver's side as well. The overtemp message will also come up for that even though it is not clear that it could be for this. Pull codes as well as those could help narrow down the cause. So many things are monitored and reported in these vehicles. That seems to be OK. Unfortunately, I do not have any device to get error codes from the car, sorry! Edited September 3 by mikekoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill-N Posted September 3 Report Share Posted September 3 Some auto parts stores will read the codes for you. I seem to recall Autozone as being one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikekoz Posted September 5 Author Report Share Posted September 5 Started the car this morning and once again got the error. The red thermometer icon showed up like it always does when this happens, but the temperature reading on the dash showed the engine was cool. We have an Autozone near where we live, so maybe I can ask them if they have a device to get an error code from the car. Thanks for all the responses so far everybody! Lacienega 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikekoz Posted September 7 Author Report Share Posted September 7 That is the results the guy at Autozone got. He said the problem was the thermostat and showed me the part, which was about $22.00. Our local shop told me it would be about $700.00 to replace. Does that sound correct? Would it be that labor intensive to install where they would charge that much? 🤔 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlcnws Posted September 9 Report Share Posted September 9 I would consider a $700 thermostat and coolant flush high. If the thermostat is under the car like my daughters 2017 Fusion Hybrid, this is not a difficult fix. If it's buried in the engine then it's probably better to let the shop handle it. I'm getting ready to do a flush and fill on the Fusion and appears to be easy access to the petcock on the radiator and thermostat for draining the coolant. The most difficult pat of this job may be purging the air from the system when finished. Check out the YouTube videos to see if you can handle it yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikekoz Posted September 15 Author Report Share Posted September 15 Looks like we may end up trading the Cmax in for a used 2023 Mustang Mach-E electric. Do not really want car payments, but the Cmax is 12 years old and has over 100,000 miles on it. The Mach-E looks like a nice car! I do not have too many complaints about the Cmax other than the loss of capacity on the main battery, which I thought was premature. Thanks for everybody's help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homestead Posted September 15 Report Share Posted September 15 I went from 2013 c-max to 2023 Mach-E in Nov last year. Really like it, So far no problems. Have gotten about a dozen over the air updates. Sold my old c-max to my daughter and it is still running ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikekoz Posted Sunday at 12:59 PM Author Report Share Posted Sunday at 12:59 PM This may not happen for us. I was reading this morning about charging options, tips, etc. Apparently, you need a 240v charging outlet to charge this vehicle. I am still investigating this, but if you use a standard 120v this car takes about 48 hours to charge. Another source said that you get 3 miles of range for every hour it charges on the 120v outlet. That is all we have, and I think it would cost a lot of money to add a 240v outlet outside where I would have parked the car. This is really disappointing since I really liked the car and feel the dealer (after a bit of haggling) gave us a good deal on a 2023 model with an extended battery. I am also not happy that nobody at the dealership gave me this information. My salesman said nothing about it. I am going to call him today and tell him the deal is off unless I can find another solution, which is not likely. 😟 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homestead Posted Sunday at 03:59 PM Report Share Posted Sunday at 03:59 PM (edited) Depends on how many daily miles you drive. You can get by with 120v if you have short commutes and live in a warmer area. If you have long commutes and live in a colder area then 240v will work better. Get an estimate on adding a 240v outlet. Fords can now charge at Tesla superchargers too. Edited Sunday at 04:00 PM by homestead cr08 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikekoz Posted Sunday at 05:29 PM Author Report Share Posted Sunday at 05:29 PM Car would be driven about 60 miles a day. Pretty much just to work and back for me. We have ChargePoint chargers there which would be a bit faster. I think we are just going to get the Cmax repaired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homestead Posted Sunday at 05:44 PM Report Share Posted Sunday at 05:44 PM Good luck! Our C-max has gone 11 years about 80k miles with no major problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikekoz Posted Monday at 10:21 AM Author Report Share Posted Monday at 10:21 AM Ours is about the same age, maybe a little older. It has just over 101k miles on it and we have had no major issues with the engine. The worst thing we have experienced with it was the degradation of the main battery. It is now about 40% of its original capacity. Other things that have gone wrong with it I would call electrical. We have a problem with it dying about a year and a half ago, but after Ford removed some module in it, they said was the culprit, it has been fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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