Exhaust manifold cracked - utterly dismayed

[SillyBear]

I'm incredibly disappointed right now. An engine coolant over temperature warning came on in the car while my wife was driving it. She was just a few minutes from the dealership so I told her to take the car there immediately.

 

It took the technicians over a day to identify the problem. The car wasn't holding any coolant, it turns out the exhaust manifold was cracked and since the CMAX runs it through there to heat up the ICE faster there was no patching it. I couldn't believe the manifold would crack on a 4 year old car. Parts and labour on the entire repair will run me $3,000 CAD. The part has to be ordered up from US so it'll take at least 4 days for them to repair it. The technicians there said they've never seen anything like it (maybe because they don't work on CMAXs as often?!)

 

We love our 2013 CMAX but this puts a really bad taste in our mouths. It's an unexpected cost at a really difficult time. Does anyone know if there's anything we can do? Would there be some forgotten warranty or recall that nobody has thought about? It just seems unreal for an exhaust manifold to crack at this stage in the vehicle's life. The car has 115,000 KM on it.

 

Thanks for taking the time to listen to me vent.

 

Sincerely

 

A disappointed CMAX customer

Edited September 12, 2017 by SillyBear

[obob]

Your case is the first I have heard of a cracked manifold on this forum. (see SnowStorm's post below.)

 

I didn't realize that the coolant is warmed up in the exhaust manifold.  

 

If I were you I would ask for the old exhaust manifold to take a look at it.  ( and maybe post a picture on this forum.  I sure am curious about the design as well as the nature of the failure.)

Edited September 12, 2017 by obob

[SnowStorm]

Sorry to hear of your misfortune.  There has been another cracked exhaust manifold described here.  There has also been a cracked intake manifold (but the symptom was coolant loss so was it really the exhaust or does coolant also go through the intake manifold - don't know).  There is an extended warranty on certain hybrid components in the US but I doubt the manifold is included - and I don't know what your situation is in Canada.

[SillyBear]

You're the second person to mention taking a picture of the part so I'm definitely going to do it. I just called them to ask and they informed me I needed to get the alignment done as well. I just did it last month when I bought new tires! This feels like a complete kick in the sack.

[obob]

If my tires are wearing evenly and not wearing out too quickly, I don't mess with the alignment.  There is a message thread about C-Max needing the rear wheels to be aligned that may have been a design problem.  The remedy can require added hardware to adjust the camber.  http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/5088-wheel-alignment-for-best-mpg

 

Perhaps you can call your tire place to make sure they checked the camber on the rear wheels.

 

Maybe your dealer didn't realize you just had the car aligned before trying to sell you an alignment.  (Caution, I do have somewhat of a "guilty until proven innocent" bias judging the trustworthiness of dealers.)

Edited September 12, 2017 by obob