Do these symptoms sound familiar to anyone?

[raadsel]

Thinking back, it seemed like before I replaced my 12V battery a year and a half ago, it seemed like my car was riding somewhat "rough," in terms of I seemed to feel like the car wasn't riding well over rough patches of pavement. When I replaced the battery, the ride seemed to smooth out.

 

The two may be completely unrelated, but it has come back much worse now.

 

I had the two incidents with the MyFordTouch audio not working recently, and one time the battery being completely dead after the car sat unused for two days. Along with that, if I sit in the car with it off, the dashboard is turning off in just a couple of minutes now -- despite the battery being replaced and the system reset (I was getting the full 10 minutes then).

 

What has me baffled, though, is that over the last few months the car has been riding "rough" again but only some of the time. What typically happens is I'll be on a major surface road, with a speed limit of 40 or 50, take my foot off the gas and the car will feel like a tire is not properly balanced or out of alignment. It feels fine if I'm accelerating, even at higher speeds, and if I push somewhat hard on the brakes.

 

Of course, it wasn't consistent -- I'd have several trips where the car seemed fine, seemed to run normal. Then I'd have a day or two where it would ride rough. Then it would be fine again. Additionally, as it got a bit worse, I'd notice that as I'd press the brake, the car would mildly jerk towards the right, it was easily controllable but did require turning the steering wheel a bit left.

 

The last few times, though, it seems like it has now progressed. It seems to be all the time and it seems much rougher. Again, when acceleration you don't feel anything, or when pressing on the brake pedal with more than a light pressure. I'd say that it feels like a tire is just bouncing around, except that I'm not noticing any real difference in handling -- just a shaking like something is "loose" in the front of the car. I'm also noticing a significant loss of fuel economy, down to about 34 mpg on the current tank.

 

I'm planning on taking the car into my dealer on Monday (or even having Ford come pick up the car) but was wondering if anyone had seen anything similar with a C-Max. I'm a bit worried they'll try fixing symptoms -- balancing the tires and doing an alignment but (and I could be wrong) it doesn't seem like those are the issues. I'm also curious if this is one of the symptoms of a transmission issue -- at least one idea I've had, since it happens when I take my foot off the gas, is if it might be tied to the regenerative braking system, which is why with more moderate brake pressure (as the brakes engage) the shaking appears to go away. 

 

Any thoughts or experiences that are similar?

[fbov]

Since it sounds like you're on the original tranny, what's your mileage?

Frank, who's quiet at 64.4K

[plus 3 golfer]

I'd get the 12 V battery checked first.  Low battery voltage can cause all sorts of issues.  The fact that the car sat two days and wouldn't start and your MFT turns off in minutes indicates a very low state of charge of your 12 V battery.

 

Critical modules like PCM, TCM, ABS can operate at very low voltages.  For example, many ABS monitors run as long as voltage is above 8.3 V and ABS module control voltage threshold is 9.0 V.  Most of the monitors of ICE operations have a minimum threshold voltage of 11.0 V.  Most of HyBrid Power Control monitors can function down to 6.0 V.   So, if voltage is too low, many sensors could be giving incorrect data and monitors may not be running. 

[raadsel]

Since it sounds like you're on the original tranny, what's your mileage?

Frank, who's quiet at 64.4K

 

Mileage is 74,000.

[raadsel]

I'd get the 12 V battery checked first.  Low battery voltage can cause all sorts of issues.  The fact that the car sat two days and wouldn't start and your MFT turns off in minutes indicates a very low state of charge of your 12 V battery.

 

Critical modules like PCM, TCM, ABS can operate at very low voltages.  For example, many ABS monitors run as long as voltage is above 8.3 V and ABS module control voltage threshold is 9.0 V.  Most of the monitors of ICE operations have a minimum threshold voltage of 11.0 V.  Most of HyBrid Power Control monitors can function down to 6.0 V.   So, if voltage is too low, many sensors could be giving incorrect data and monitors may not be running. 

 

The odd thing about the battery is it was replaced just 18 months ago -- so their could be some type of manufacturing issue but the battery is new enough it should not be failing. Also, while it did die after two days when I was having the audio issue, I've had no issue since (other than turning off quickly) after the car sits for a few days.

[Bill-N]

Might want to have the brakes checked,  A shoe/pad hanging up can cause such symptoms.  Carefully feel each wheel (not the tire) after you've driven 4 or 5 miles.  If one or more is hot, you've a brake issue.

 

 

Cheers.

[plus 3 golfer]

The odd thing about the battery is it was replaced just 18 months ago -- so their could be some type of manufacturing issue but the battery is new enough it should not be failing. Also, while it did die after two days when I was having the audio issue, I've had no issue since (other than turning off quickly) after the car sits for a few days.

Batteries do fail. Did you have to pull fuse 79 to reset audio? Can you measure your battery voltage in the morning before you start car? If you have a mechanical issue with suspension / brakes, dealer should easily find it.

[raadsel]

Just to follow up, the tie rods were replaced as well as the battery, which apparently had a bad cell.