2013 Ford C-Max: check engine light

Filed Sep 29, 2025 · Engine · IL

Engine light came on. Mechanic said 2 codes showed up. One for low coolant, another for engine misfiring. The misfiring code had come on several times in past and spark plugs were replaced. Upon inspection was told the engine block is cracked due to faulty design. I will need a new engine!

Filed Sep 20, 2022 · Engine · FL

Vehicle engine light remain on forcing the vehicle to only operate in engine mode. Vehicle is a plug in hybrid vehicle and because of the engine light will not switch back to plug in or hybrid mode. Vehicle is available to inspection upon request.

Filed Sep 14, 2021 · Transmission · MO

While my son was driving his / my 2013 C-Max Energi (on gasoline, the "battery only" range had been depleted), the vehicle lost power and shut down completely, and could only be coasted to the side of the road and not restarted or moved. Fortunately it was not on the highway at the time. The CEL was on, and unfortunately I do not still have the 3 codes which appeared, however the three codes were all for systems in the hybrid propulsion. When I did a google search on the three codes together, for the C-Max, I located a service bulletin from Ford showing that there are two low voltage wires which were improperly routed and insulated, in the back of the car behind the rear seat and under the steel cover over the Energi additional battery. Since the vehicle is a 2103, I had it brought to my home rather than the dealer, and I was able to remove the rear seat, rear carpet, rear seat belts, side panels and battery cover to get to the defective wiring. The "Ford Fix" involved replacing part of the wiring harness and rerouting the new harness, but with about 4 hours of my own labor, I was able to disassemble the rear interior of the vehicle, insulate the 2 defective wires and zip tie to another harness next to them so that they would not rub the steel housing over the Energi additional battery again. After thinking about this, after the fact, I realized that this should absolutely be a recall by Ford. **** Ford knows of the problem, Ford issued a Service Bulletin for the repair, and most importantly, the issue is incredibly unsafe because when the vehicle stops, it will only coast to a stop wherever it is, whether it is on a parking lot of the fast lane on the interstate, and cannot be moved under its own power. ****.

Filed Apr 4, 2021 · Acceleration, Brakes · 76,600 miles · PA

Turned the car on in a parking lot and saw the check engine light was on. Had totally lost power steering and acceleration, and braking was extremely difficult. Rolled down the parking lot and was able to stop the car with the parking brake and turn it off. Turned it back on and the power steering and brakes and accelerator were back. Drove the car home and tried turning it on and off a few more times. Power steering seems to be completely gone. Check engine light is on.

Filed Aug 25, 2020 · Transmission · 105,000 miles · IN

Tl* the contact owns a 2013 ford c-max. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle a wining type noise was present coming from the engine compartment and the check engine warning light would remain illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the transmission was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The local dealer and manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 105,000.

Filed Jan 8, 2020 · Electrical · 52,000 miles · TX

Since I purchased the 2013 c max there has been an ongoing problem. It starts with the clock, time is wrong. Next the radio will not work unable to shut it off, change volume basically nothing works. After a day or 2 the car will not start, no power. Once we jump start the car everything will be ok until the next time. Currently radio is not working again and now engine light is on and I am getting a warning to pull over safely now. It took multiple times to try to shut vehicle off. Ford tells me 'we never heard of this'. They want $500.00 dollars to just diagnose the problem. This is insane because it is not the first time we had the vehicle in for the clock, radio and dead battery. What had to happen before this gets fixed? A serious accident? I read all the comments on here and it looks like that this is an ongoing problem! Ford needs to fix this problem !

Filed Aug 11, 2019 · Electrical · 58,000 miles · CT

Purchased 2013 cmax used from a car dealer with 39,000 miles on it in 2018. Been driving it for 1.5 years- now has 58,000 miles.. Suddenly warning red triangle appeared with audio alert to stop the car immediately. I was driving on I-95 in the middle lane at 60 MPH. Could feel the car had lost power, able to get to breakdown lane and had the car towed-to dealership. They found "nothing wrong." car returned to me- second incident 3 days later, while turning into shopping center, again, felt the car lose power, red triangle/warning. Stalled in lot- it was a sunday. Turned the car off- when I turned it back on engine warning light was on .I called the ford dealership, and spoke to a sales person who told me it was safe to attempt to drive the car- able to drive it home ( slowly)- then to dealers the next day- warning light still on. Dealership unable to find the root cause of the problem and ford giving limited support to the dealership. Car still in the shop x 1 week- service advisor states it would not be safe for me to take the car until they find the cause because it could do it again at any time. *tt consumer stated she would like complaint to be deleted. The ford fixed the problem, it was a wiring shortage in the wiring harness.

Filed Mar 3, 2019 · Electrical · 99,000 miles · CA

Have a warning check engine light, it's a stop safety message. Came on and orange engine light came on with it. Seems ford has a wire problem at the battery, I understand it might be caused by a wire becoming bare from rubbing. Is this a recall??????????

Filed Jan 1, 2018 · Fuel system · 253,367 miles · PA

On 12/20/2017 at about 8:30 pm on route 139 (highway) east bound, after stopping for a red light, I tried to accelerate but the vehicle propulsion shut off. No warning lights or engine light came on. I had to place gear in park, and restart vehicle. This happened again on 12th street in jersey city, nj before I was able to park less than a mile away. In the morning I was attempting to bring it to wayne ford at 444 route 46, wayne , nj 07470, when the vehicle shut off in the middle of a intersection. On route 1(highway) in jersey city, nj. Again I had to place vehicle in park and restart vehicle. This occurred multiply times before I finally arrived at the dealership, fortunately the vehicle only stopped again on local roads ans not on the highway of route 46 or route 3 which I had to use to get to this location.. I explained to the repair person my vehicle shut down while in motion as I pressed on the accelerator, once while turning, always when in motion. Also asked that all recall items of this vehicle be corrected at this time too. As of this date 1/01/2018 wayne ford has yet to tell me what the problem is or when my vehicle will be repaired.