RTV

Rich/Ronnie As the majority of c-max members are not paid members and only use the forum and not any of the other club benefits. Why don't you offer a forum only subscription to cover your costs. I would be happy to pay for what I use. I also don't mind not receiving any "stuff" in the membership pack or an annual Christmas present as "it does all cost money" I think this is a fair solution for everyone and may prevent the mass migration of the c-max members to other sites. Thanks

Robert, Sorry I don't know if the 2litre diesels are effected. I can't comment of the mpg of the 2litre as I've only ever owned 3 1.6 diesels.

You can get cheap ones on ebay for around ₤50, but as there are lots of fake or unbranded parts on ebay so I bought ours from Ford for around ₤90..

CharlieR, I like the front privacy glass, where did you get it fitted and how much did it cost?

Has anyone made a How-To guide for changing this mate as I'd be interested in doing this to mine. Not that I know of. Chaning the airflow meter is very simple. It fits in line next to the airfilter box. Just undo the jubilee clips and remove, then undo 4 philips screws and exchange the part.

The intercooler pipe cost around £60 plus an hours labour if I remember rightly. It looked very straight forward to change though, just two jubilee clips and one or two bolts. The new pipe is redesigned to prevent it from cracking again and comes with two new flex pipes at either end. You can tell if it's cracked as there will be an oil/dirty residue near the fixing bracket, if you use a screw driver to lever the bracket it will make the hariline crack viable which is caused by a design fault. I've only looked a 4 maxes engine bays and all 4 had a cracked pipe. This could be a wide spread

Ravenger, I keep saying this on here, but there are two things that always fail that cause poor mpg, the air flow meter which you can change yourself and a cracked intercooler pipe (the black one at the front of the engine). I have seen the cracked pipe on the 4 c-maxes I have looked under the bonnet. Fixing these made a 10- 12mpg difference on our 2 c-maxes.

Affected cars were manufacturered between 01/08/2005 28/12/2006 , both ours not effected.

Lights are £113 each from Ford.

Excellent, was just thinking about this today as I followed a new c-max home. The new lights look very original. Does anyone have a cost ?

Thanks Andy, Without the optional kit to fit to the aero bars how would you fit it?

Can anyone advice on a suitable roof box for the c-max?

The title should read "Newbie without a problem already" Does this forum make people paranoid?

I could be talking rubish here, as I'm only passing on info I saw in a TV program and I can't back it up with anything. May be it only applies to when the car is manufactured and not the MOT regs??

Have you noticed that some new diesels have regular tail pipes which do not point down, the reason for this is that they meet the new emissions regulations and have a particulate trap, All other diesel exhausts must point down to comply with regulations.

Think I'll give it a go. Do you have any tips on how to take it apart? How long did it take?

Just happened to mine two days ago...

Zooky, It's not cheap, coming in at around £90 for an proper Ford one although I have seen them on ebay for around £50 but I personally wouldn't buy one of these though. Very easy to change, 1 jubilee clip and 4 screws, only takes a few mins. It's quite a common problem on all cars as the sensor is extremely fragile. Also check the black turbo pipe on the front of the engine, it's covered in a fine oil/dirt film near the bracket it may have a crack in it which saps power and loswers mpg, I have seen this all four c-maxes in the family, all 1.6 TDCI's. Both made big differences to

Whats a sticky gearbox? I had a notchy gearbox, had the oil changed and an additive put in, it's like a different box now. Much smoother.

Oh the irony

I would agree if there isn't another "decent" dealer nearby then it may make sense to change manufacturers but I was responding to gingerjedi who only mentioned the one dealer. I'm not questioning Japanese car reliability. I'm pointing out that people also have bad experiences with other dealers such as Honda and this shouldn't put you off buying from that make just because of that experience.

Have been driving like a nun up and down the A1, which is very easy to do in the rush hour, and over the last 2 days am averaging 61mpg on the computer. Will make a note of the total mileage when empty. Last tank was 550miles so aiming for 600 this time.

You get good and bad delaers with every make of car. It's should not necessarily be a reflection on the manufacturer ie. refusing to buy a particular make because of a bad experience with staff in a dealers, when the car may be a perfectly good product. OK, refuse to use the particular dealers, but refusing to buy from the manufacturers doesn't make sense. I have heard a similar story with a Honda dealer.

Macx, what type of journeys do you do? Unless you're doing short stop start journeys around town or you have an extremely heavy right foot, then there is a problem with you car. 32mpg for a 1.6TDCI is woeful. One of our C-Maxes used to get around 44mpg, a friend suggested changing the air flow meter which I did myself, and hey presto the mpg is now 54mpg and it's also got more power now... We also had a similar situation with a cracked turbo pipe, tha black metal one on the front of the engine, it had oily deposits on it which showed up to have a hairline crack in it which produced similar

Rob, that's not correct, the EGR vavle problem was not common on the 1.6 TDCI engine. It mainly effected the 2litre TDCI. Not heard of any fly wheel problems. The 1.8TDCI is an old design with updated common rail, so all problems are well ironed out.