RTV

Three things I would check or change are; 1) The air flow sensor, 10 min job that you can do your self, this is a delicate part that fails on all cars, although is about £90. 2) Cracked black intercooler pipe on front of engine. This is a design fault. We have 4 c-maxes in the family and all have had this problem. The black metal pipe has a bracket on the side, the weld of the bracket can crack causing a leak. If there is a film of oil/dirt around this area it's cracked. Had ours replaced under warranty, they have changed the design now. 3) Fuel filter.

Totally agree with 1955 diesel. Cracking car, great to drive cheap to run and maintain. We have covered 100k in our 2 c-maxes without break down. Have you got a diesel or a petrol. Any niggles we have had have been sorted under warranty with excellent service from the dealers and also from Ford customer service who payed 80% towards a repair a few months outside of the warranty.

Our cars are protected with warranty direct. I think it worked out at about £14/15 per month. Platinum Cover Our Platinum policy will cover all mechanical and electrical parts up to the value of your car. You can take your car to a franchised dealer for repairs or any other VAT registered garage of your choice. The Platimun Cover is like the manufacturers second and third year cover on a new car. It also includes wear and tear items such as water pumps and suspension. You pay more to take the car to your choice garages.

Some Mazda 5's have serious tyre wear problems. People have reported all 4 tyres wearing out in less than 10k. http://www.mazdaforum.com/m_39069/tm.htm Blistering alloys is common on japanese cars.

whitem, our maxes are 53 and 04 plates and have done 37k and 60k respectively. Both still on original EGR vavles with no problems. Most of the problematic ones seem to be on the 2 litre tdci's. We have taken out 3rd party warranties which cover the EGR vavles. Much cheaper than changing the cars. Although will be going for a new Galaxy sooner or later. Agree the 1.9 vw deisels are clattery and industrial compared to modern diesels.

There has been much talk of bad customer service at Ford dealers recently. Can we name the good and tha bad dealers on here in order to help others. For me Gates Ford at Stevenage have been excellent and Mantles at Biggleswade have been very helpful with warranty work and accident repair.

Just looked at the receipt and they actually charged me £150 for the service, absolute bargain for a major service.

Got the voucher when they cleaned the aircon, it was a spring summer offer. The filter replaces the pollen filter.

Thats the oil filter CFC. I've now found the fuel filter, it;s at the top on the right hand side, you can see both fuel lines going in.

Just had the 37k major service done on the wife c-max and it cost £164 after a £25 voucher from Gates Ford Stevenage. Also opted for the new "odour filter plus" which filters out exhaust gases and partulates.

Oh look, doom and gloom Booths back with his helpful posts! I'm Still on original EGR vavle on both our maxes, nearly 4 years old now. 100k between them. I think it only ever effected the 2.0 TCDI and not the 1.6. Had an EGR vavle replaced in my Audi.

Did I touch a raw nerve Scotmaxx 12 paragraphs and three posts, have you got it out of you system yet.. Open your eyes! This forum isn't just a moaning ground and there are plenty of happy owners in here. "you will see why I am sitting here still feeling smug about my choice of vehicle!! " I'm happy for you, if it makes you feel better about your 5k loss and you like reading about people who have had similar problems then good luck to you. But please remeber there are also plenty of happy owners! (In the interest of objectivity)!

I remember working on an old mini, not enough room to squeeze your little finger in the engine bay, and the rust was unreal. Give me the c-max any day.

Yes good result. Andy - were you a bit of a boy racer in your younger days "My Corrado VR6, MK2 Golf GTI 16v & 8v, Passat 16v "

Scotmaxx, well thats a first. You managed a whole paragraph without mentioning your beloved Skoda! Just in case you haven't seen it here is a link to a Skoda Octavia forum http://www.skodaforum.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=16 Where you'll find posts such as 2004 Octavia 2.0 Tdi exhaust smoke Octavia Road/Tyre noise Octavia C/Locking Problem! 2.0 DTi woes Glow Plug Warning Light 110 bhp diesel turbo reliabilty issue Central lock and fuel tank hatch problem No Fuel / Revs octavia vrs power loss Octavia 1.9tdi 4x4 estate Strange Rear End Vibration It seems even Skodas suffer problems, would

Scottmaxx, please don't feel sorry if you see me driving my max, because i'm extremely happy with it !

Anyone know where the fuel filter is?

Come to mention it, I've had two Seat Leon Cupras, one of which leaked water the other which broke down twice. Also my Audi TT broke down and needed the dash board replacing, and our Audi A2 had the glass roof mecanism replaced twice taking 10 days and also broke down once. Admitidly Audi customer service was amazing though, but thats reflected in the price and maintenance of the cars.

Booth, So you have 1 outstanding problem. "Engine hesitates momentarily at pull off when revs reach 1700 rpm" I doubt this is the EGR valve. May need a ECU update. I can't comment on the auto gearbox, but my father had one for 2 years without problem if it's any help. "It seems that there are so many unresolved reported issues (design failures) with the C-Max" I disagree with this comment, most problems have fixes.

Well done Bob. There are loads of happy c-max drivers but as they wouldn't need any advice or info they don't tend to post their positive comments. So the majority of posts become mainly negative, which in my opinion paints a false picture how the majority feel about their cars. Me and the wife have a 1.6 TDCI Ghia each, and we're extremely happy with them and have covered 60k in mine and 37k in the wifes.

I know what you mean Rob, but the modern ford cambelts are reinforced with fiberglass and are extremely strong as opposed to the old rubber ones which went without any warning. It's a shame that Ford go to the trouble of designing extended life parts if people change them at the old intervals.

The Ford service schedule for changing the Cambelt in the Duratorq-TDCI is 150,000 miles or ten years. Thats what I'm sticking to. Even tha last generation of Focus only needed a cambelt change at 100,000 miles. 5 years would be 60,000 miles less than half of what it's designed to do. Waste of money.

Booth, Do you have any problems with your C-Max ?

The cam belt is scheduled to be replaced at the 100,000 miles servicing. But i would recommend changing it at least 25,000 miles before that.... 1.6 TDCI cambelt change is 150,000 miles.

Not sure why modern cars should mist up more - my old minis and XR2 didn't suffer the same way. Oh but they suffered in so many other ways. :wink: Thats because they didn't have aircon. Aircon dehumidifies the air, the water collects and drains out of the car. But when it's switched off some of this water will get back in the car which can steam up the windows, this is made worse if using the recycle function or if the air isn't blowing on the front screen. I just give it a quick plast with the aircon takes about 30 secs to clear whole care. My last 7 cars all with aircon misted up muc