stu1.6tdci

After numerous phone calls to our dealer and to the Ford Customer Service Centre in Glasgow who also contacted the dealer on my behalf, I have finally managed to get a full refund. Having waited so long for a replacement vehicle only to have it off the road immediately rattling and leaking oil was the final straw. Such a shame - I really liked the C-Max, but just cant bring myself to risk a third one, so we have ordered a Mazda 5. I read it has the same underpinnings as the C-Max and virtually a Mondeo 1.8 petrol engine in it, so the Ford connection is still there and it seems to drive as good

Took it to dealer today to get rough sounding rattle looked at - they opened bonnet to find top of engine covered in oil. Dealer has had car all day and they phoned me at 5pm to say they have ordered replacement manifold seals ? Had the car less than a week and it is off the road now until who knows when - another quality offering from FordDirect. Anyone else had this problem - thought the 1.6 TDCi was meant to be more reliable than the 2.0 TDCi, but maybe not.

Thanks for that SCOTMAXX. Tried different fuel brand, but idle sounds same, and there is still a definite gruff, vibrating noise under acceleration. Good to hear it might be an easy fix so I will book it in to dealer next week.

Thanks 1955. To be honest it sounds more than a normal combustion rattle, but having said that even at idle it doesnt sound as quiet as the last one. I am still using whatever diesel the dealer put in, so I'll refuel with Shell diesel and see if that helps. Thanks for the advice.

We bought an 11 month old 2004 1.6TDCi C-Max in August from FordDirect, but various issues including an overpowering damp, musty, chemically smell, badly rusted jack ( water ingress ? ), u/s central locking, super glue on the dash which could not be removed by dealer plus several other minor snags prompted us to invoke our rights under the 30day exchange scheme. It has taken several months to get a replacement, but we did and for a small premium we got a 2005 model to same spec as our old car. This one looks great and appears to be up to the standards we expected from FordDirect first time rou

Thanks for that - 2 of the 3 garages I tried were Shell, so I'll try some others.

Thanks Gwyn. Just been out in the car again and today studied the manual as I couldnt work out which of the myriad of lights which come on when you turn the key is the glow plug lamp (I've just been waiting for them all to go out before starting). I see now that the glow plug light doesnt illuminate (I can make out where the indication is on the dash but it isn't lighting at all). Guess all the previous drivers (ex hire car) havent been too concerned, but I dont like the thought of them turning the key and just cranking the engine to start as there was nothing to tell them to wait for the plug

We have just bought a 54 plate c-max 1.6tdci lx from ford direct. It is a brilliantly packaged car and great to drive but there are a few issues which are annoying beyond the ones I've read about already (e.g. RDS clock didnt work, but I've managed to set it manually). One bizarre one is that this car is almost impossible to fuel. I've tried 3 different garages and each time anything more than a very very very light squeeze on the pump handle and it cuts off. I've tried angling the nozzle every possible way and nothing works - is this common, because in 20 years of driving I've never come anyt