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S Max - Most Unreliable Car


Rich Marks
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Hi,

Boough A 2007 S-Max 2.0 TDCi Zetec last October, only 23,000 miles. All ratings (Whatcar etc) were 5 star ... but this is the most unreliabl car I have ever owned (and I used to have a Triumph TR6 ... so this is saying something !). Loacl Garage & the AA man look in sympathy when the see the s-max ... they say it is a big customer of theirs.

After 10months of ownership :

1. Alarm fault - alarm kept going off for no reason & constand relay clicking when car was stopped ... alarm system replaced.

2. Lights alarm didn't wok - switch replaced.

3. Selecting 1st gear - went into reverse ... gearbox housing replaced.

4. Noisy power steering - full steering rack & pump replaced

5. Boot mechanism jammed ... new electric switch required

6. Bonnet jammed shut & cable snapped - new cable

7. Engine warning problem - Cambus connections all cleaned

8. Dead battery - suspect this is self draining, but this is a WIP

9. Another Alarm needing service error ... a WIP

10. Engine will not start - needs 5/6 attempts (one one in ten restarts) ... AA think I have a fule pump problem - to be sorted

11. Load clunking noise from under the car when tavelling over a bump ... to be sorted.

So I make this a frequency og one garage visit per month since I bought it, thank god I got an extended warranty , but I was hopeing to keep for 5 years , but can I afford 60 trips to a garage.

How can Forn make a vehilce as terrible as this !?? (NB .. I do love it when it works !!)

Disgruntled & dissappointed

Rich

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Hi,

Boough A 2007 S-Max 2.0 TDCi Zetec last October, only 23,000 miles. All ratings (Whatcar etc) were 5 star ... but this is the most unreliabl car I have ever owned (and I used to have a Triumph TR6 ... so this is saying something !). Loacl Garage & the AA man look in sympathy when the see the s-max ... they say it is a big customer of theirs.

After 10months of ownership :

1. Alarm fault - alarm kept going off for no reason & constand relay clicking when car was stopped ... alarm system replaced.

2. Lights alarm didn't wok - switch replaced.

3. Selecting 1st gear - went into reverse ... gearbox housing replaced.

4. Noisy power steering - full steering rack & pump replaced

5. Boot mechanism jammed ... new electric switch required

6. Bonnet jammed shut & cable snapped - new cable

7. Engine warning problem - Cambus connections all cleaned

8. Dead battery - suspect this is self draining, but this is a WIP

9. Another Alarm needing service error ... a WIP

10. Engine will not start - needs 5/6 attempts (one one in ten restarts) ... AA think I have a fule pump problem - to be sorted

11. Load clunking noise from under the car when tavelling over a bump ... to be sorted.

So I make this a frequency og one garage visit per month since I bought it, thank god I got an extended warranty , but I was hopeing to keep for 5 years , but can I afford 60 trips to a garage.

How can Forn make a vehilce as terrible as this !?? (NB .. I do love it when it works !!)

Disgruntled & dissappointed

Rich

I wanted to sit down and write a list of all the things that have gone wrong with our S-Max but haven't got the inclination to do it because the list would be too long and depressing and I am not sure I can remember all the things that have happened anyway. The latest does not seem to affect anything yet but is certainly a bit strange:

Its happened twice now, driving along and for about a second, all the warning lights come on then go off and the trip and fuel trip reset themselves.

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I wanted to sit down and write a list of all the things that have gone wrong with our S-Max but haven't got the inclination to do it because the list would be too long and depressing and I am not sure I can remember all the things that have happened anyway. The latest does not seem to affect anything yet but is certainly a bit strange:

Its happened twice now, driving along and for about a second, all the warning lights come on then go off and the trip and fuel trip reset themselves.

would be grateful if you can tell me the year and model of your s-max

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would be grateful if you can tell me the year and model of your s-max

It is a 56 plate 2.5 Titanium with X pack plus extras.

To be fair, nothing mechanically major has happened but mostly just all the electrics in the extras as well as the standard S-max issues that everyone has.

Still a car that I couldn't do without though.

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It is a 56 plate 2.5 Titanium with X pack plus extras.

To be fair, nothing mechanically major has happened but mostly just all the electrics in the extras as well as the standard S-max issues that everyone has.

Still a car that I couldn't do without though.

I've had a similar experience on 3 or 4 occasions and it's certainly gets your pulse racing when it happens! Every warning light comes on like a christmas tree and the dials (speed, revs, fuel, etc) drop down to zero. It lasts just a few seconds and the first time it happened I was accelerating up a hill and the car lost all its power. There has been no noticeable change in performance on subsequent occasions and all the warning lights just go out after 5 or 6 seconds. I've never had it looked at because it happens so rarely and what can they do if the fault isn't in evidence at the time?

Can anyone shed any light on this?

Mine is also a 56 plate (registered Apr 2007) 2.5 Titanium.

Cheers.

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  • 3 months later...

I have a 56 plate after reading so much good stuf about the s-max when i bought it new it's been the bane of my existence, if i could afford to i would run this car off a cliff laughing maniacally, to name a few here are the issues i've had

Fuel Pump replaced (6 months old)

Steering rack replaced (2 yrs old)

2 x bonnet catch

Engine failure warnings

Heated windscreen issue

repeated blue tooth issues

parking sensor problems

I'm thoroghly dissapointed I WILL NEVER BUY A FORD AGAIN

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Hey guess what mines a 56 plate as well, list follows of my probs:

steering rack replaced after noisy power steering, didn't fix it, (was under warranty so I don't care) they then replaced hoses or was it valves? that sorted out the noise.

Oh and while I remember the mechanic forgot to tighten the steering rod locking nut, so I suppose I should be thankful that I'm here at all! (see my topic "I forgot to do that nut up love"

alarm going off, accompanied by high speed wipers going that I couldn't stop, Outcome replaced alarm module under ns wheel arch water getting in it (under warranty)

when trying to shut windows they open sometimes again on their own, they go up and down about three times and then they work ok, was told by garage to reset them as something must have got stuck in them Hmmmmmm!!!

Heater not working properly, checked coolant a little low, so topped it up, heater sprang back into life, checked coolant after a couple of hours and its gone down more than I would expect, going into the garage next week to test for leaks ( when I topped it up there wasn't any dripping under car so maybe it's the plastic topup tank thats leaking when the coolant expands?) we'll see next week (oh I hassen to add it's not going to a Ford garage, after the steering rack fiasco I dread to think what they'd replace before realising it's actually to do with the cooling system, maybe replace the gear box or a new engine haha)

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8. Dead battery - suspect this is self draining, but this is a WIP

Mine had this - there is a TSB article which relates to a software update which the dealer applies. Basically the dashboard console doesn't always power down properly when you lock the car (you may see the display in the cluster and/or stereo remain on).

Since having the update applied, my dash now powers down on the button every time, and *touch wood* I've not had a flat battery since.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have an 07 Diesel SMax

Problems so far:

Steering Noise - addressed twice by garage but remains and I just live with it

Parking light staying on - needed to replace indicator arm

Flywheel fault - major repair on warranty

battery seems to drain at times

Crap trim - this is something Ford is bad at in their Purchasing and Engineering departments - family cars need plastic parts that are far more robust!

Alarm fault - needed to replace horn assembly

Frustrating for an otherwise good car that can run well and be very useful for carting the usual junk that comes with a family. I hope the Ford engineers are reading this - I used to supply parts to them - they were far too cost focused at the expense of making products robust (as per VW and the like).

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Well mine is an *early build* 56-reg car. It has had some niggles, but so far it's been pretty reliable.

- Heated windscreen elements failed (resulting in "barcode" effect) - dealer replaced under warranty but didn't properly seal the replacement screen resulting in a leak from the rear view mirror area (subsequently fixed)

- battery drain - fixed with software update to headlamp module under warranty

- Sat Nav radio crashing (also causing battery drain) - fixed with software update to the radio itself

- Airbag light coming on when driver's seat adjusted - fixed by cleaning the contacts on the connector plug under seat under warranty

My biggest complaint at the moment is the life in the front tyres - they're down to the legal limit wear bars after just over 8000 fairly easy motorway miles! I had expected better longevity than that!

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I've had a similar experience on 3 or 4 occasions and it's certainly gets your pulse racing when it happens! Every warning light comes on like a christmas tree and the dials (speed, revs, fuel, etc) drop down to zero. It lasts just a few seconds and the first time it happened I was accelerating up a hill and the car lost all its power. There has been no noticeable change in performance on subsequent occasions and all the warning lights just go out after 5 or 6 seconds. I've never had it looked at because it happens so rarely and what can they do if the fault isn't in evidence at the time?

Can anyone shed any light on this?

Mine is also a 56 plate (registered Apr 2007) 2.5 Titanium.

Cheers.

Hi - I wonder if you found out any more about this?

S

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