Forums

Another 6 months of owning my car has passed. I only 53k on the car but decided to bring it for an oil change. But that's not the only fluid that got change I also went and changed the trans fluid. What a difference!!! I went from having little bumps telling I'm in gear to smooth gear selection. Also smoothed out 2nd to 3rd and a lot of little small things. 

Awesome!! I’m glad somebody was able to get their dash repaired. I ended up cutting the crumpled pieces away and ordered a dash cover!! I’m still pissed about it!! 

I had this problem with my 2017 Ford Fusion Energi Titanium which I bought new. I also bought an extended warranty. I asked Ford to fix it but Ford declined a the grounds that it was a defect in the “ dash pad” which was not covered.     I took Ford to  arbitration and the arbitrator ruled in my favor. I argued it was a safety matter because the defroster was not working properly and I was concerned that the air bag would not deploy properly. During testimony the Ford engineer admitted that the air bag might not deploy properly and that the defroster would not work properly. 

The 3 vehicles i used to run K&N filters on, all got better gas mileage. Factory airboxes are made with a few major things in mind, cost, assembly time and NVH. I don't see doing maintenance as "more trouble than it's worth". I change my transmission fluid every year, i would never figure it is "more trouble than it's worth".  On the other hand, a friend at work who put a K&N on his truck claimed he got worse mileage, he is a lead foot though.

Modern car use a TON of electricity to run proper.  Couple that to modern batteries are crap and you get issues.

Just for future reference for other who might experience a similar issue, I may have found the solution I wanted to post on the forum.    Last week I had two more instances of issues.    First, where I forget to disable the start/stop function with the button, and it stalled at a stoplight while heading to work.  The car refused to start and I was stuck at the light for about 2 hours waiting for a tow.  The dash screens would light up but none of my outside lights worked.  For the heck of it, before the tow arrived, I disconnected and reconnected the terminals and, low and behold, the car was working fine again.    The second instance happened when I parked my car and later it simply wouldn't start (appeared unrelated to stop/start). Once again, I disconnected and reconnected the battery and it was starting fine.   Strange as it sounds, my Cobra radar detector has a battery check function whenever the car is started and it told me last week the battery was bad.  Exploring this potential cause, I discovered that the prior owner installed a standard, non-AGM battery in the car.  According the owner's manual, stop/start cars specify a AGM-type battery.  I installed an AGM replacement and haven't had any problems (at least so far).    Admittedly, I'm a bit nervous about keeping the stop/start function on so I've been trying to remember to keep it off but check it's functionality every time I drive the car when parking the car to see if works.  So far, about 20-30 tests without issue.    Just to try to increase my confidence in the fix, when I took the old battery to the auto parts store to recycle it, I asked them to use their battery check equipment to verify the battery was bad.  When they checked it, it showed as 'passing'.  This didn't help me feel better but, like I stated, the car appears to be running fine now that an AGM-type battery is installed.   Maybe the old battery was just starting to fail (?).   I hope this information helps someone else out in the future.  

FOr those of you like me that refuse to shop on Amazon and Walmart I suggest Carquest as you can get WIX filters there.    If I run regular oil I do a short change interval of 3000KM.   If I run semi-synthetic I go the full 5K KM.   If I run full synthetic I change it between 5-10K KM when it looks dirty on the dipstick.   Prices in Canada are crazy right now, 5L of regular oil will set you back $50 if not on sale.  I just paid $65 for a store brand (Canadian Tire) full synthetic 5L jug, and that was the sale price.  Average price for name brand was $79 for 5L.

Oil filter(s):  the 2 I use most  (either @ Walmart or Amazon, whichever costs less), Motorcraft FL 910 / 910S Supertech ST3614 Both are very good filters for the $$, I used to disassemble my old filters, these 2 are well built, and post use inspection has taken Fram off my list to ever use. I keep an "inventory' of drain plug gaskets in my oil change kit.. I have used copper, but default to the "plasti-rubber" with seating ridges. I'm not gonna advise on ramps, I used to use them, but since I got a 4 post lift the ramps just hang on the wall. Oil I always use 100% synthetic,  I use high mileage (different additive pkg) when it is available. I generally buy what is on sale (Menards currently has Pennzoil full synthetic for $16.99 for 5 qts) and I change the oil & filter @ 5K miles.

IF you overheated I would start with a compression test as well as testing the coolant  for exhaust gases.     You could also start by getting someone to scan it and look at live data and see what temperatures the computer is seeing.  Check wiring see if anything looks melted around the coolant temp sensor.