Meelaan

The biggest reason names like "Falcon" and "Futura" weren't used is Ford never renewed the copyrights to those names. Pep Boys owns the rights to Futura with their tire line. Falcon is licensed by ford in Australia, but not in North America. The name Fusion was untimely because, as mentioned, a razor was released at almost the same time with the same name. Because of that, I really never liked the name. Guess the razor just stuck. Ford's obsession with naming all their cars after "F" words and all their SUVs after "E" words is dorky. I would have liked to see "Maverick" brought back (it's used as the name of the European model of the Escape). Even Galaxy would have been good. This double "F" (i.e. "Ford F____") thing has got to end. Goofy.

Whatever... my point is the average fuel use per unit of travel on the dash computer readout is not 100% accurate. That number should be calculated by actual distance that has been driven after filling the tank.

My God... What the hell is that? I had no idea. Why would Ford choose to do this? It's the 21st century. Are they aware that oil filters for every other car in production come complete and in one box? Yeah... you just take the old one off and screw the new one on. Done. Here we have six different pieces that require assembly. I'm changing oil, not getting a mechanical engineering degree. The manual makes no reference to this bizarre and unecessary elaborate setup. And there's the whole story. If they would have just shown a damn illustration like that one (http://www.wam.umd.edu/~greghess/scans/oilchange/6ioilchange.gif) I'd have been able to draw conclusions. This doesn't change the fact that Ford's dealer network has not been made aware of the required O-ring change.

It's fairly common knowledge that whatever the sticker says you'll get on highway or city will be about 5 MPG off in real world driving. It's more so true with Fords. My V6 Mustang never got better than 22mpg at any time. And it was a manual. I've had my 2007 4-cylinder Milan now for just over two months time. As we all know, it's rated at 31mpg/hwy. Upon making my purchase, I conceded that it would probably get 28mpg on my commute, and that this was acceptable. My worst MPG on a tank of gas to date? 29.2mpg My best? 32.3mpg And that's not reading off the dashboard, which is typically 1-1.5mpg off. My average is 31.5mpg and I drive 105 miles each day. This commute covers highway driving at 70mph to bumper-to-bumper traffic in the city (New Orleans). My technique in conserving gas is to: 1. use the brakes as little as possible and never over brake (not accellerating up to a stop sign) 2. ease up to Interstate speed, rather than gunning it to 70 3. apply the cruise control as much as possible 4. run the tank down to as close to empty as possible 5. keep the interior and trunk empty The big thing is letting the transmission shift. This prevents the car from running at high RPMs, which hurts MPG. As anyone who's driven a standard knows, the lower RPMs you can operate in, the better.

This is exactly the problem. The language is confusing and Ford has not communicated properly with dealers who service these vehicles. It's a recipe for disaster. Can anyone please tell me exactly what an "oil filter drain plug" is? I've been changing my oil for over ten years and there are two parts that get removed during an oil change: 1.) the filter and 2.) the drain plug. The language in the manual confused the hell out of me because they've effectively merged the two into one by saying the O-ring on the oil filter drain plug has to be replaced. What the hell is that? This is where my issue arose. The drain plug is the drain plug. The oil filter is the oil filter. If you say "drain plug" there is only one possible thing that can be. Ford did a great job confusing something so simple. Now they need to address this language. I fully anticipate such an event happening.

My 2007 Milan is named "Sweet Caroline." urnews: your driving habits may be the problem. Try easing into the accellerator and letting off when you sense the transmission should be shifting. Driving aggressively will destroy any attempt at reasonable MPG numbers. Be cool, calm, and drive like a little-old lady. At worst you'll be five minutes later than if you'd been driving balls to the wall.

The language I'm referring to is in the 2007 model year owner's manual. I don't think they refer to it as a crush washer (that's really a Honda term), but rather a gasket, or O-ring. They printed the 2006 manual THREE TIMES??? I'm on my second '07 one already. Geez...

UPDATE #2: Ford's representative called me again today. I was glad because I needed to get the importance of this issue out loud and clear. She said usually a customer would only get one call back but due to the nature of my complaint, they wanted to make sure they spoke to me. To sum it up, Ford apparently really downplays the usefulness of their owners manual(s). The rep at one point suggested that the directives concerning the required replacement of the O-ring at each oil service may have been an error that should have been cut from the text. I fired back with the fact that Mercury just sent me an entirely new owners manualonly a month ago (a new warranty manual followed a couple weeks later). When I received it, the letter stated that the only change to the manual content was to language regarding fuses... nothing else. If other content was changed, customers should have been made aware of it. The rep further informed me that Ford's service technicians are instructed to inspect the O-ring at each service and replace only if damaged. Now, why would I be mandated under threat of voided warranty to change the O-ring if I serviced the car myself--but the Ford tech doesn't have to? In the end, the choice Ford has is simple: either remove the language from the manual requiring the replacement of the O-ring... or enforce the policy as stated in the manual throughout their dealer network. They'll probably go with the first option, even if it means sending out yet ANOTHER replacement copy of their owners manual. It makes you wonder... if the rep I spoke to downplays the importance and relevance of the car's owners manual so much, why the hell did they bother to send out revised copies to all current owners? To some people, it may seem a petty thing... but I value my warranty and to forfeit it less than 5,000 miles into the purchase would be tragic to say the least. That's why I think this is such a big deal. Beyond that, I have concerns over the truth in the manual that could lead to oil leaks which can (but rarely does) lead to an engine fire or even failure. And if the language in the manual on this issue really is B.S., what other parts of the manual could be inaccurate? Someone at Ford decided it was a pretty important issue... important enough to put in the manual and important enough to threaten loss of warranty if not abided by. I just want to know who's rules do we as consumers need to follow here to keep the vehicle on the road and keep the warranty coverage running. Rather than sending out new revised manuals every two months, Ford needs to be accountable here.

While you're certainly getting good gas milage, please take note--as I have--that the dash readout of MPG is off by approximately 1.5 MPG on average.

The "O-ring" they are referring to is a washer. As for the one referenced on the filter, that's the rubber ring built into an oil filter. UPDATE: Got a voice mail from Ford yesterday afternoon regarding the situation. It continues to make little sense how they are proceeding. The caller informed me that my dealer operates under the policy that the washer is a "replace by request" item only and is available for an additional fee during service. This contradicts Ford's own maintenance documentation where it clearly states that the washer must be replaced--not reused--during each oil change. What's more baffling is that Ford isn't stepping up to the plate and enforcing its own directives. Instead, they are apparently letting dealers pick and choose how they service vehicles. Nevermind that when I DID request the washer change, no one in the service or parts department had any clue as to what I was talking about--and the part wasn't even in stock, so how would I have even gotten the "replace by request" fullfilled? Nuts.

All cars create a rumble when you start them. It's physics. You're creating an explosion within a confined space which then torques the piston heads in various directions. What do you think's going to happen? I think you're being nit-picky. Besides... get through the 2,000 mile break in period before you start imagining gremlins.

According to Ford's maintenance documentation for the 2.3L four cylinder equipped Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan vehicles, during each oil change, a washer on the oil drain plug must be changed. Ready for the bad part? My dealer--and I suspect most dealers--have no idea such a requirement exists. Prior to my first oil change for my 2007 Mercury Milan, I emailed my dealership's service department to ensure they were aware of the washer requirement. They replied that it was optional and could be added for an $8.00 charge at each service. I was surprised that the manual would indicate it is a requiped part of the service, but my dealer considered it optional. Well, yesterday I got the car down to the dealership for the oil change. I spoke to the on hand service manager and asked about the washer requirement. He had no idea what I was talking about, but referenced an email that was circulated about such an issue (my email). They were simply amazed that I'd even read the owners manual. The service rep called the parts desk to ask them about the washer. Parts looked it up and said it was only available along with a new oil drain plug (!) for $14.00. I said hell-no and pushed them to look deeper. Finally, the parts guy located the washer by itself. Total cost: $7.30 each. If they'd even known it was something that should be changed each service I would have been shocked by this price, but honestly, I was still having trouble getting over the fact that they were completely oblivious to this information I was telling them about an oil gasket washer. Honda has been requiring this practice for years. My 2002 Civic Si required a new "crush" washer during each change. Easy enough... any auto parts store has packs of four aluminum oil drain washers for about $1.25. But does anyone remember the debacle that hit Honda about a year ago? Hondas began catching fire after being parked and it was attributed to oil leaking onto the hot exhaust header. My theory: mechanics and service departments were either not aware, or not actively changing the crush washer during maintenance. In my personal experience, I installed a washer that had a deformity on its surface. This caused a very slow oil leak that after one week had coated the bottom of my car--including exhaust components. Consider that the Fusion/Milan have been in production now for well over a year. How many four cylinder models are on the road? Ford could be setting themselves up for disaster with this issue... and it's such a little thing to overlook. That's what blows me away. I went ahead and got my oil changed since they showed records of other four cylinders they'd serviced without changing the oil gasket washer. But I assured them that I would be contacting Ford--which I did about an hour ago--to get the word out. It's not so much my dealer's fault (although it would make me feel better if they were as familiar with the owners manual of my car as I was) as it is Ford's for simply not educating their dealer network on this. I wanted to bring this issue up so other owners could provide their input on the matter and maybe even bring it up with their dealer--if not FoMoCo.