Big Jim

I haven't been here for a while but i was a frequent participator when the car was new. On two occasions during hot weather, the volume of air out the A/C vents drops so low that the cabin won't stay cool. you can hear the blower motor but it seems to be like a circulation door has shut and the air has no place to go. Has anyone else experienced this? What is known about it? I'm guessing it may be a blend air door actuator getting flaky, but I would like to learn more before I start taking things apart.

On my 2010 Fusion Sport, the outside temp display seems to be reading at least 5 degrees too high. Does anyone know where the sensor is mounted so I can try to check it out?

You have a misleading title for this thread. The answer to that basic question is that indeed the manufacture is responsible for any manufacturing defects. What lies at the crux of what you are experiencing is there a defect or not. I can't picture what you seat problem is from what you have described. If the seat is just like all other so equipped cars of the same model, there may not be a defect. Perhaps you have noticed a characteristic that you don't like, but that doesn't make it a defect. It is a normal thing for different models to have accessories that work somewhat differently. If your new one has a delay programmed into the wiper sentinal and the old one doesn't, that doesn't mean that the new one is deficient. The delay you describe should not hurt the operation of the system. I don't know why they changed it, but it could have been to cut down on false starts. What you are describing doesn't sound like a problem and Ford is clearly telling you that they are not going to modify it. If it works as designed and went through all the government mandated testing they are not going to make a modification that would not only require unnecessary engineering time to accomplish but also force them through extensive revalidation. If your brakes are giving trouble again, take it back for them to fix. If you continue to have problems with the brakes and they have done all they can to make sure that they meet all engineering and manufacturing parameters, it may be that the problem is in your driving habits. If so, the best answer is to put you into another car that isn't so sensitive to your braking habits. Keep in mind that the dealer is dong all they can to make you happy. The dealer cannot re-engineer the car and Ford isn't likely to.

Street driven (not race track) factory equipped cars NEED all fans running when the AC is on, especailly at 110 degrees. The is a HUGE heat load added in front of the radiator to to cool the condensor coil. The entire cooling system should be checked. It is not always true that the dealer needs to duplicate the problem. There are things they can check even if it is not acting up. You experienced a problem so take it in.

Not normal. Any self adjusting from disconnecting the battery seldon last more than a few moments. It certainly isn't going to last a few days. Take it back so they can see what is going on. My SWAG (Simply Wild A** Guess) is that it is a vacuum leak from a vacuum line that got knocked off while changing the transmission.

I wonder how this will play out with the announcement that Corvette will either move to a mid engine or add a mid engine model to their line. Competition is a good thing. I also wonder how the flat plain crank engine Ford is developing for the Mustang will play out here. Shades of that famous Italian automaker that the GT40 beat at La Mans. Is Ford aiming at the throat?

I saw this on the Auto News Video a few minutes ago. I wish they had better photos. This should be very interesting.

Top tier is a very desirable thing. As others have said, it has to do with additive levels. Fuel that keeps things in the fuel system and engine pays dividends. It may not make much difference until you get some miles on the car though. It is highly desirable to use it most of the time. Using something else ocassionally won't hurt, as whatever build up started witll clean up with the next few tanks. It is not just marketing. It is not snake oil.

ALL mufflers have a condensation drain hole. If they didn't, they would rust out pre-maturly. Ford neglected to put those holes in Lincoln Town Cars around '91 or '92 and had to replace a lot of them under warranty. A few of the Lincoln owners liked the extra tone and left them alone. I actually had a customer come in with pictures of the condensate dripping out of the hole in large enough quantities to puddle up and cause a small stream. He believed he needed to have the head gasket replaced as well as the muffler that was damaged by the head gasket failure. That's what his "expert" friends told him. Honestly, a small condensation drain hole is NORMAL. It is usually at the lowest point of the muffler, usually near the back, usually right before the rear seam. It is not abnormal to see water dripping out of the hole, especially on cold days before the pipes are warmed up.

Ask the service advisor if he wants the job or not and get his reaction. It is very reasonable to replace them in pairs.

This is not the same problem. The most common problem for what is being experienced here is a cracked ABS tone ring at one of the wheels. It doesn't need to be anything more than a hairline crack. This is more common in areas that use salt on the road.

Bleeding the brakes while activation the ABS using a scan tool usually solves the OPs problem. Often, it can be overcome by finding a wet, slick, or sandy piece of road and braking hard enough to envoke the ABS a few times. Some have been able to invoke the ABS with a wheel jacked up, engine running, gently applying the brake while someone on the ground is forcing the wheel to keep turning. This takes some coordination between the parties, but it often works.

It's completely normal and most all cars do it. If a customer has never heard it before, once they have heard it they have a tough time beliving it is normal. I had one customer accuse me of being racist because I didn't want to fix her car.

You will find a good mechanic where he happens to work. Some good ones work in dealerships. Some good ones work in independent shops. The odds are a bit better at finding one in a dealership. They are familiar with your car and have some level of factory training most every year. I once owned a shop. I treated my customers honestly and fairly. When I moved on to dealerships it was like rising to a new level of competency. If you have a shop full of incompetent mechanics it doesn't take long for the community to find out. Once you have that reputation it takes some time to grow out of it.

There has been a lot posted about exhausts on 2006 to 2012 V6 Fusions. I haven't changed my exhaust but I'm familiar with it. First of all, be aware that changing to an aftermarket cat back exhaust will do nothing for performance. The biggest exhaust restriction is still there, the cats. Many people refer to the aftermarket cat back systems as noisemakers, as that is about all you accomplish, that is to add tone and noise to the exhaust system. Second, the factory exhaust isn't too bad. You can accomplish as much good with just changing mufflers. Magnaflows seem to have received a lot of love in the past. Third, some of those that installed an aftermarket exhaust were sorry they did, as it was louder than they expected. One guy went back to the muffler shop within 15 minutes to have the stock mufflers re-installed. I'm one of the people that would like a bit more sound from my exhaust, but found the Borla, Magnaflow, and others louder than my taste. You should be able to decide for yourself. There are many who like the sound. Many have posted sound clips to help you see what you are getting into, but be aware that the clips give you an idea of tone but can't really show you just how loud it is.

Rail dust most likely came from shipping by rail. What is awkward about it is that it usually doesn't show up immediately. It shows up as the little flakes of steel begin to rust. It isn't hard to remove. Last I knew the official Ford remidy was to wash it with a mild boric acid solution to get the dust to release from the paint. From my wn experience, a clay bar works too, but perhaps not quite as well. It is not likely to cause issues in the future. So let the dealer deal with it, but let them know that you are not happy, and that if there is continued problems with it you expect it to be remedied. There is little or no chance that they will replace the car. It can be fixed. Legally they have a right to remedy the situation. If the dealer does a sloppy job of cleaning it up you may have some more concerns, but it isn't likely. And I would tell them that you expect the clean-up to be followed by a first class was job. That's the least they can do.

Some automakers are nitriding rotors to resist rust and it seems to be working. Nitriding is usually done by heat treating shops. It entails using an oven with an amonia atmosphere. Small batches can be pricy. Using brake caliper paint on the flat non-friction surfaces helps with appearance but it won't do anything about rust in the ventilation vanes. The paint can be sprayed prior to installation and can be applied over zinc or other factory coatings. Make sure the surfaces are clean before painting. It's not too late to paint your existing ones. Wire brush off the worst of the rust and spray. Unless you are driving under extreme conditions, such as racing, caliper paint holds up pretty well. Silver colored caliper spray paint can be hard find, but high temperature engine paint works nearly as well if that is the color you are after. Black looks good on most rotors.

On my 2010, the lug nuts were jacketed, and the jackets started breaking apart after a few tire rotations. I bought a replacement set that are chrome plated solid lug nuts, not jacketed ones. I took one off and matched it up at Pep Boys (although most any auto parts store would have had them). I have no idea why they use jacketed lug nuts. They have always been troublesome.

The power of social media.

I think you got their attention!

I'm an ISO 9001 Consultant and Auditor. I also consult for AS9100 (aerospace). I work with a lot of qualtiy engineers. My main background before getting involved with ISO 9001 was as a dealership technician and service manager. My consulting not only exercises my technical bent, it also allows me to exercise my business school education, something the dealers never appreciated.

As I said before, I understand your opinion but respectfully disagree. There is no point in arguing about exactly what is covered in the "Million Mile" warranty or exactly how much help they will be if there is engine failure that the automaker denies warranty coverage for. I have not observed it with air filters, but I have seen how makers of other items have slipped out of what seemed to be their responsibilities. As I said before, perhaps oiled air filters filter "good enough", but that doesn't mean they are superior. I very much recognize that if you have an aftermarket intake you are "pretty much" limited to an oiled air filter. "Pretty much" in that there is at least one filter maker that makes a dry filter for such systems. The filter can be washed out, similar to cleaning a pool filter. It would seem that its filtering ability would be even less than the oiled ones. So lets agree to disagree and move on.

I know that is the line preached by the oil wetted filter companies, but I respectfully disagree. Before we had paper air filters, we had oil bath air filters. They were extremely common. They depended on coiled up wire mesh and an inch or so of oil on the bottom. The mesh stayed somewhat oiled, and the dust also collected in the oil. They were cleaned by wiping out the dirty oil on the bottom, washing out the mesh with solvent, blowing it dry, then oiling the mesh and filling up the bottom. They were terribly ineffecient. Why we would want to take a step backward in technology is beyond me.

If you stop and think about it, the "increased flow" that you get with an oiled filter only comes from less filteration. In reality, the difference in flow is really nearly insignificant. A drop in oiled filter really doesn't do anything significant for performance. An oiled filter very well may filter "good enough", at least for most applications, but for real protection you are better off with a high quality paper filter.

May I suggest that you post this at bobistheoilguy.com where they have many experts at reading an oil analysis.