fusionfamily

I have, but I just use good 'ole Motorcraft 80W90...

Also - service intervals are dependent on where you live... Up north here, we go by 48k for trans (30k miles), and 96k for coolant (60k miles). Keep in mind a couple of things - 1) Your engine and transmission are the two most expensive pieces of your car, so you probably want to take care of them and 2) Ford is very much in the business of selling parts, so if you want to wait till 150k miles to do your trans service, and your vehicle is LONG off warranty, be my guest...

See if your dealership can get a used PCM from the wreckers for cheaper... (that's what we offer customers sometimes, usually less than 1/2 the price of new!)

If it is just a misfire... throwing in a couple of coils is cheaper than doing an engine swap. However, like I said, the '06s had issues with coils and if it cooked your PCM as well (which wasn't horribly uncommon), putting in another engine won't solve anything. It'd be nice to know what's happening before you put an engine in, and then it 'runs' the same...

If you get the 'ole P1285 (CHT over temp warning), it won't always throw the CEL on. Usually a P1299 will (when the engine enters failsafe mode)

Bare in mind - these are interference timed engines... if the timing was off, I hope that there wasn't any damage done to the pistons & valves while you were cranking...

What I hear sounds like a possible misfire. A rod knock would sound lower and be very consistent. The '06s had issues with coils. Either way, I would suggest at least having your Ford dealer do a power balance test. It can tell you right off the hop (in a matter of seconds) which cylinder (or bank of cylinders) is the issue. Goes a long way to narrowing down your focus. Also - it is cheaper just to get a low mileage used engine and doing a swap than any kind of major repair.

The accelerator pedal and the APP (Accelerator Pedal Position) sensor are a one-piece non-serviceable assembly. Mess with it and your Fusion likely won't go anywhere. LOL (I'm pretty sure that this is the 3 track APP, and if you mess it up, the APP will fail the rationality check and you'll end up putting your car in limp mode). Most likely what you're feeling is how the PCM has adapted to your driving. The newer Ford vehicles are really all fly-by-wire, and your gas pedal is just a sensor (with a spring to give you that 'feeling' that it's actually connected to a TB by a cable).

The radio is a separate issue. The fix (that works 99% of the time) is

Remove the trim card, and inspect the actuating rods and cables. The exterior handle uses a rod (so it could be bent / stuck), the inside handle uses a cable. Without actually seeing it, I would think either the rod bent, or the latch is toast. I'm 99% sure you can get the trim card off with the door closed, then you should be able to 'manually' open the door. If you need any WSMs, let me know.

What I see most "commonly" is what FusionDiffusion pointed out. Lack of maintenance leads to oil starvation at the top end. And what usually happens with the 2.3L / 2.5L is the exhaust cam starves and the thrust bearing cap gets scored really bad, then when you turn off the engine the extra resistance causes the cam to turn on the gear (since the gears are NOT keyed to the camshafts - they use a diamond coated washer to get them to 'stick'), and then the engine is no longer timed. The customer hears the engine a rattling long after the head is already wrecked. As for the 3.0L, usually the lack of oil causes low resistance in the timing chain tensioners - although they are sprung - the oil is used to dampen them, and then the same thing happens. You turn off the engine, a cam skips a couple of links on the timing chain, and you need an engine. Never seen one throw a bearing yet. (the last two rod bearings I saw fail were in a 2001? cougar - oil leaking badly, engine ran out of oil and threw a rod THROUGH the oil pan... LOL, and then a Focus wagon. Oil filter got plugged (it was like a 2 year old filter... hahaha), blew the oil filter gasket out along with all the oil, then engine ATE the rod bearing. The tech couldn't find it. If you 2.3L did throw a rod bearing, there's nothing left to save. Guaranteed the top end probably saw some metal shavings/dust and the head is probably wrecked.

There's also a TSB that pertains to the waterfall - have you installed the revised degas bottle? (kit # 6E5Z-8200-A). If there's no heat at idle - then yes - it could be a stuck thermostat, could be a worn/leaky water pump - but I've never replaced one on a 2.5L yet, or air in the system. Does the engine get up to normal operating temperature in the usual time - or has it been taking longer to warm up recently?

The 6F35s are good for the most part (small questionable batch around 2010). Reason we replaced my wife's Civic with a 2012 Fusion. Fairly reliable cars!

I just got some Hankook Ventus V2s - and they are quiet. Actually bought them since the reviewers all claimed they were quiet. So far, so good. Only have about 8k on them though, so it is early to tell how they're going to wear. http://1010tires.com/Tires/Hankook/Ventus+V2+H437/1011728 (and affordable to boot)

The PCM can usually be flashed to accomodate for *certain* tire sizes. If the tire size was an option on the fusion (205/60R16, 225/55r17, and 225/45R18), then it should be programmable.