sirtanon

If I remember correctly, the sound system in the Gen 1.5 Fusions (2010-2012) are integrated with the PCIM. Because of this, switching it all out requires including the PCIM of the new touchscreen. Your current one looks like this, or at least similar to this, correct? ... and the one you're looking to move to is like this one?

Going with a wheel upgrade is a great way to make the car more "your own" as well as giving it a decent facelift. The stock steelies/hubcaps aren't bad looking but I feel that proper aluminum/alloy wheels make a huge difference. The 2010-2012 2.5 liter / 6F35 combo is a good one, IMHO, and should serve you well.

The transmission change(s) occurred for the 2010 year, alongside the engine lineup change. There was no mid-year change. 2006-2009 Fusions had: 5-speed Mazda G5M manual (I4) 5-speed Mazda FNR5 automatic (I4) 6-speed Aisin TF-80 automatic (V6) .. and then from 2010-2012, they went to: 6-speed Mazda G6M manual (I4) 6-speed Ford 6F35 automatic (I4 & 3.0L V6) 6-speed Aisin TF-80 automatic (3.5L V6) CVT (hybrid)

Aside from the obvious stuff - exhaust, intake, better plugs and a tune-up, etc.. - not much, really. The best thing I can think of is, if you' re not already doing so, start using high-octane fuel, as it will allow for better spark advance.

Well, got the car back this evening. Looks great! I need to take some pics of it, but they also did a seriously good job getting the exhaust fixed. The exhaust pipes are substantially better than the stock stuff that was on there. Bigger, and appear to be stainless. I also like the look of the single tip.

Your Fusion looks very clean, and I do like that color. We definitely need some better pics of it. Do you plan on changing out the wheels or doing any modification of any kind to it?

Update - Got a call and email from USAA a little earlier today. Estimate came to $2502.73, and USAA has already issued the check. Deductible waived, and I'm supposed to get the car back 9/14. Can't believe how quickly and smoothly this has gone so far.

Thanks for the recommendation, bbf. Actually, it's pretty much all worked out. I got a call from the other guy's insurance company a little earlier, and he stated that they've already spoken with USAA and accepted fault, and that they've advised USAA to simply send them the bill for everything. USAA waives the deductible when 1) the other guy is 100% at fault 2) the damage is over the deductible (in my case $250), and the other insurance company accepts fault. All 3 conditions are met here. I'm dropping the car off Tuesday morning with the body shop, rental is already arranged. I'll be speaking with USAA and the guys at the shop about an exhaust leak that has surfaced after the accident, which makes sense, since the muffler was hit pretty hard.

Good catch on the rims. I just washed the car on Sunday, and was hoping to get a couple good pics of her with the new wheels this week to post. Guess that will have to wait. On the plus side, my own insurance company (USAA) has already set up my drop-off at the body shop, and the rental is already arranged - Next tuesday morning. I also heard from the other guy's insurance company today - they have accepted fault and stated that USAA will be sending them the bill once everything is complete. All good signs so far. I'm going to have to see what sort of steps will need to be taken as far as the exhaust goes. And, if everything goes well, I'll be sure to get some good pics showing the new wheels once I get her back.

I'm a careful driver, and always try to leave room, brake early, and stay aware of my surroundings, but unfortunately, you can't control other drivers. Case in point, I was driving home from work today, on the 101 highway here in Phoenix, in the center lane. Traffic was off-and-on stop and go, and I had just come from an area where traffic was moving at about 45-50 to a slow-down. I braked carefully, and just as I had come to a stop, WHAM! hit from behind. The guy was in the left lane, decided he had to be in the center lane apparently, but did not leave enough room / anticipate the slow-down. First, his car (a 1998 "rough" Accord).. ... and now for the back of my Fusion. I was really expecting some major damage.. Surprisingly, it was not as bad as I expected, although I'm still disappointed. I work so hard to take care of it, and this happens. Apparently, he hit his brakes hard once he realized he was about to hit me, and so I suspect the front end dipped down low enough that it wedged under the back of my Fusion. In fact, he hit me hard enough and low enough that his front bumper cover actually ended up lodged under my car, pinned on the muffler tips, etc.. I'll definitely need a new muffler, and I suspect, everything in back of the catalytic converter. In case anyone is wondering, there does not appear to be any damage at all to the trunk, lights, or really anything above the bumper.

Not that I have experienced, and my car has nearly 3x the mileage. Only had to replace it for the first time around 225,000 miles.

I recently got new wheels for my 2010 Ford Fusion, so I am now selling the set of chrome MB Spark wheels that I had on it. The wheels are full chrome face, in great shape, with no road rash or other scratches on them. They are 5 x 114.3 / 5 x 4.5 bolt pattern and will require slim 'spline-drive' lug nuts. Full disclosure - I bought the wheels 3 year ago, and found out after I bought them that 1 had a 1" crack in it. I was able to find a professional welder who specializes in aluminum and alloy metal welding, who was able to do a fantastic job repairing the crack. That was 3 years ago, and I have had the wheels on my car the entire 3 years since, with zero issues. During this time, I also changed out the tires twice. The weld is good, it holds air, and does not cause any issues. Zero rust. The tires are ready to mount, have been cleaned, and will require that you mount your TPMS sensors on them. ***** Asking price is $325. Shipping these would likely get quite expensive, so I'm thinking local pickup only (Phoenix, AZ). If you'd really like me to ship, and you're willing to pay the cost to ship, I'm willing to consider.

I'll probably wait to do mine until the temperatures get back into double digits. It is 110F here today, no way I'm doing it. It's supposed to get down to upper 90's this weekend. Maybe I can carve out some time in the morning one of those days.

A while back, I looked in to the whole coolants thing, quite deeply.. albeit for kind of a stupid reason. End result, I learned a lot about what's out there. My reason for looking at the time? I didn't like how pale in color the Motorcraft Gold (G05) coolant looks in the reservoir, and thus how hard it is to sight its level by simply looking. I wanted to know if there was an option that would provide more noticeable color and thus make checking easier. At the time, I had a feeling a drain & fill was in order, the car was around 200,000 miles, and I figured I'd probably do a full flush followed by a fresh fill, so I figured if there were other options, that would be the best time, since it would mean no mixing of coolants. .. oh, and about a year prior, I had accidentally topped off with prestone. Not much, mind you, but enough to make be start worrying a bit, since I was becoming more familiar with the different technologies. Bottom line, yes, each "color" of coolant has different underlying chemicals and technologies. I say "color" vs just referring to color because color is not really a good way to insure that what you have is something specific. Old-school "green" from the 1990's etc.. was the easy one, but nowadays if you go to WalMart, etc.. and buy the "All-Makes, All Models" (AMAM) coolant, it's also kind of a fluorescent green which can make for difficult identification, and I'm sure has also led to many problems. The current AMAM type coolants are really just a "Dex-clone" and are super close to standard "Dex Cool" coolant. Having said that, they ALL use ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol as the base chemical. They all raise the boiling point and lower the freeze point as a result. Mixed with water, they will all provide good temperature protection. The real difference is the anti-corrosion and anti-wear inhibitor package. Dex-Cool uses 2-eha, or 2-ethyl-hexanoate, which is the stuff that gets the seriously bad rap for "eating gaskets" and causing the brown goopy death. You'll also see it in all the AMAM coolants, as well as some others, either as Potassium 2-ethylhexanoate, or Sodium 2-ethylhexanoate. It's not as bad as its rap would imply, but still has the stigma. Not sure I'd use it myself, but it most likely is no harm. Dex-Cool, and the AMAM coolants, are all what is known as an OAT coolant, or Organic Acid Technology, meaning the corrosion/wear resistance it provided by some form of organic acid. 2-EHA is one such organic acid. Ford's yellow coolant (G05), is what is known as a HOAT, or HYBRID Organic Acid Technology. This means that while it does use a form of Organic Acid, it also utilizes some other technology, usually based off the old stuff, known as IAT, or Inorganic Acid Technology. G05 is a low-silicate, phosphate free formula that includes the benzoate inhibitor. Note that it DOES have a low amount of silicates in it, which basically coat the inside of coolant passages, helping provide wear resistance by acting as a sacrificial layer. Silicates are 'voodoo' in that, after a long period of use, they can eventually precipitate out, leading to 'grit' in the coolant which can act as an abrasive. Note that this generally only happens when the coolant is left in much longer than its useful life. In the case of the G05, that is the stated 5-years/150,000 miles. Personally, I would not go past 5 years/100,000 miles. There are also PHOAT coolants - Phosphated Hybrid Organic Acid Technology - which utilize Phosphate as the hybrid chemical. Like Silicates, it 'plates' or coats the inner lining of the coolant passages to act as a buffering sacrificial layer. Most 'Asian' coolants use this technology. ... Having said all THAT.. the bottom line here is: 1 - As long as you completely flush your cooling system so that none (or at least extremely little) of the old coolant remains after the flush, switching to a different coolant will not cause a negative reaction. 2 - Virtually all modern coolants are interchangeable to a degree in most engines, so long as you do not leave them in past their useful/serviceable life, and follow rule 1, above. - To point 2, above - I say MOST, because gasket technology, as well as engine and radiator metals (including soldering) will definitely come into play. Many of these varying coolant types came about because some metals did not react to other coolants in use.. corrosion, pitting, etc.. can happen. In many engines, cavitation caused by high compression and temperatures (such as those in diesel engines) were to blame. The way I see it, if G05 coolant is safe for use in Powerstroke diesels, then it's pretty solid for most cars. As a rule, G05 is considered the closest thing to a true "universal" coolant. For the Fusions, especially the 2.5 4-cyl engine, I see no reason why you cannot continue to use G05 at least through the 2012 MY. Is it what is specifically spec'd for the 2011 and 2012's? No, but it should not cause any issues so long as you follow rule 1, above. However, just remember, it is not what Ford specs for that Model Year. The 2011 specs MC Specialty Green, which is chemically identical to Mazda FL22 (blue) coolant. Personally, I would have zero qualms flushing that system and filling with a 50/50 mix of G05 coolant, although I like the Ford Green/Mazda Blue for its color/visibility. Let us know what you decide to do.

Looks good I have the same set, and I keep putting off putting it on.. I need to get it done. Once things cool down here, I think I'll make a point to install it.

There are lots of great options on Amazon but why not stick with one you're familiar with? Having said that, you might also consider a Nanoskin "clay mitt" which does the same kind of work as a clay bar, but lasts much longer.

A quart every 2 weeks is very excessive, especially for an engine with only 65,000 miles on it. My 2010 with 4 times as many miles (260,000) doesn't consume a drop. Since you're not seeing any on the ground, and you don't see smoke, I would say one potential culprit is that the oil is leaking out the back of the valve cover and onto the exhaust. It might seem unlikely, but I have heard of it happening before. It leaks out, onto the exhaust, and burns off while you're driving, and you never know it. There is also the big plastic pan underneath the engine/trans that could be catching the rest. Other than that, it is possible to burn some oil in the engine and see no smoke in the exhaust, but at a quart every 2 weeks, I would expect to see some since that's quite a bit. How long has this been happening?

Not really a fan of the blacked-out look myself, but it looks like you've done a good job on yours. To each his own, right?

Ah cool, good to see another member from the Phoenix area. I thought I was alone here. Glad to hear that you got things fixed.

Aside from the TB itself, have you made any other changes to the car? Even something that you'd think isn't related, like adding HID headlamps, or other additional lights, sub/amp combo, etc..?

That's definitely not the coolant I would use in that car, although honestly, if you do a Proper flush, and then fill, it shouldn't really hurt it. The 'correct' coolant for your year, as Bangster mentions, is almost certainly Motorcraft Specialty Green, as per this chart: Ford Coolant Chart Excerpt portion for Fusions: Having said that, since the 2012 MY of the Fusion has a transition from the Green to the Orange (AKA Dex-Cool), I'd say that, as long as you FULLY flush out your cooling system, and then refill with the Prestone stuff, you should be okay. This does not mean just drain once and then refill Prestone stuff (which is basically Dex-Cool).. it means a complete, thorough flush of the system, which will almost certainly involve two to four drains and refills with pure/distilled water, prior to then filling with the new coolant. Would I do it? No. I'd either refill with the Green stuff, or I'd go back to using G-05 (Motorcraft Gold AKA 'the Yellow stuff'), which IMHO is a far better coolant. One other comment - I see you've got the 50/50 prediluted stuff there. You should be aware that doing a proper flush will leave your system with essentially pure water in it. If you then drain and add the 50/50 stuff, your coolant dilution will be very weak (adding 50/50 to roughly 40% of the system filled with only water).

Can't say I've had the same experience, since I don't own one of those, but your issue makes me wonder if either the temperature sending unit is bad, or there's a flow issue.

I just saw a new offering for the 1.5 gen Fusion headlights on Amazon the other day. Not the Spec-D ones (which are okay but not great), but something very different, and actually pretty darn cool looking. If I hadn't already purchased a set of the Spec-D ones, I'd already have ordered one of these. Heck, I might even sell the Spec-D ones and try this set. Listing HERE

I suspect that all of the issues you've mentioned are related to one issue.. Also, I'd say that your problems are abnormal compared to the average Fusion owner's experience. My Fusion has been one of the best cars I've ever owned, and is still going strong at 260,000 miles. Don't give up just based off this one experience.

Congrats on the upgrades! I like the look with the new wheels. They definitely help give it a sporty look.