New Used Owner Here

[yl1]

Hello All,

I have been reading the forum for several days and learned some great info.Unlike most of you I purchased our 2010 Fusion Hybrid used. Actually more than used it was wrecked. I have always purchused wrecked late model cars for 20 years. i buy them, fix them then drive them till they are ready for the junk yard. In the past I have repaird a 93 Aerostar AWD, 98 cobra Mustang,, 2003 Focus Wagon, 2008 Colorado,and now a 2010 Fusion Hybrid. Why the Fusion with all the complicated electronics , and high priced HV battery? It was just price right and I loved the car at the Salvage Yard and it had great options. Remember I have No, noda warranty from ford on a salvage vehicle.It has only 15,000 miles and was priced right at 10k. It looked a easy fix so I bought it about 80 miles from home. I did get to drive in in the Salvage yard a little but the radiator was hit and had no coolant. The HV motor worked and I could start the gas engine by pressing on the accelerator, all sounded good. I rented a two wheel tow dolly and pulled it home with my Colorado 4 cylinder truck.The Fusion needed a Radiator, AC condensor,Rad core support, electric cooling fan, hood and bumper cover.I am a fair mechanic and have worked with electronics for 32 years as a copier tech before retiring in 2009.

I got it home and after 2 hours i had all the busted plastic parts removed.Tasco Ford in RI is running a special on Internet parts sales any Ford part only 10% over dealer costs and no sales tax.I ordered everything to fix it except the radiator and condensor. I ordered the Rad. and Condensor from ebay getting the much cheaper aftermarket parts.It took about six hours to put it back together. I also bought the five volume factory service manuals from Ebay for $100.00 alot of money for service manuals but they have already been a huge help. I do not do painting so today I drove it 60 miles to a friends body shop where he is going to paint the hood and bumper cover and blend the paint across the top of the two fenders.The car was really fun to drive the 60 miles and I averaged 40.5 mpg. It was flat and rural roads along the Mississippi river near St. Louis , I would say almost a perfect Hybrid rd.

So far the only difficult part was getting all the air bled from the cooling system, it took a few times of heating up the engine and opening the blead off screw but it finally filled and the heater started working.Most new cars are difficult to get all the air out of the cooling sytems. Next I read up on the AC system. It was surprising that it does not use PAG oil. It uses POE oil. I had never seen POE oil used in a car. The manual says that the AC compressor runs off the HVbattery and the oil actually acts as a insulator to keep the HV from shorting. It also said not to use a guage set that had been used at any time to add PAG oil. 1% can contaminate the entire AC system. I bought a cheap short hose to run from the POE oil and added 1.5 ozs and then 22 ozs of freon.I am just guessing at how much oil to add. The book says it holds 3.2 ozs of oil, I figured half was still in the compressor and half was lost when I switched the condensor.

I think the price was cheap because the rebuilders were afraid of the electronics with no warranty, kinda like buying a pig in a poke. It had been on the salvage lot since July with no buyers and they had reduced the price. I bought it because the hit was very light the airbags did not deploy, and no sturture damage just alot of broken plastic parts. Well wish me luck with no warranty! It will be interesting total costs is now 12500 I must be crazy on this one maybe a senior moment!!!

[lolder]

It sounds like you're pretty up to speed on the compressor differences. Good luck and keep us informed.

[VonoreTn]

Wow, you got yourself one heck of a good deal for $10K plus those parts! And 40 mpg is right in there as far as expected performance. I think you will be pleased to find out that you get about the same MPG driving through St. Louis, even in heavy traffic. Did the car come with the navigation package?

 

I do some vehicle AC work, so the background on the refrigerant oil will be useful to me later if I have any AC issues. But my gauges are contaminated with conventional refrigerant oil, so I'm going to research that some more, as to ways to clean my gauges if possible. Keep us posted if there are any AC issues next summer. I have found that I get better mileage in the summer than the winter, even though I am running the AC in the summer and not in winter. Others have observed a drop in mpg in the winter as well. Really enjoyed your story, thanks for the post.

[yl1]

Wow, you got yourself one heck of a good deal for $10K plus those parts! And 40 mpg is right in there as far as expected performance. I think you will be pleased to find out that you get about the same MPG driving through St. Louis, even in heavy traffic. Did the car come with the navigation package?

 

I do some vehicle AC work, so the background on the refrigerant oil will be useful to me later if I have any AC issues. But my gauges are contaminated with conventional refrigerant oil, so I'm going to research that some more, as to ways to clean my gauges if possible. Keep us posted if there are any AC issues next summer. I have found that I get better mileage in the summer than the winter, even though I am running the AC in the summer and not in winter. Others have observed a drop in mpg in the winter as well. Really enjoyed your story, thanks for the post.

 

 

The car came with the moon and tune option , back up camera, Alum. wheels, but not the Nav package. After driving the Focus wagon for 150k the fusion is light years ahead. The quietness is what I notice the most. Who knows maybe it belonged to a member on here. The car was sold in July 2010 in Rockford Illinois is the dark grey color and wrecked in April 2011. One company is marketing the AC oil. I bought mine on Ebay for $7.00 for 3 ozs. I even called the company that makes it in Texas. They were very nice and said it was the correct oil for the all electric hybrid compressor. The company is Interdynamics Inc IDQ companies Garland Texas75041 It is called R-134 Hybrid Vehicle A/C compressor Refrigerant oil charge.I will post the before and after pictures next week when I get it back from the Painter. BoB

[lolder]

Using the wrong oil that is electrically conductive can ruin the high voltage AC compressor which is probably over a $ grand.

[paulbuck]

WOW, you certainly do know your way around cars! Great deal and good luck with the salvaged FFH.

What kind of bikes do you like?

[yl1]

WOW, you certainly do know your way around cars! Great deal and good luck with the salvaged FFH.

What kind of bikes do you like?

Hi Paul,

Yes, I love bikes too. I curently have my first motorcycle that I bought in 1966 a Yamaha YL1 ( notice my sign in name) it is a 100 cc twin cylinder two stroke . I just rode it this fall on the famous Dragon Road in the Smokies 311 turns in 11 miles. I also have a 2009 Aprilia RS 125 2 stroke sport bike . It was one of the last two strokes made in the world only 125cc but puts out 34 HP top speed of 101mph. A 1998 ZX 600 Kawasaki sport bike and a 1972 DS7 Yamaha 2 stroke twin, and last a 2001 Derbi GPR 50 Sport bike 6 speed water cooled 50cc with top speed of 72 mph. Attached are pics of the 66 Yamaha and 2009 Aprilla RS125.

[dennisw]

Welcome to the forum, sounds like you got a great deal on the car. You will learn to get great mileage as you become more familiar with the car. I'm sure you're going to have many years of enjoyment with the car. Even if you need the large battery you will be thousands ahead.

 

I get the same mileage in the winter as I do the summer. I have learned to just lower the heater fan speed and this will help stay in EV mode longer. The ICE will run as the water temp lowers so the less air going over the heater core the longer the heat stays up and the charge lasts longer which gives you better mileage. The same thing goes in the summer, keeping the temps real low runs the A/C more and uses more battery charge. You don't have to be uncomfortable you just have to not use extremes and you will reward yourself with great gas mileage. My in town mileage does not change at all with the seasons by just using these simple rules. Highway mileage is not something you have much control over, Ihave found 65 to be the magic number anything over 70 brings down the average. I have never had a fill up lower than 40 mpg but again I have never taken any long trips that have 100 percent highway. I get better mileage in my FFH than I do my Kawa 1600 Vulcan.

[yl1]

Welcome to the forum, sounds like you got a great deal on the car. You will learn to get great mileage as you become more familiar with the car. I'm sure you're going to have many years of enjoyment with the car. Even if you need the large battery you will be thousands ahead.

 

I get the same mileage in the winter as I do the summer. I have learned to just lower the heater fan speed and this will help stay in EV mode longer. The ICE will run as the water temp lowers so the less air going over the heater core the longer the heat stays up and the charge lasts longer which gives you better mileage. The same thing goes in the summer, keeping the temps real low runs the A/C more and uses more battery charge. You don't have to be uncomfortable you just have to not use extremes and you will reward yourself with great gas mileage. My in town mileage does not change at all with the seasons by just using these simple rules. Highway mileage is not something you have much control over, Ihave found 65 to be the magic number anything over 70 brings down the average. I have never had a fill up lower than 40 mpg but again I have never taken any long trips that have 100 percent highway. I get better mileage in my FFH than I do my Kawa 1600 Vulcan.

 

Thanks for the welcome dennisw

those are great ideas on the winter heating and summer cooling. I agree that a slower fan speed would let the hot water stay warmer longer without the ICE coming on. Time will tell if this is a good deal or not. With no warranty on the controllers or HVbattery I just hope mine is reliable as the average one has been so far. My plan B is if a major componet goes bad is first try to figure out what exactly is bad. I have a great code reader that reads both stored codes and present code. My plan B is I know a couple of salvage yards that has fusion Hybrids that are wrecked beyond fixing. My plan would be to try to find a used part. Also I have read alot on when the battery does go south that it is usually just one or two cells that gets out of balance. Often you can take the battery apart and find a used battery and take donor cells out of it and fix yours. Also building a charger to keep the cells evenly balanced can extend the battery life.Your car never fully charges each cell fully. With a charger you can continue to charge up the week cells after the good cells have reached full charge. After the full cells reach full charge they will create just heat while the week ones then reach full charge thus getting the battery in balance. But on my 60 mile trip the battery seemed to be charging and holding its charge ok. I was concerned that this car was wrecked in April and not driven since. The salvage deakler said it got started alot by other people looking at it which is good. When I first turned it on it did show a almost full battery. I have always liked oddball unusual cars so this fits in my repotore. I had over 30 Corvairs in my youger days, then moved on to Renault Gordinis, Turbo intercooled Renault Fuegos, Mustang Cobra four valve, and a 68 Saab three cylinder 2-stroke 4 speed on the column with free wheeling option. Yes, the Fusion Hybrid will feel right at home in my garage.

[dennisw]

Thanks for the welcome dennisw

 

I have one other trick that works great in the winter. I never park my cars out of the garage so I may have an advantage over some that leave the car out for the night. Our mornings in the winter are mainly low 30 to high 20’s keeping the car in the garage where the temps are 40 – 50’s help to lower the amount of warm up time.

 

I “never” let the car idle to warm up. I am able to achieve EV mode in temps of the teens to 20’s before going ¼ mile by doing these simple things and by not turning on the fan until the temp gauge reaches normal range. Turning the heater fan on before things warm up lengthens the amount of time to reach operating temps and the longer the ICE runs the lower your mileage. I have less than 3 miles to work from my garage and even when temps are near zero I average around 45-50 mpg for the trip and in the summer I achieve no better than this.

 

I have thought about installing a block heater but I don’t know if it would help me achieve any better than I am already achieving.

 

The worst mileage occurs when the computer is balancing the batteries which causes the ICE to remain running until the batteries reach a full balance charge. My battery is very seldom above half charge because I use EV as much as I can. After my wife drives this car the battery is near the top because she drives the car as she would any other car.

 

There are many more tricks to achieve high numbers and they are not hyper mileing tricks just common sense tricks that work with most cars. The biggest and easiest is just do not waste energy by keeping the cabin to worm or to cold, and drive in EV whenever possible, pulse and glide is a great way to do that.

 

Sorry for this long winded post one last thing taking off from a start and trying to stay in electric mode is a waste of time and battery power the best method is moderate take offs to the speed limit or acceptable speed then back off the gas to go in EV mode.

 

Your age and background sound very similar to mine and I'm sure you are going to enjoy this car. I have owned close to 50 cars in my driving history and this is by far the best and most enjoyable one to date. I am ready to turn 32K and up until Friday I have had no problems. I took the car to the dealer to have the drivers sun visor clip replaced because it was not holding the visor securely. I just can’t stand for any item to not work as designed most people would not even know this was a problem, my wife being one. I don’t know why Ford designed this clip to release by pushing forward on the visor most visors you pull back to release the end which is a much better design.

Edited December 25, 2011 by dennisw

[lolder]

The FFH charges and equalizes the HVB automatically. There is no need to charge it additionally and it would be difficult and maybe dangerous. The HVB is maintained at about the halfway point on the gauge and is seldom near the H or L.

Edited December 25, 2011 by lolder

[VonoreTn]

I have found 65 to be the magic number anything over 70 brings down the average.

 

I agree completely. I have been in a hurry lately on trips, and definitely going over 70 brings down the mileage, like into the 38 mpg range. But what the heck, 38 mpg is still pretty good.

[yl1]

The FFH charges and equalizes the HVB automatically. There is no need to charge it additionally and it would be difficult and maybe dangerous. The HVB is maintained at about the halfway point on the gauge and is seldom near the H or L.

Hi Lolder,

I agree with you that the battery should be left alone and all the present owners except me have a 8 year warranty on the sanyo Battery good till 2017-18. Stats say that 90% of you will not own the car this long. For us that hang on till death we will someday face a battery problem. My daughter bought a 2006 Civic hybrid new and has driven the wheels off it. It has just turned 150k miles. But sadly three weeks ago the death code on the battery did appear. They are still driving it just on the ICE. Honda had problems with this battery and replaced many on warranty. My daughters is original. Honda two years ago applied new software to the all the civics. As many of you have read the new software cut back on how much time the car spent in HV mode. The milage took a large drop after the software upgrade. Honda did the upgrade(downgrade) to make the batteries last longer through the warranty period. There is a class action lawsuit over this. Anyway I have tried to talk my son in law to lets take the battery apart and check and see how many week cells it has and try to find a used one to get donor cells. He has not decided what to do as used batterys are hard to find. There is a company in New York that does this repair process you just send them the battery and they rebuild it and send it back. it has I think a two year warranty. Lately he says he will just drive it as is since it has so many miles and he is hesitant to spend the big bucks to fix it. Nothing lasts for ever, I think that daily use of the hybrids is best for the battery, probaly why my daughters lasted so long as compared to other civics. I do hate that my FFH set so many months 8 without actually being driven only started. I do think it most likely hurt the life span some but who knows. Ford must have great faith in this Sanyo battery by putting on the 8 year warranty. Good luck to all and Merry Christmas!

[VonoreTn]

Hi Paul,

Yes, I love bikes too. I curently have my first motorcycle that I bought in 1966 a Yamaha YL1 ( notice my sign in name) it is a 100 cc twin cylinder two stroke . I just rode it this fall on the famous Dragon Road in the Smokies 311 turns in 11 miles. I also have a 2009 Aprilia RS 125 2 stroke sport bike . It was one of the last two strokes made in the world only 125cc but puts out 34 HP top speed of 101mph. A 1998 ZX 600 Kawasaki sport bike and a 1972 DS7 Yamaha 2 stroke twin, and last a 2001 Derbi GPR 50 Sport bike 6 speed water cooled 50cc with top speed of 72 mph. Attached are pics of the 66 Yamaha and 2009 Aprilla RS125.

 

I live not far from the Tail of the Dragon Road. I have a 76 Honda CB 360T, that I have been reconditioning for 3 years, and still fooling with the carbs to try to get it not to foul the plugs so quickly. I haven't given up, but it's tough work because all the parts are ridiculous expensive, so I try to rebuild stuff. I also have a curiosity interest in small CC bikes that go fast. A 125cc that makes 34 hp and goes 101 is one impressive bike. My 84 Honda 9 hp 150cc Elite motor scooter only makes about 53 mph.

 

If you ever get near Birmingham, Al, stop at the Barber Motorcycle Museum. It's expensive, like $15, but well worth it, they have over 500 motorcycles on display, all in good shape and well documented. One that you might be interested in is a 71 Morbidelli, it's 50 cc and goes 105 mph. Of course that was a rare, race only bike.

.

Edited December 25, 2011 by VonoreTn

[paulbuck]

Hi Paul,

Yes, I love bikes too. I curently have my first motorcycle that I bought in 1966 a Yamaha YL1 ( notice my sign in name) it is a 100 cc twin cylinder two stroke . I just rode it this fall on the famous Dragon Road in the Smokies 311 turns in 11 miles. I also have a 2009 Aprilia RS 125 2 stroke sport bike . It was one of the last two strokes made in the world only 125cc but puts out 34 HP top speed of 101mph. A 1998 ZX 600 Kawasaki sport bike and a 1972 DS7 Yamaha 2 stroke twin, and last a 2001 Derbi GPR 50 Sport bike 6 speed water cooled 50cc with top speed of 72 mph. Attached are pics of the 66 Yamaha and 2009 Aprilla RS125.

 

Was that the Yamaha they advertised as 'Twin Jet 100'? I was in high school at the time, and I lusted for one of those. Wound up getting a Honda CB160 on the advice of my older brother.

Now ride an '03 Yamaha FZ1, best bike I've ever owned. Have also been to The Dragon on rides with my buddies, quite a place!

[yl1]

Was that the Yamaha they advertised as 'Twin Jet 100'? I was in high school at the time, and I lusted for one of those. Wound up getting a Honda CB160 on the advice of my older brother.

Now ride an '03 Yamaha FZ1, best bike I've ever owned. Have also been to The Dragon on rides with my buddies, quite a place!

Hi Paul and VonoreTn

Yes, I have been to Birmigham several times. I go to the Barber Musuem every Oct. I am a vendor at the Oct. Vintage days. The curator of the musuem Brian Stark is a friend of mine . He use to live here in st. louis and was past president of our european Motorcycle club

.I go down to the Smokies every other month as we own and self manage a vacation rental cabin there in Gatlinburg. I am from that area and bought the twinjett 100cc Yamaha in Morristown in 1966 when i was 16 and rode that same bike on the Dragon when it was new back in 1966. We use to skip school and always took off for the mountains and usually rode HWY 129 now called the dragon.

The Aprilia was a dream bike of mine. Living here in the states I new the chance of ever getting one was slim as the USA would never allow one to be imported. But Aprilia in 2009 brought about 100 of them to the USA and sold them as track only race bikes. It came with no lights,no turn signals no mirrors and a Statment of Orgin in big block letters not for street use. The good thing is that it is a race replica of there 2009 GP 125 race bike and came fully loaded with no restrictions to the engine like the ones they sold in Europe with the low hp and restricted engines. Mine even has the computer controled power valve that opens the extra transfer port at 6000 RPM That is how it got the 34HP.Mine now has lights and mirrors and turn signals for night racing!!

I like the FZ1 too nice bikes. I use to own a 1985 Yamaha RZ500 the fastest two stroke V4 yamaha ever built for street. The RZ was never sold here in the states i went to london Ontario to get mine.I lost the bike on Dec 3rd 2003 when we lost our log home in a horrible fire at 2:30 am caused by a stupid neighbor burning leaves. I saved the little Yamaha 100 every other bike i owned was lost.I sure miss it!

[lolder]

If the HVB is working and you have no DTCs, the sitting probably didn't hurt it. The NiMHs are apparently damaged when they fully discharge which probably didn't occur. If people started the car in the junk yard periodically, that would charge the HVB if even only for a short period. It only takes about 3 minutes to charge it from it's normal low to the normal midpoint.

[yl1]

If the HVB is working and you have no DTCs, the sitting probably didn't hurt it. The NiMHs are apparently damaged when they fully discharge which probably didn't occur. If people started the car in the junk yard periodically, that would charge the HVB if even only for a short period. It only takes about 3 minutes to charge it from it's normal low to the normal midpoint.

 

I got the Fusion Hybrid back from the painters. Everything seems to be working fine. I did run the AC a little and it was very cold. I now have $12500 in the repaired car including the $500 to paint the hood, fender tops, and bumper cover. This is the most I have ever spent on a car, my wife says that I am still living in the 70's and cars cost over 10k now. Ha Ha I am thinking of keeping the Focus to drive in bad weather and keep the fusion in the garage when it snows. Still haven't got use to all the nice options, quite a jump from a Focus to this. The back up camera is neat, love the power seats and moonroof. The 10 speaker Sony Radio is better than anything I even have in the house. I think the blind spot lights in the outside mirrors is a great safty feature.

It will be most likely a month before we get the title changed from Salvage to Rebuilt then we can start driving it. . I have to take it Jan. 9th to Jefferson City Mo. to have the state inspection done. It is not a safety inspection, it is a thief inspection to make sure no stolen auto parts were used in the rebuild. You must have full receipts for all new parts.Then we have to wait for Mo. to send out the new rebuilt title about three weeks.Here are the pics before and after.

 

http://rides.webshots.com/album/582101462TdtwnP

Edited January 2, 2012 by yl1

[dennisw]

The car looks great. It’s hard to believe they totaled the car with that little damage. You got a steal. I’m sure your battery is going to be fine.

[rfruth]

I've had a couple Kawasaki road bikes, nothing of museum quality

[yl1]

Thought I would write an update after 4 months of driving the salvage Fusion Hybrid. After getting the plates and applying for the rebuilt Illinois Title I got a letter from the State (ILL) saying they wanted to inspect the car. Even though we had done all this in Mo. ILL wanted to inspect it and get there $97 fee. It costs only $30.00 in Mo for there inspection. The reason ILL wanted to inspect the car was that it had been owned by a ILL resident when it was wrecked up near Chicago. Even though I bought it in Mo, ILL knew it was a prior salvage vehicle. The inspection lasted maybe 10 minutes and they were looking for stolen auto parts and not a safety inspection.

We have driven the Hybrid about 4000 milles it now has 22,000 miles. Everything has been flawless and my overall average is 39.1 since we started driving it. We have made two trips to East Tn from St. Louis. Each trip is 1040 miles round trip. One trip I took the interstate the other was all two lane roads. The best mileage was the two lane road trip.

One interesting thing is how fast it recharges the battery when braking. Where we stay in Tn is on a mountain and it is steep and 2.4 miles to the bottom of the mountain. Braking is required all the way down and it completly fills the battery to H only after half way down.This takes only 1.5 minutes, I couldnt believe how fast braking charged the battery. Once down the mountain in the valley it then goes about 5 miles in EV. Not a bad payback from the energy stored from the trip down the mountain. Acourse you pay the piper back on the way up. But still it is nice to store some of the energy used. In the Focus wagon you payed the price to climb the mountain but saved nothing much on your way down.

The other nice feature is you can leave St. Louis and arrive in E. Tn without refueling. The Focus Wagon held 11 gallons and the range was around 300 miles. I believe I am hooked on the Hybrid cars. It is such a comforable car to take a trip in. I also like the nice interior lighting.

The Ac has worked fine so far, after adding the special hybrid refrig oil and new freon the new AC condensor has had no leaks. The only project that I will be looking at is a slight wind noise around the drivers door gasket. I might try the dollar bill trick to find the spot where the gasket is least touching the window frame. Sometimes putting a piece of tape behind the gasket pushing it out tighter against the frame can stop it, we will see.

We keep it garaged and the hardest part keeping it clean is the chrome grill bars in front. Bugs have been very bad this spring with the mile winter. Bugs are hard to get off the fake plastic chrome. Do you guys have any tips on keeping the grill clean?

It turned out the perfect time to get the Hybrid as gas went over $4.00 just after we started driving it and is currently $3.80 here in Southern ILL. Overall we are very pleased with the car, time will tell with no warranty.

[FusionDiffusion]

Chrome polish.

[yl1]

Update on 2010 Fusion

 

Having now owned the salvage rebuilt 2010 Fusion Hybrid for four years here is my assessment. Car now has near 70k miles. Replaced original tires at 50k. Bought a cheap set, off brand from Tire Rack not the high priced tires that came on it.. Replaced spark plugs at 50k and rear brake pads at 50k.. Only problems has been rear oxygen sensor, and clogged EGR valve code P0400. I removed and cleaned the EGR valve. kinda disappointed in having two emission errors in 70k miles. Replaced small 12 volt battery under the hood. Did not buy the crazy priced one that ford sells for this car. I bought a small aftermarket 12 volt battery that fits in the battery box and works fine. Wife drives it for her car. I drive a 2008 Miata (rebuilt salvage car too)

The fusion has been a good ok car. I have never liked the soft handling but my wife likes the soft ride. Would I buy it again? Yes, since my wife likes it. It does have a low noise interior. I like the rear camera and safety mirrors that warns when cars are coming from the rear. I have never had any collision insurance just liability since I did not have lots of money in the salvage rebuilt vehicle. This has saved some money. The electric motor hybrid part has worked flawless. I have not had to have it serviced by anybody but myself so that is good.

How long will I keep it? Most likely around 125k where the rebuilt title doesn't hurt what little resale value is left. Overall it has been a good value car. Battery behind the seat seems to be working great. My wife drives it daily and we drive it to Tennessee 1000 mile round trip about ever other month. I just hope the Emission codes stay away for a while.

[ElectricFan69]

Update on 2010 Fusion

 

Having now owned the salvage rebuilt 2010 Fusion Hybrid for four years here is my assessment. Car now has near 70k miles. Replaced original tires at 50k. Bought a cheap set, off brand from Tire Rack not the high priced tires that came on it.. Replaced spark plugs at 50k and rear brake pads at 50k.. Only problems has been rear oxygen sensor, and clogged EGR valve code P0400. I removed and cleaned the EGR valve. kinda disappointed in having two emission errors in 70k miles. Replaced small 12 volt battery under the hood. Did not buy the crazy priced one that ford sells for this car. I bought a small aftermarket 12 volt battery that fits in the battery box and works fine. Wife drives it for her car. I drive a 2008 Miata (rebuilt salvage car too)

The fusion has been a good ok car. I have never liked the soft handling but my wife likes the soft ride. Would I buy it again? Yes, since my wife likes it. It does have a low noise interior. I like the rear camera and safety mirrors that warns when cars are coming from the rear. I have never had any collision insurance just liability since I did not have lots of money in the salvage rebuilt vehicle. This has saved some money. The electric motor hybrid part has worked flawless. I have not had to have it serviced by anybody but myself so that is good.

How long will I keep it? Most likely around 125k where the rebuilt title doesn't hurt what little resale value is left. Overall it has been a good value car. Battery behind the seat seems to be working great. My wife drives it daily and we drive it to Tennessee 1000 mile round trip about ever other month. I just hope the Emission codes stay away for a while.

Recently joined the Ford tribe ('16 FFH, after having a '08 TCH since new), so your story is a bit of a decision validation on basic system durability. Your risk taking deserves a tip-o-da-hat. On a vehicle this complex and with so many demands for proprietary and expen$ive diagnostic items, you're a far braver man than I. Glad to see it's working out for you.

RE 12 volt battery replacement - do you have the definitive answer RE Ford's 12v charge strategy? On my other vehicle ('08 TCH), Toyota had a 'deep discharge' strategy for 12 volt circuit, which would 'kill' a typical 12V starting battery in less than a year, hence a deep cycle AGM battery for the 12V accessories. Plus, the 12 volt is in the trunk (like it is on my '16) so there's also the out-gassing concern.

[yl1]

Hi Electric fan69

The original batteries that came under the hood in the 2010 was nothing special besides its tiny size. Mine was actually cracked in the original wreck. The salvage dealer had put a used small battery in the car for testing. That battery lasted for three years before it started acting strange with the digital dash. I replaced it with the same type battery the salvage dealer had put in it. The original batteries from ford did not last very long and caused a lot of strange symptoms as they got week. The past posts from 2010 on this forum told of many batteries going bad. Some even showed a red eye ( Indicator on top of battery) sitting new on dealer lots.

Your 2016 FFH is a complete generation ahead of mine and much improved. Yes your battery is in the trunk making it a must to have a vented battery for the gases coming off the battery. My 2002 Miata has the same set up battery in the trunk. I had to replace the battery in my 2002 Miata and I got it at Auto Zone and it was around 125.00 very expensive but I had no choice. Battery technology is changing fast. I have a set of Black & Decker battery power tools 7 years old (nine tools in all) that used 18volt nicads.I took the dead batteries apart and inside was a system of 1.5 battery cells wired in a series. I have been taking old lithium lap top battery cells and wiring them in a series in my old NiCad cases and now I have modern lithium batteries that last over twice as long on one charge for very little costs.

I think it wont be long till we have electric cars with a 300 mile range and a fast charge. Tesla is leading the way. Good luck on your new FFH I know you will enjoy it.