ctrcbob

Don't get angered by what I'm posting below, as I hope to purchase a FFH in the near future. Thought about a Gen III Prius, but my wife hates the looks of the Prius, and as the saying goes, "Happy wife, happy life". Last January, my best friend in Roswell NM won a Gen II Prius at the Billy the Kid Casino, in Ruidoso NM. He had to pick it up at the Toyota Dealer in Alamagordo NM. In the year he has owned the car, he has put on over 20,000 miles. He drives to Ruidoso two or three times a week, 140+ miles round trip. Also took one trip to Dallas and one trip to Phoenix. Other than that, he just drives it around Roswell. When I was there, I got tired of hearing how good his milage was, and asked him just how good is it tank to tank. He said that he sometimes calculates it, but mostly just reads the (instant) mpg. I then told him that the instand mpg does not mean a thing and that somewhere in his display, he has a "total" mpg display. He said he never saw it. So........ I started to push on the touch screen, and found a screen that shows his mpg for the last 10 miles, 20 miles, 30, 40 and 50 miles, PLUS the total avg mpg. I asked him when was the last time he reset it. He answered that he never reset it. Did not even know he had such a screen. OK, now I'm thinking that either the total avg mpg resets itself whenever he fills up with gas, or it only resets when he touches the correct place on the touch screen. After I returned to Florida, I talked with a guy who has the exact same car as my buddy, and he told me that the total mpg only resets when he touches the reset on the touch screen. OK, ready for this???? My buddys total mpg from the time he picked it up, until 20,000+ miles later read 49.5 mpg. I was impressed. 49.5 mpg for over 20K miles. I still want a FFH, however I'm impressed with the Gen II Prius, and would love to try a Gen III Prius.

Most gas today is E10 and the alcohol keeps the injectors and fuel lines clean. No need to buy injector cleaners. This is about the only good thing about E10.

1. I use Rain-X ONLY to clean the scum that sometimes forms at the top (up) end of the wiper stroke. I've had this scum form so bad, that at times, it looks black. I just take a little Rain-X on the tip of a cloth, and clean the scum off. 2. Once in a while, I will clean the wiper blade itself with Rain-X, making sure to dry it before resting the blade back on the glass. I never use Rain-X on the windshield. I used to use it years ago, but I found that it caused more problems with wiper chatter, once it started to wear off, so I no longer use it.

Go to www.awrswheelrepair.com and click on "locations". If you have them close to you, give them a try. I have a friend who had a wheel from his Jag XJR bent, and the mobil repair trailer came to him, took the wheel off his XJR, placed it on a vertical bar, bolted it down, removed the air from the tire (but left the tire on the wheel), measured the wheel and the dent with a micrometer, slightly heated the dented area with a propane torch, then placed a hydraulic cylinder between the vertical support and the dent, then watched the dent get removed. He remeasured with the micrometer. Wheel was like new. Refilled tire and put it back on car. Cost my buddy $125 for the job. These guys also go to dealers (here in the Orlando area) to fix wheels. Hope this helps.

I thought that all of them were equiped with the aux jack. The jack in my car is located in the center consul. That said, it does not come with a cord. I went to Radio Shack and purchased a cord. (Owners manual told me what size cord to buy). One end into the jack and the other into the device. Works just fine.

Because I live mostly in Florida, I never really noticed this before, however I just returned from a trip to New Mexico and some mornings, the temperature was down around 20F. I noticed that the Navigation/Radio Display was very dim until the inside of the car warmed up. Once warmed up, the display is normal. This morning, the temp was about 50F here at my home in Florida. Display was slightly dim for a very short time until car warmed up. Anyone in cold areas find the same thing?

This will make you laugh. A few years ago, I had a car that I noticed a "chirp" every two minutes. Did not matter if key was on or off. I clocked it. Every 120 seconds, I would hear the chirp. (Is my car bugged, or what?). Well, I listened, and it sure sounded like it was coming from under the dash. Took the top of the dash off, and could not find it. Was driving me crazy. A couple days later, while cleaning the floor of the back seat, I saw it. There on the seat was a "Phone Pager" that dropped out of a friends pocket. Because it had a message on it that had not been read, it would chirp every two minutes until read. Good thing the top of that dash was easy to take off :rolleyes:

Sorry guys. I just don't understand this whole HID hype. My MKZ has factory HID headlights. My Conti has regular QI headlights. I do a lot of long distance night driving and I don't have any difference seeing between the two light sources. Yes, the HID may be "whiter" than the QI, however I don't see any better with them. My owners manual says that if a headlight burns out, not only must the "bulb" be replaced, but also the Ballast must be replaced. Wonder how much that will cost me? Years ago, I used to drive a lot in France. (Still do). Before Europe unified, France mandated that their car headlights had to be yellow. I drove all over Europe with yellow headlights, and never had a problem seeing at night. Matter of fact, because yellow is the opposite of blue, and because there is a lot of blue at night when the weather and lighting conditions are not perfect, and yellow filters blue, I found I could see better with the yellow (French) headlights. This is why in this country, they sell "Yellow Night Driving Glasses" and why "Fog Lights" are yellow. They all filter out the blue. (I also wear "Blue Blocker Sunglasses in the daytime for better sight). Now that Europe unified, the EU has mandated that all EU countries must have (mostly) the same laws, so France had to go with white headlights. JMHO

For that kind of money, go ahead and do it. It looks fantastic on the Fusion. BTW, forgot to tell you in my first post. That kit had the larger exaust pipe tips. Don't know if the tips are standard with the kit or not, but sure looked great. There is a guy who lives nearby with a White MKZ with the 3D Carbon kit. Looks good, bet the Fusion kit looks FANTASTIC.

While at my local Ford Dealer, I saw in his showroom, he had a Fusion SE with the 3D Carbon Body Kit. It looked GREAT. WOW. In the past, I have toyed with the idea of getting a 3D Carbon body kit for my MKZ, but decided that the cost was not worth it. On the MKZ, (and Zephyr) it just does not look as good as on the Fusion. Only problem was when I looked at the "bump up" sticker on the cars window, they wanted $3500.oo more with the body kit. For those that don't know any better, that may be OK, however when I was pricing them, the price for the parts was slightly over $1000 (or was it $1200) and with painting and installation, the price came out to around $2200. This was only last year at my local L/M Dealer. Note that the pieces for the Fusion are different than the MKZ/Zephyr pieces, so that may be the reason for the price difference, however on the Fusion, it looked so much better than on the MKZ.

This is an easy one to answer. Go to www.dashmatt.com and order a dashmatt from them. I have one in each car. They work great. Best to order Black as you will have much less reflection. One of my cars has a Tan dashmat and I get a little reflection from that one. Cost is very reasonable.

When I took my car for its first (free) oil and filter change, the tech (who welcomed me into the service area) said that the filter was not hard to remove at all, however when he went to remove the oil drain plug, it came off too easy. He just barely touched the socket to the drain plug and he could see that the drain plug was loose, right from the manufacturer.

Thats just the way it is. Whats more, I like it this way.

What does your owners manual say? My MKZ stays on until I shut the ignition off. I have three positions. Warm, warmer and warmest. When I switch it on, it stays on (to the setting I've set). Once I switch the ignition off, I have to reset the heated (and cooled) seats again.

This may be off topic however.......... I keep hearing the ads for HD Radio. The way they make it sound is that they use the "space between the existing radio stations" for HD Radio. To me, that sounds like they are transmitting on the "even" freqs. WRONG WRONG WRONG. I was talking with a guy in an audio shop where they sell HD Radio. It is on the exact same freqs as regular radio. Matter of fact, it is the exact same program as regular radio. He used local 104.7 as an example. All it really does is it (and these are my words) makes the sound better to your ears, like HD TV makes it better to your eyes. (my words again -----) I liked the old "Reverberators" that they used to sell 30 odd years ago, as they also made the music sound great. And here I thought I could listen to stuff on the "even" freqs, not just the "odd" freqs. They sure make it sound good in their ads though.

Spoiler arrived by UPS today. Paint and everything looks perfect, except that the kit has the wrong mounting screws. The four socket-head threaded screws 3/4", have a different thread than the spoiler. Lucky for me, I have a junk box with the correct screws, which are 1/4-20 x 3/4. Good thing I tried the screws before I started the job. Hope to install it either tomorrow or Sunday.

Slater, Love the pix and instructions. Last monday, I ordered a spoiler/wing from www.Spoilers-Direct.com and it should arrive by tomorrow. I first asked them what the difference was between their 27L and 14L spoiler and they told me that the 27L was about 2" taller than the 14L and the ends break down to about a 40 degree angle. Otherwise they fit about the same. I then telephoned them at 1-866-793-9464, spoke with James Vineyard, (I never put my credit card number in the internet - don't care how "safe" it is), and ordered their 14L. Jim told me it would be painted that same day and shipped on tuesday, so it should get here by tomorrow evening and I will use your instructions to install. BTW, great tip on how to hide the wires. BTW: the cost is: Spoiler/Wing = $99.99 Painting ==== $69.99 Shipping ====$29.99 -------------------------- Total ======$199.97 Will inform you when it arrives. Hope to install it this weekend.