disston

This is my new car and my old one behind it. This is the new car painted to be my new cab. I've run a pair of wires for the top cruising light and am now working on how I may hook them into the car's electrical system. I think I'll use a plug in the front accessory socket for now. I don't own any Ford Fusion manuals yet and I'll a little afraid to tap into the wires right away. I should have the book (books) someday soon and the socket woill work for now but I'm running out of places to tap into USB power also.

I only have 600 miles on my 2018 Hybrid and do n;o know enough about it yet to make many complaints. i'm sure I will have more later burt this one will stay with me unless there is a solution. When I park at night and turn the ignition off and the headlights off the interior lights go to bright. Maybe OK for people exiting their car but for me I want the dash to stay dim, the way I had it set with the headlights on. I can keep the dash dim if I leave the parkinging lights on but I want to turn them off and not be blasted with a bunch of LED photons. Just because I've turned the engine and the headlights off does not mean I'm getting out of the car/

I see. As long as the car is in run mode the sockets are on but they shut off 70 mins after the engine is turned off. That makes more sense.

That's interesting. After they turn off how do they get reset and turn on again? I have several things that need to be recharged while on duty. Main thing is the Samsung Galaxy Tablet E that is home to the dispatcher and the taxi meter that calculates fares. It will run on a full charge but maybe for less than an hour, I'm not sure how long. Oh but these items i'm thinking of at the moment are run of USB ports. So these stay on? The accessory socket up front I need for the cruising light. It will be on when empty and then off when occupied. Will cycling this allow it to stay on when needed?

I am not going to try and tap into the fuse box or any of the wiring at this point. I am going to run the power from an adapter in the forward cigarette socket or maybe it's an accessory socket.

The sun-visor clips are out. Squeezing them helped but wasn't really what worked. Using screwdrivers and sharp pointed objects I was able to worry them off. I can't say what is really the proper method but they do come out. The second one was easier and the second one is less bent up by my actions. But both appear to be reuseable. Once the clips are out the forward edge on the base of the sun-visor is free and the rearward edge rotates to get the whole thing free. Then unplug the wires to the vanity mirror light and put the whole thing aside. I removed both sun-visors and the hand grab from the driver's door. I had earlier removed the center console on the roof, described above. I never got the A pillar cover piece of plastic off but I was able to get the top loose. Bunches of other pieces of plastic have been removed and the door gasket on the driver's door. The way is clear to run my wire thru a hole in the roof but while drilling the hole the battery on my drill went dead. So it was getting late and colder I called it a night. I've found the fuse box and now am worried about where to tap into power. The fuse box is way up high under the dash and let alone what i'm trying to do it looks difficult to just change a fuse or use a trouble light on to find blown fuses or trace hot wires. I've seen a comment somewhere that the Fusion's fuse box can be unbolted. I only see 1 nut on a stud below the box that looks like it will loosen the bottom of the box. What else is needed to lower the fuse box? Or is this not what I want to do anyway? My experience with Ford fuse boxes over the years is that taking them down is seldom of any help because even if unbolted the don't drop more than an inch of so. I'd like to tap into a hot wire that is hot with the ignition off. It used to be that cigarette sockets were hot all the time and maybe I can use the hot wire to the lighter socket next to the USB port in the dash. Or is there some easier way that somebody knows to get a hot junction for my cruising light? It's not very high powered. The light has 6 LED lights and a small cooling fan. It has a 10 A fuse of it's own. May draw 5 or 7 Amps I think.

Thanks Addict. Noticed the buttons have small holes in them. Glad I didn't try to pry them off. Turns out the small metal clip in the base of the arm of the xun visor is called, of all things, a sun-visor clip; https://www.tascaparts.com/oem-parts/ford-sun-visor-clip-ds7z9904132a/?c=Zz1ib2R5JnM9aW50ZXJpb3ItdHJpbS1yb29mJmk9S0YxMzU1MjUmcj0xMyZhPWZvcmQmbz1mdXNpb24meT0yMDE3JnQ9cGxhdGludW0taHlicmlkJmU9Mi0wbC1sNC1lbGVjdHJpYy1nYXM%3D Looks like it is removeable by squeezing in the sides.

I have to attach a light to the roof of my 2018 Fusion. It has the moonroof so I do imagine there are already a number of wires in the roof and I must take down the headliner to run my wires. I'll try to show what parts have not been a problem and then where I'm stuck. The center console came off with a bit of prying. No screws anywhere, just clips, some plastic and the 2 along the long edge each side were metal. There was a clip at each corner and one at each long side. The hand holds above each door have Torx screws holding them. The screws are under plastic covers, 2 for each hand hold. Pry small plastic covers off with a flat blade screwdriver. Careful to pick up the small plastic covers that are going to be flying around right away or you will never see them again. This is the steady rest for the visor when it is parked. Not a problem, Torx. This is the rotating end of the visor and it is not held in place by a screw. There is a small plastic cover over the part shown above. What is not too clear in the photo is a metal clip that the plastic cover positions into. The metal part shown may pull out when compressed but I'm not sure. I've never seen this type of attachment before. In many discussions about headliner problems drivers complain that the liner droops or sags. These buttons seem to be Ford's solution? They look like they are clips and will be easy to pull out? But I'm not sure. I'd appreciate any insights into this effort to remove or at least get the left front corner of my headliner loose before I drill holes in the roof and possibly damage wires on my brand new car.

Here is the Fusion before it was painted. Old cab is in back.

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/4d/ac/0f/4dac0fbe43d41c9fa0a8b02cd5d636b3.jpg

Here is a photo of my new 2018 Fusion taxicab as it came out of the paint shop today. Have not applied the lettering yet because it is still running on temp tags. Also have to attach the cruising light on top which means I've got to figure out dropping the headliner. Will start a new thread about the headliner if I can figure out how to attach photos. This photo is a link right now. Will have to check if info about posting photos is explained elsewhere on the site. https://i.pinimg.com/564x/4d/ac/0f/4dac0fbe43d41c9fa0a8b02cd5d636b3.jpg

I think a wrap would be perfect but it has been tried and the problem is that the color is a specific shade and hue of red that is not commonly available apparently. The law is very specific about this color and being off is not allowed. It doesn't pass inspection when the cab goes thru the inspection station. It's the same place that they test for emissions and safety items that all other cars and my cab have to pass but in addition the interior upholstery, cleanliness and paint job are also looked at when it is a cab. I plan to further investigate this someday and maybe I'll be able to have it done for the next car after I find out about having the wrap manufactured in the color we need. I only found out about this heat problem a couple of days ago. I know that Fred has a paint booth but I don't know how hot he rans it. Dropped my car off there this afternoon and asked Fred about it. Told him the heat has to be kept below 140* and then only for a limited time, like 40 mins. Not really to my surprise but Fred told me it's so warm right now, unseasonably warm the next few days, that he doesn't have the heat on at all. Fred is cheap. He also gives the cheapest paint job for cabs around. So this time anyway there is no problem. Still it's a good thing to know in case somebody else is going to paint a Hybrid. The Lithium-Ion battery and the other type too can not tolerate normal paint booth temperatures.

Paul, is this something you have done or just an idea that seems would work? I'll have to discuss the heat issue with Fred. Maybe I'm worried for nothing. Fred doesn't talk much. Maybe he is aware of the issue. Just because I've never seen a Hybrid in his paint shop doesn't mean he hasn't painted them before. Haven't Hybrids been around about 10 years or so? Fred's shop is a big warehouse type of place. There are abiut 15 cars inside being worked on all the time. That is except for the ones that seem to sit around for more than a month waiting for parts like the '64 Lincoln waiting for trim pieces.

So I watched a video about replacing the high voltage battery in a Prius. It's pretty straightforward and involves removing a bunch of trim and disconnecting wires and terminals. It's just that I have been around Fords a long time and although I think the basic idea is the same I suspect there could be some "gotchas" with the Ford system. So at this point I don't think removing the battery is an option and I will have to make sure that the body shop doesn't over heat my car. Not much else I can do.

It's not the paint per se but modern techniques require a paint booth and they operate between 200 and 350 degrees. The Lithium-Ion battery can not tolerate these temperatures. The Ford Modifiers guide says the battery must be removed. Other sources say the temp can be kept to 140* for only 40 mins and it will be OK. I have not found an article or PDF yet on the process of removing the battery (only disconnecting it). Any experiences with this issue would be greatly appreciated. Charlie