My Steps to Replace the Stupid Lifetime Air Filter

[FFHBoi]

Hello All,

 

For some reason, Ford thought it was a good idea to put a "lifetime air filter" in the 2010-2012 Ford Fusion Hybrid's and 2007-2010 Ford Focus. They have since discontinued use of these stupid things. Rated for 150,000 miles or the lifetime of the car, the filter is hardly conducive to car being able to breath to the best of its ability. Ford offers a similar 150,000 rating for the transmission fluid. This is also false. The transmission fluid should be changed every 50-60k miles. Ford doesn't really care about the high mileage maintenance of the car because it is out of warranty (and perhaps they want you to buy new cars after the old one breaks). But we won't attribute to malice what is adequately explained by stupidity. Overall, their long-term service recommendations are misguided and should be taken into context. If you care about properly maintaining your car, I recommend changing the "lifetime" transmission fluid every 50-60k miles and the "lifetime" air filter every 80-100k miles. 

 

Air filter part number is BH6Z-9600-B. You can buy it here: 2010-2012 Ford Air Filter And Housing Assembly BH6Z-9600-B | Ford Parts Pros 

You can also just google that part number and a bunch of options will appear.

 

Here my steps to replace the lifetime air filter on a 2012 Ford Fusion Hybrid (YouTube videos linked):

 

1. Jack up the vehicle on front driver's side pinch weld. If you do not know how to do this, refer to the owner's manual.

 

2. Remove the front left wheel. 

 

3. Remove the fender liner. The clips are 2 pieces. Loosen the pins with a flathead screwdriver and use long needle noose plyers to pull it out. Use caution not to break them. They sell the clips at Ford Dealerships for super cheap if you do. Video to take off fender liner: How to change head lamps on 2012 Ford Fusion - YouTube

 

4. Take off the front bumper. Some else posted that they didn't have to do this to replace the filter. That will make this job much harder. Pull it - it's simple: 2010- 2012 Ford Fusion How to remove front bumper - YouTube

 

5. Remove the battery: Ford Fusion Hybrid Engine Bay Battery Replacement - YouTube

 

5. Unscrew the clamps on the air intake assembly. Also unscrew the clamps on the resonator (small oval thing on the air intake assembly). 

 

6. Unscrew the bolts on the lifetime air filter. They are easy to find. Unplug the MAF. Remove the filter.

 

7. Put the new filter in. It is somewhat difficult to get it back in the air assembly. You might want to grab and extra set of hands to apply downward pressure.

 

8. Screw on the bolts for the lifetime air filter, plug in the MAF, and reattach the clamps on the assembly. 

 

9. Reinstall the battery. Put the bumper back on. Put the fender back on. Put the wheel back on. 

 

10. Since the car was taken off the 12 V battery, you will need to re-trim the idle. Refer to the section on page 292 of the owner's manual to do this. Because the MAF sensor was replaced, do not skip this step.

 

It's a fairly easy job. I hope this helps. I may have missed a step or two but it's pretty easy to figure out. Happy to report that after doing this it seems like the car has a little bit more power and starts up a bit smoother. 

 

Attached are pictures of a service procedure from the dealer, the car jacked up, and the old air filter we opened up with a saw. 

 

Hope this helps.

Old, dirty filter. We used the saw to get it open. 117K miles.

Service procedure from dealer.

See the lifetime air filter just to the left of the brakes here.

Edited February 3, 2023 by FFHBoi
Picture captions.

[MeeLee]

Highly dependent on where you live, but the cabin air filter I change every ~50k miles, or every 4 years, whichever comes first. You'll notice a damp smell, especially when turning ac off to fan only.

 

Engine filter, I changed mine at 60k miles, but it was as good as new. These filters do 100k miles when in a clean environment (no smog or dusty roads).

 

Transmission fluid must be replaced with ford transmission fluid, and must be changed around 100k miles. My testing showed a ~1mpg increase at ~45mpg after doing the fluid change. This means the oil lubrication was going bad, even though the oil wasn't particularly dirty (looked like coolaid).

I would not recommend doing transmission oil changes earlier than 75k miles or later than 125k miles. Your second flushes/changes should be done every 75k to 100k miles.

 

Engine oil should be changed every 6.5 to 7.5k miles, depending on the oil you're getting, but they have to be 0W20 full synthetic.

 

Amazon basic and Mobil 1 do 7.5-8 k miles tops.

Valvoline, pennzoil, Castrol and a few other off-name brands no more than 6.5k miles.