car drags after a while

[val361]

I have an 08 fusion sel v6 running stock with 50,000 miles on it. My question is why does my car seem to run better when its cold like when I first take off for work in the morning? After a while of driving around or when it is hot outside car seems to drag. For instance in the morning on highway car seems to glide and cruise doing 70 mph with ease but later after a while and temperature rises car seems to drag and struggle at 70 mph. Will a cold air intake fix this? Thanks!

[xmech2k]

That's funny, my car seems to drag and struggle in the morning, on the way to work. Then in the afternoon, on the way home, it's like a rocket! :doh:

[val361]

That's funny, my car seems to drag and struggle in the morning, on the way to work. Then in the afternoon, on the way home, it's like a rocket! :doh:

 

Lol! Yeah that is funny!

[Oldguy16]

Pretty funny, my Maxima used to do that, then again, that car was a POS. Anyway, idk how much power the intake is gonna give you, I have it, I doubt it really does much for power, I would say 90% of it is just great sound. Maybe time for a tune up? Ford says 70k miles I think but also check spark plug wires. Sometimes where I live at least, in the winter, mice love to get under the hood because it's warm, then they start chewing away spark plug wires. Happened on my Econoline and other Fusion.

[val361]

Pretty funny, my Maxima used to do that, then again, that car was a POS. Anyway, idk how much power the intake is gonna give you, I have it, I doubt it really does much for power, I would say 90% of it is just great sound. Maybe time for a tune up? Ford says 70k miles I think but also check spark plug wires. Sometimes where I live at least, in the winter, mice love to get under the hood because it's warm, then they start chewing away spark plug wires. Happened on my Econoline and other Fusion.

 

 

Thanks oldguy! Yeah gonna take it in for a maintnance check. So on that cold air intake which one do you have like which one is the best one for my car and will I need to get an exhaust system too or will stock run ok ? Do you have a cai? Thanks again!

[Oldguy16]

Thanks oldguy! Yeah gonna take it in for a maintnance check. So on that cold air intake which one do you have like which one is the best one for my car and will I need to get an exhaust system too or will stock run ok ? Do you have a cai? Thanks again!

I have the Steeda Cold Air, on my 2010. You don't need to do an exhaust or chip with the intake, the car will run normally. But if you want significant power it's best to do all three. Personally I'm satisfied with just my intake. Try a maintenance check, see what they say. Otherwise, a cold air is nice to have, especially in the winter. But it is a little pricey.

[FORD PARTS GUY]

Just an FYI for everyone, Fusions do not have spark plug wires, all of them are coil on plug design. ;)

[Oldguy16]

Just an FYI for everyone, Fusions do not have spark plug wires, all of them are coil on plug design. ;)

I meant the wires that run to the coils, electricity is like a chain, only as strong as it's weakest link. Happened on my Fusion Sport.

[FORD PARTS GUY]

I was thinking about buying a cold air induction kit....until I read your post about it not doing much in the way of power. I just looked through our Ford racing catalog and found performance parts for the Focus, but nothing for the Fusion. I would have thought there would be more, even in aftermarket for these but......

[Oldguy16]

I was thinking about buying a cold air induction kit....until I read your post about it not doing much in the way of power. I just looked through our Ford racing catalog and found performance parts for the Focus, but nothing for the Fusion. I would have thought there would be more, even in aftermarket for these but......

I looked through Ford Racing but they didn't have anything I could find for the Fusion. This is why I ended up with the Steeda intake. Which I love. But in all seriousness, no cold air really adds that much power, you need a tune with it to really make it shine. I wish Ford Racing would release an intake, anything.

[fus10]

I ended up going with the Takeda intake for our fusion. They claim 9hp and 9 lbs of torque with this system.

 

I went with the Takeda because it is mounted farther away from the engine. More to where the stock intake pulls air in from the front fender area.

I noticed a big throttle response/improvement. Plus on highway if you are say doing 50 and mash the pedal all the way down. It just pulls. You can really feel it then.

It was only $199.99 at summit racing. It's only been on for a few hours. So still seeing how it all works. Lol.

 

One note about sluggishness.... buy two... yes two bottles of Techron fuel treatment. Put both into the fuel tank at once with a ful tank of gas. Try that. Or go to the Ford dealership and buy a can of BG44K(STUFF WORKS). Having worked in the service side of dealerships.. that stuff works.

You could just be all carboned up from the poor fuel quality we have here in the states.

I just recently did this to my car. Really made a diff for me. I am at 51,600 miles.

A lot of the newer direct injection / turbo cars are having a lot of issues with carbon build up.

 

It's worth a try.

Edited January 29, 2011 by fus10

[Oldguy16]

I ended up going with the Takeda intake for our fusion. They claim 9hp and 9 lbs of torque with this system.

 

I went with the Takeda because it is mounted farther away from the engine. More to where the stock intake pulls air in from the front fender area.

I noticed a big throttle response/improvement. Plus on highway if you are say doing 50 and mash the pedal all the way down. It just pulls. You can really feel it then.

It was only $199.99 at summit racing. It's only been on for a few hours. So still seeing how it all works. Lol.

 

One note about sluggishness.... buy two... yes two bottles of Techron fuel treatment. Put both into the fuel tank at once with a ful tank of gas. Try that. Or go to the Ford dealership and buy a can of BG44K(STUFF WORKS). Having worked in the service side of dealerships.. that stuff works.

You could just be all carboned up from the poor fuel quality we have here in the states.

I just recently did this to my car. Really made a diff for me. I am at 51,600 miles.

A lot of the newer direct injection / turbo cars are having a lot of issues with carbon build up.

 

It's worth a try.

Steeda claims 12 hp, but let's be serious, I can't say anything without a dyno to prove myself. Yea throttle response is a bit better, sound is better, but when you're talking about 10hp, when you already have 200 to the wheels? a 5% gain, is minimal, not to mention barely noticeable. I tested 0-60 with both airbox and intake, it was virtually the same. So until that time goes down, or I get dynoed, I can't say that the power gain is really there. That's my idea.

 

Also, fus10, what is BG44k? Just Ford's fuel system cleaner? I'd really like to try that for a friend of mine. We need a good fuel system cleaner for his explorer, and any personal experience is always best.

[fus10]

Oldguy16.

I agree 9 to 12 HP is really not much to make a big difference. But I can say on my end... the throttle response is much better than before. That 9 HP is peak I would assume. So in reality you probably would only feel it on the highway in the 2,500 rpm range and higher.

 

As for the BG 44K. I worked at a Chrysler dealer. We sold a BG44K fuel induction system. One of the few products that actually did.what it claimed. You could really see/ feel a night and day difference. Cust would also say the same thing.

 

If the Ford dealer sells the fuel induction service that is with BG product. It is worth trying.

Just had a coworker run it on his F150 yesterday. He had an intake gasket leak he ran the induction

Then tore it down. His truck has over 200k on it. You could see how carboned up it was. That stuff broke a lot of it down. It just wiped off with his fingers. If he ran it for awhile after doing the induction it would have probably cleaned most out on it's own.

 

I currently work at a BMW dealer. The 335 turbo motors are starting to see the carbon build up. Mini motors with the turbo's direct injection are having some really bad carbon build up issues. We don't have mini at our store. Just hear from my techs what they are told in training. BMW has their own fuel induction service. So if they have their own... there is some validity to the stuff working.

 

 

BMW also sells stuff you put in the fuel tank. It is Techron just in a BMW bottle.

 

Okay rambled on enough.

Edited January 29, 2011 by fus10

[FORD PARTS GUY]

The Techron, bg products 44k and Ford's motorcraft pm6 are all good products. Next time I see our Ford rep for my dealership I will ask about any performance parts coming to the Ford racing catalog for Fusions. If they have stuff for the Focus why not the Fusion?

 

BG is an aftermarket product that shops use for flushes for automobiles. BG has no connection with any OE manufacturer, it is a seperate entity 100%. You will have to search the BG website for shops in your area to see who sells it. The dealership that I am currently working for uses the Wynn's line of flushes, but personally I think the BG is a superior product comapred to the wynn's.

[Oldguy16]

As per recommendation, I talked to my friend and we're gonna try BG, if that doesn't work, we'll try techron. Also, the local performance shop sells a fuel system cleaner kit for 40 bucks. I wish I knew the name, apparently you connect one hose to the brake line, the other to the fuel tank, and just black gunk and smoke come out of the exhaust. Anyone have experience with this? Or know what it is for that matter?

[akirby]

apparently you connect one hose to the brake line, the other to the fuel tank, and just black gunk and smoke come out of the exhaust.

 

WTF???

[Oldguy16]

Can't explain it without knowing all the full details, I have to go back and check. I know I thought the same thing, the fuel system has nothing to do with the brake line. That's what didn't make sense to me.

[fus10]

There use to be a kit by 3M sold over the counter the was a fuel induction system. Maybe that was the kit you seen.

I have no clue why you would hook up to the brake line unless your doing a brake fluid flush. Unless somehow the brake line gives the system pressure. I know in the shop we use compressed air/air hose for the induction system..

 

Either way you should notice a difference if you are carboned up.

[FORD PARTS GUY]

I wonder if it was referring to the vacuum line on to the brake booster?

[Oldguy16]

I wonder if it was referring to the vacuum line on to the brake booster?

That could have been what the guy said. I think I may stop by this weekend and talk to the guys that run the shop, they're really great. If anyone lives in NJ it's a very good store.