New Fusion: First Oil Change?

[Guest RRF985]

I tried doing an oil change the other day. I have 1200 miles on the car and would like to get that stuff out and full syn in. I couldn't get the filter off however. Going to try again this weekend with a different filter wrench. If that doesn't work I'm going to have to go to the dealer.

[akirby]

I tried doing an oil change the other day. I have 1200 miles on the car and would like to get that stuff out and full syn in. I couldn't get the filter off however. Going to try again this weekend with a different filter wrench. If that doesn't work I'm going to have to go to the dealer.

 

All you need is a big screwdriver.

[jeff_h]

I tried doing an oil change the other day. I have 1200 miles on the car and would like to get that stuff out and full syn in. I couldn't get the filter off however. Going to try again this weekend with a different filter wrench. If that doesn't work I'm going to have to go to the dealer.

 

Here is a type of filter wrench I bought probably 10-15 years ago, has always worked great for me.

 

[bucky919]

Here's the wrench I used on my fusion: http://www.amazon.com/Channellock-209-9-Inch-Filter-Plier/dp/B0009WG5SU/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1361983231&sr=8-4&keywords=filter+wrench

 

I tried a cap the first time and it just slipped, used the channel lock and came off with little effert.

[gl419]

Hey! Bucy919, I am waiting for delivery of my new FFH SE, and reading all I can about the new car. One question for you. I know you have to remove the large shield under the engine to get to the filter. As I understand it points down, so you would have to grab the filter from the side using the ChannelLocks you have. I already have a pair for my Honda GoldWing. So the question - Is there much room to get the handles in to grab the filter or do you have to come in at an angle? (which is what I expect). In orther words, is it tight?

[Camride]

Hey! Bucy919, I am waiting for delivery of my new FFH SE, and reading all I can about the new car. One question for you. I know you have to remove the large shield under the engine to get to the filter. As I understand it points down, so you would have to grab the filter from the side using the ChannelLocks you have. I already have a pair for my Honda GoldWing. So the question - Is there much room to get the handles in to grab the filter or do you have to come in at an angle? (which is what I expect). In orther words, is it tight?

 

It's a fairly tight area, I can't see how you would get a pair of channel locks around the side of the filter. Mine was also on tight as hell, I used the "stab it with a screwdriver and mangle it to hell" method to get it off. I always do my own oil changes so I typically only have to get a stubborn oil filter off when I get a new car, which is very infrequent. That's the only reason I haven't gotten a oil filter wrench, doesn't seem worth it to me.

[bucky919]

It's a fairly tight area, I can't see how you would get a pair of channel locks around the side of the filter. Mine was also on tight as hell, I used the "stab it with a screwdriver and mangle it to hell" method to get it off. I always do my own oil changes so I typically only have to get a stubborn oil filter off when I get a new car, which is very infrequent. That's the only reason I haven't gotten a oil filter wrench, doesn't seem worth it to me.

 

 

It is tight, but theres enough room in there to break the filter loose then it comes off easy, by hand. I can probably get a quarter of turn or alittle less using the channel locks I posed earlier,

[Guest RRF985]

Good to know you can actually get it in there. After you posted those I thought for sure there is no way to get to the filter with those things.

[jeff_h]

Good to know you can actually get it in there. After you posted those I thought for sure there is no way to get to the filter with those things.

 

Since there are different engines with the 2013 Fusion, some may be tougher to access than others... here's a pic of the filter on the 2013 Fusion Hybrid, this one is pretty easy to access and looks like a large pair of channel locks could get in there if needed.

 

[Ruslan]

I had to reset my oil change light on and found a video on youtube done by vehix411.com This might be helpfull. Here is the video.

[Camride]

Since there are different engines with the 2013 Fusion, some may be tougher to access than others... here's a pic of the filter on the 2013 Fusion Hybrid, this one is pretty easy to access and looks like a large pair of channel locks could get in there if needed.

 

 

I'll try to remember to get a pic the next time I change my oil. The 2.0L is pretty horrible, there is barely enough space to get your hand on it.

[akirby]

The 2.0L is easy if you don't need a wrench.

 

And after the first change you shouldn't need a wrench.

Edited August 9, 2013 by akirby

[TurboTi]

On this car, I'm just going by the manual, it says wait till the oil change light comes on. Since Ford made and tested the car, I figure they know what they're talking about. I didn't baby it, and it still went almost 10000 miles before the light came on. Turbo engine.

[Darthsnipe]

I have the 2013 Fusion SE 1.6T at 11k miles and have done my first oil change according to my IOLM (Intelligent Oil Life Monitor). It gave me the 5% warning at approximately 9600 miles. As soon as I got that warning ("Change Oil Soon" [or something like that]), I changed the oil at that time via the dealer. They state and the invoice states that they are using Semi-Synthetic (also known as Synthetic Blend) oil.

 

To contribute my experience with the break-in question, I drove my Fusion varying speeds up until 1500 miles. Then, I drove it like I normally would. Since I do mostly highway driving, I am usually coasting at a high speed at low revs. But during the break-in period, I was entering/exiting highway on/off-ramps to vary my speed and grades until I reached my destination with normal pedal acceleration (as in, I accelerate like I normally would when I do a normal drive). During that break-in period also, when I had a long ways to go until the next exit, I would accelarate to 55-65 mph then let go of the gas pedal until it reached just below 40 mph and then pressed the gas back up to 65 mph (you actually feel the downshift at 40 mph)...just make sure you're on the right lane when you do this so you don't make anyone angry in the fast lanes.

[MountainLion]

I had the dealer change mine at 7500 (first one free!) with 27% left according to the oil life monitor because I picked up a screw in my tire that I didn't feel like dealing with. I drive 80% at a constant speed every day. I broke it in by varying engine speed and load (my route is rather hilly) and by deliberately not upshifting to 6th every now and again. After that I've been driving normally. No oil consumption to speak of at all.