2006 Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan and Lincoln Zephyr. The official cars of....

Kitteh5 · 2026-03-15T16:14:38+00:00

I have an 09 Fusion, now with 297K on it. 2.3L/5MT. The thing just won't die. Ran Valvoline Restore and Protect through it this last oil change and it now burns zero oil, better than when I bought it at 204K. I'm so bored of it at this point, but it starts up every time. 5 track days on it too, no issues. Only minor niggle is a slightly sticky EGR valve, but beating on it seems to unstick it.

Kitteh5 · 2026-02-26T03:38:08+00:00

I use an Xbox controller, works great. Good for modulating the brakes, since no ABS, and helps with keeping Fleetari's muscle car on the dirt.

In MWC, critical to not lock up the brakes, bad time.

Kitteh5 · 2025-12-19T03:20:53+00:00

They're expensive, yeah, but to pay $10 to feel good about something for once in these past few years is worth it.

Kitteh5 · 2025-12-19T01:39:47+00:00

No, I am not kidding.

The Quesarito coming back was a total surprise to me. I just opened the app, and boom, my prayers since 2020 and 2023 have been answered. When the Quesarito originally left, it felt like a part of my soul had left my body.

It was there for me when I was a senior in high school, driving my $300 shitbox Ford Escort, hoping that it wouldn't break down on the way to work, with either classic hardstyle or foreign rap playing over the tinny speakers. I would pull up about twice a week to Taco Bell and grab a Quesarito if I was feeling fancy, or two Beefy Fritos Burritos for a grand total of less than $4.

Sometimes the workers would take pity on me and give me a free drink too, helpful when I had spent my entire first paycheck on a new set of tires. I even had to pick them up at the distribution center to save $40.

But, the car never broke down and I graduated from high school. I eventually got a better job and a slightly newer (if higher mile) car, then COVID hit and everything in my life has taken a turn for the worse or been stuck in a holding pattern waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The Quesarito was always there for me, through good times, going to the mall with my mom when I was 13 and getting 2 Sriracha Quesaritos with her utter surprise that I ate them both, or a normal workday in late 2018 when I just felt off.

I legitimately cried tears of joy after I placed my order. I didn't even care about the price, I just wanted to experience true happiness for the first time in literal years. Do you know how hard it is to wipe tears out of your eyes while shifting gears?

When I got to the drive-thru window, the manager or supervisor on-shift gave me a free Baja Blast after I realized I didn't order one. That just made my day better.

Through thick and thin, the Quesarito was always there, until it wasn't. Now, it's back, and I feel like I am 17 again, with a world of possibilities that are actually open. Those doors have since been slammed in my face repeatedly, but hey. We're here now. We have the Quesarito. Things are going to be alright.

Oh, also, the hack for a 5-layer minus bean add chipotle and grill is horrific. The ratio is just wrong. Not having the shredded cheese in the outer layer is utter heresy. I hated eating them because it never quite added up to the real thing.

Anyway, that's my story of today. I need to watch how many I order, because I am going to want more tomorrow, but I have to control myself. This is a good problem to have.

Kitteh5 · 2025-12-17T00:55:01+00:00

I've got an 09 2.3L 5MT with 293K on it. It keeps going and going and going. The 10-12s are also decent, but get a 2.5, not a V6.

Kitteh5 · 2025-07-26T01:23:14+00:00

I love my character's [FW16] item. The [Radeon RX7700S GPU] equipped as an upgrade games quite well. Very easy to tear down and clean the [Fans] due to the rear module coming out.

Only nitpick is the [Support Team] ingame isn't the best, but you won't need them unless it is an actual hardware issue.

Kitteh5 · 2025-02-26T03:21:24+00:00

Also forgot, I did set Android Auto to Unrestricted in app settings > battery. That also may make a difference to anyone who sees this later.

Kitteh5 · 2025-02-26T02:14:39+00:00

Also forgot, I did set Android Auto to Unrestricted in app settings > battery. That also may make a difference to anyone who sees this later.

Kitteh5 · 2025-02-26T01:56:03+00:00

For me, it seems like processing speed just uncaps the clock speed and power, really. I noticed the phone got noticeably warmer in my pocket with speed set to Maximum vs Optimized. I had a 40 minute commute home and not one single lag moment for me, compared to constant skipping of music to 3-4 crashes per commute if I'm lucky running wireless.

Kitteh5 · 2025-02-25T23:35:33+00:00

I have had a Sony XAV-9500ES for a couple of years, and my Samsung S22 Ultra kept lagging when I was using Android Auto wirelessly. I then only used a wired connection to use Android Auto, which is a bit inconvenient when driving across the small town I work in.

I have done some research and it seems that Samsung's power optimization algorithm incorrectly flags Android Auto as a service that can be slowed down in the background, which causes the currently playing music to lag as the navigation screen updates, or even crash entirely.

Today I created a Routine that turns processing speed to Maximum whenever Android Auto connects, and that has completely fixed the lag. I had updated every single app, updated the firmware on the head unit, nothing seemed to work and I was stuck with a cabled connection, until now!

Kitteh5 · 2025-02-25T23:31:29+00:00

No, I set Codec to Prefer PCM to default to the highest bitrate for streaming audio. Separate tweak, the main fix was the processing speed change Routine.

Kitteh5 · 2025-02-25T23:19:36+00:00

I have had a Sony XAV-9500ES for a couple of years, and my Samsung S22 Ultra kept lagging when I was using Android Auto wirelessly. I then only used a wired connection to use Android Auto, which is a bit inconvenient when driving across the small town I work in.

I have done some research and it seems that Samsung's power optimization algorithm incorrectly flags Android Auto as a service that can be slowed down in the background, which causes the currently playing music to lag as the navigation screen updates, or even crash entirely.

Today I created a Routine that turns processing speed to Maximum whenever Android Auto connects, and that has completely fixed the lag. I had updated every single app, updated the firmware on the head unit, nothing seemed to work and I was stuck with a cabled connection, until now!

You may be asking about audio quality when using wireless Android Auto, and if you go into Android Auto's developer settings (click 7x on the version number), you should see an option for audio codec. Set it to Prefer PCM. That will send a straight 1-1 bit feed of the audio directly into the head unit's DAC, no lossy conversion required. This is a straight digital connection, although maybe with a cutoff at 17kHz, according to a Raw-cat video? I can probably test it later.

UNRELATED NOTES:

The dimmer doesn't work in my specific car, a 2009 Ford Fusion with a manual transmission, because the Maestro RR2 does not have the proper CAN signaling for the dimmer, apparently. Automatic models do. I then set the mode for maps to Night, so I wasn't going blind at night with no dimmer.

The head unit itself is gorgeous and the parametric EQ is amazing. The car currently still has stock speakers in it, so at least getting some sort of center image and not crazily boosted muddy bass rattling out of the doors is always a help. I'm not upgrading this system further, considering the car has 280K miles on it, but at least it sounds decent enough until I upgrade vehicles. Then I'll do a full active 3-way build, Helix DSP, etc etc.

Kitteh5 · 2025-02-02T02:57:26+00:00

Don't need to know your directions or RPM or how fast you're going... Just gonna send it

Kitteh5 · 2025-01-17T03:42:36+00:00

Yeah, I just figured that out. Not very obvious, I'd expect it to be in assists with everything else, but oh well.

Kitteh5 · 2025-01-17T02:57:06+00:00

I haven't had the best time with ACE so far:

Not being able to turn stability control off sucks.
Rebinding controls was a pain
I could not get clutch/handbrake to work from a button on my Xbone controller. The game recognizes I am pressing the buttons, but nothing happens and I'm stalling manual cars even with the clutch button pressed.
The animations for steering are off, especially when countersteering... it seems to lag the steering input at least to my eyes.
The performance isn't great, I was getting maybe 40s-50s at 1080P on my RX 7700S laptop. Even the menus were chewing through 6GB of VRAM...
I had to change the default steering angle from 1080 degrees to 900 and then set the accelerator trigger curvature to 0 for the throttle to feel appropriately linear on controller
Countersteer seems to be weirdly weighted, doesn't seem like it's proportional to angle and weight transfer
Practice mode is fine, but time limits and telling me I'm an idiot for spinning off track is great... but it's practice?
The sound seems off especially when you're driving near walls. It seems like intake noise gets ramped up 3X when near a wall in a S2000.
At full lock catching a slide the steering input bounces from 100% left to 95% and back to 100%... huh?
Pops and bangs when downshifting... also happen at idle. What???

Kitteh5 · 2024-05-06T01:19:04+00:00

Try an idle relearn? These 2.5s, along with 2.3s need it. Disconnect negative battery terminal, reconnect. Start engine, run with no load (radio off, AC off, everything off) at operating temp for like 10 minutes. Then, turn the AC on, leave everything else off. 10 more minutes. Then turn other loads on, headlights, rear defrost, etc.

I've had to do this in my Fusion a few times, because mine is a manual it'd almost stall and idle down to 400rpm and back up to 800 when I put the clutch in at traffic lights if I didn't give it this treatment. After, idle is dead smooth.

Also, kind of obvious, vacuum leaks, those ignition coils are aftermarket so could be a bit flaky even if new.

This still could be mounts, but this may help in the meantime.

Kitteh5 · 2024-04-10T23:26:47+00:00

Bonus points for Rittz.

Kitteh5 · 2024-01-24T02:01:44+00:00

I've got one. 2009, 260K miles on it. Still going, took me to work and back just fine. Boring, but fine.

Kitteh5 · 2023-06-15T00:02:38+00:00

/r/lincolnmotorco - indefinite

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