Summary:
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2012 Ford Fusion and Mustang and Lincoln Zephyr and MKZ vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan), and the U.S. Virgin Islands, or "Zone A." Additionally, unless included in "Zone A" above, Ford is recalling certain 2009 Ford Ranger, Edge, Fusion and Mustang, Lincoln MKX, MKZ and Zephyr and Mercury Milan vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia, or "Zone B." Additionally, unless included in "Zone A" or "Zone B" above, Ford is recalling certain 2007-2008 Ford Ranger, Edge and Lincoln MKX, 2006-2008 Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan, Lincoln Zephyr and MKZ, 2005-2008 Ford Mustang and 2005-2006 Ford GT vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in the states of Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming. These vehicles are equipped with certain air bag inflators assembled as part of the passenger frontal air bag modules used as original equipment or replacement equipment. In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger frontal air bag, these inflators may rupture due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to absolute humidity and temperature cycling.
"I have been watching YouTube (YT) videos about Fords having issues with the Variable Camshaft Timing (VCT) solenoids and phasers. YT channel FordTechMakuloco has been saying in his videos that without frequent engine oil changes oil varnish builds up inside these engine parts. He has shown live bar-graph data on his scanner of these defective parts how the timing adjustment is not smooth and jumping around and sticking. After watching these videos I have been wondering about my Lincolns VCT state of health. I recently was at my friends place of business, a buy here pay here used car lot. I used his professional scanner to look at my engines variable timing. (I gain persona grata credits based on my help on repos.) After around 110k miles the VCT action is still very smooth. Both banks of the V6 are working in unison with a very small amount of phaser angle error. When the ECM is asking for a certain amount of valve timing adjustment the VCT system is delivering the goods with lots of precision. I attribute this level of VCT precision (on an engine with 111k miles) to frequent engine oil changes. I have been changing the engine oil and filter every 5k miles and it obviously has been worth the effort. (This may also be a good test to determine if frequent engine oil changes have been performed on an engine.) If and when my daily driver needs a water pump I can rest assured that I probably do not need to replace any of these expensive VCT solenoids. Just to be on the safe side, I will monitor my Lincolns VCT action with a professional scanner about once a year. Here is something interesting: Ford started using a more robust double wide timing chain in the mid year 2011 MKZ. (Rockauto.com shows this change on build dates after 10/31/2010.) So I probably do not need to replace the timing chain or sprockets either. The MKZ gained a redesign in the 2013 model year; so there is a lot of truth to getting the last year of a model before a redesign. This is not to say that I will only be replacing the water pump. I will also be replacing the oil pump with a Melling M390HV high volume oil pump. This is the antidote for an aging Ford 3.5L Duratec (or 3.7L Ecoboost) V6 with increasing bearing clearances. With this higher volume of oil being pumped I may decide to fill the crankcase with 5 or 6 quarts of oil instead of 5, to maintain the correct oil level when the engine is running. I might also add that I drive this thing with lots of GUSTO - I most certainly do not drive this thing like grandma Moses. I use the Ford select shift to select my own gears more often than not; you would think I am wearing out the engine and transmission rather quickly but I am not. I can drive like this because I am changing the engine oil and filter every 5k miles and the liquid sandpaper (trans fluid) every 30k miles. That is all. Ben from Beautiful South Central Kentucky (BSCK)."
Anonymous A., KY (2012 Lincoln MKZ 3.5 3.5-L V6)