'06 Mercury Milian 2.3L, 5 spd manual- Thoughts?

[KingCake]

Originally Posted By: Mantooth
Originally Posted By: KingCake
They have lots of problems with those manual trannies.


What type of problems? I've owned a couple Fords and both had solid manuals.


Ford uses transmissions from multiple companies. Mitsubishi, Borg Warner, Aisin, Mazda, in house designs, etc, etc. To argue with me over your statistically meaningless singular experiences in life is as ridiculous as it is ignorant.

In this case the 2006 Merc Milan /w 2.3 has a Mazda transmission. This design does not use a pilot bushing. No pilot bushing to locate the input shaft into the end of the crank. I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to theorize as to what problem(s) this might cause.

Related, the 2.3 tends to have habitual rear main leaks and ruins clutches.

 

[Bgallagher]

Solid vehicle. My dad had a fusion and had some issues with power steering noise but what Ford hasn't. Over all it was a solid and reliable vehicle. He ended up selling it to a buddy of his and last time I checked he has about 200k on the odo.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
It's a Mazda.


If so, is this from the rust years? Seen plenty of mid 2000's Mazada's with rust issues. I'm sure that can be mitigated by washing underneath and oil coating; but I'm not sure if Indiana is considered part of the rust belt.

 

[Mantooth]

Originally Posted By: KingCake
Originally Posted By: Mantooth
Originally Posted By: KingCake
They have lots of problems with those manual trannies.


What type of problems? I've owned a couple Fords and both had solid manuals.


Ford uses transmissions from multiple companies. Mitsubishi, Borg Warner, Aisin, Mazda, in house designs, etc, etc. To argue with me over your statistically meaningless singular experiences in life is as ridiculous as it is ignorant.

In this case the 2006 Merc Milan /w 2.3 has a Mazda transmission. This design does not use a pilot bushing. No pilot bushing to locate the input shaft into the end of the crank. I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to theorize as to what problem(s) this might cause.

Related, the 2.3 tends to have habitual rear main leaks and ruins clutches.


Someone didn't take his meds this morning. If you look at my previous post, I posed a question and shared my experience with two previous manuals. Not sure how that is arguing, but whatever!

And since you decided to rudely question my intelligence...I'll question yours. Please provide documented evidence (articles, TSBs) of these alleged issues.

Have a pleasant day.

 

[Mantooth]

Originally Posted By: Branson304
I used to have a 2007 Fusion with the 3.0L V6, AWD & automatic transmission so I don't have exact feedback on this setup, but I was in many Fusion groups & forums & can give you the gist of things.

The 2.3L is a very solid engine, I never heard of any complaints or any major, regular problems. This coupled with the manual transmission should mean a virtually problem free car as far as the drive train goes.

Now Fusions/Milans in general.

1) They are known for sticky brake calipers, especially when older. I had the rear driver side caliper freeze up around 70K miles & both my fronts were sticking on the inside at 120K miles. Common issue but easy fix with new caliper if you can work on brakes.

2) The interior door handles like to break. You can open the door by pressing on the lock mechanism & pulling the handle or simply opening from the outside via the window until you get it fixed. It's a relatively simple & cheap fix by popping the door panel off.

This is about it for regular Fusion/Milan issues. Nothing major. The 06-09 models are excellent cars. I recommend you get the vehicle inspected by a trusted mechanic before buying just to make sure brakes, Suspension, steering are solid.


Thanks for the info. Normally I would consider my mechanic doing a good once over of the vehicle. Unfortunately, this Mercury is over an hour and a half from my home. Not sure my mechanic would be interested in the travel time.

 

[fdcg27]

The lack of a pilot bearing is a plus.
We've had five stick Hondas and never a problem with the transaxle even out past 200K.
Honda manuals don't have pilot bearings.
A pilot bearing is just something else to break and the only problem I ever had with any clutch other than routine replacements involved the pilot bearing on our '81 Vanagon which seized when we were conveniently about 160 miles from home.
I can tell you that driving a Vanagon without any ability to release the clutch is a challenge.

 

[KingCake]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
The lack of a pilot bearing is a plus.
We've had five stick Hondas and never a problem with the transaxle even out past 200K.
Honda manuals don't have pilot bearings.
A pilot bearing is just something else to break and the only problem I ever had with any clutch other than routine replacements involved the pilot bearing on our '81 Vanagon which seized when we were conveniently about 160 miles from home.
I can tell you that driving a Vanagon without any ability to release the clutch is a challenge.


you're confusing throwout bearing and pilot bearing

 

[Arob]

Not enough in this case

 

[Mantooth]

Just to update where I'm at with this car - I actually want to make the 2hr drive to look at this vehicle. Talked to a sales person on the phone on Thursday and I have emailed him twice and tried calling back once. No response on the emails and the time I called I ended up getting dumped into a general VM box that didn't belong to the sales person I had talked to. I'm wanting to get thier best possible price and if its reasonable, I'll make the trip there to look at it. Would have gone on Friday but he didn't get back with me. Kinda odd having an internet sales guy who doesn't check or reply to email. I'll try again Monday and see if I have better luck. Bad thing is this week is booked and I may have to wait till next week to make the trip.

I've also found a '06 Volvo S80 2.5T with 106k miles on the clock and a reasonable price. Kinda scared of a turbo car with 100+ on it but I've read good things about Volvo turbos. The car-fax for this one shows dealer service every 3K with maintenance work at 50 and 75k. This one is close to where I work so I'll probably go look at it.

 

[pandus13]

Originally Posted By: Mantooth
I've also found a '06 Volvo S80 2.5T with 106k miles on the clock and a reasonable price. Kinda scared of a turbo car with 100+ on it but I've read good things about Volvo turbos. The car-fax for this one shows dealer service every 3K with maintenance work at 50 and 75k. This one is close to where I work so I'll probably go look at it.

i suggest you open a new thread and call the volvo guys: Astro14, sleddriver, ...
they will give the good and bad about volvo turbos