NHTSA Complaint #11258356 — 2015 FORD FUSION

STARTED CAR, GOT DASHBOARD LIGHT ON 7.6.19 MILEAGE 27721. CAR RUNNING ROUGH, ABOUT TO STALL,ETC. ERROR CODE P0302. CYL.#2 IGNITION COIL REPLACED. THEN, 2 WEEKS LATER GOT DASHBOARD LIGHT AGAIN, SAME CODE P0302. MECHANIC (PRIVATE)REPLACED PERCEIVED FAULTY IGNITION COIL AS PREVIOUS. ON 9.23 .19 CAR STARTED,. CAR RUNS ROUGH, ALMOST STALLS DASHBOARD LIGHTS AGAIN. THIS TIME WE TAKE IT TO ROYAL OAK FORD SERVICE DEPT. THEY GET P0302 AND ADVISE US TO CHANGE SPARK PLUGS. $307.29 CHARGE. UPON INSPECTION OF SPARK PLUGS I NOTE ALL PLUGS ARE HEAVILY COATED IN CARBON. I CHECK THE TAILPIPE AND THE INSIDE IS ALSO HEAVILY CARBON COATED. SHORTLY AFTER I FIND INFORMATION THAT MOST DIRECT INJECT ENGINES HAVE THIS PROBLEM. IT WAS NOT HARD INFO TO FIND. BECAUSE OF DIRECT INJECTION THE VALVES DO NOT RECEIVE THE BENEFIT OF DETERGENT GASOLINES AND BECOME HEAVILY COATED IN CARBON. THIS IS AN OVERSIMPLIFIED EXPLANATION OF WHAT IS OCCURRING., BUT MAKES THE POINT. I CONFIRM FINDINGS WITH AND SHOW PLUGS TO, MY MECHANIC WHO CONFIRMS ;THAT THESE DIRECT INJECT ENGINES HAVE AN ISSUE THE MANUFACTURERS CAN'T OR HAVEN'T CORRECTED, WHICH RESULTS IN THE CONDITION MY SPARK PLUGS WERE FOUND IN. I FOUND NOTSB'S ON THE SUBJECT. MECHANIC RECOMMENDS A GDI SERVICE, WHICH INCLUDES PULLING ALL VALVES AND CLEANING THEM. HE ALSO RECOMMENDS ANYONE WITH A DI ENGINE TO DO THIS AT LEAST ONCE A YEAR TO KEEP VEHICLE RUNNING SMOOTHLY AND TO GET MAXIMUM LIFE OUT OF THE PLUGS. BY THE WAY, FIRST SERVICE INTERVAL FOR PLUGS ON THIS CAR IS 100,000 MILES. THIS IS THE EXPERIENCE I'VE BEEN EXPOSED TO SO FAR, BUT DO KNOW THAT IT CAN GET MUCH WORSE (AFFECTING OTHER PARTS OF THE ENGINE) FWIW THE MECHANIC BELIEVES THE MANUFACTURERS (IN THIS CASE FORD) ARE WELL AWARE OF THESE ISSUES WITH DIRECT INJECT DESIGNED ENGINES. PIC OF PLUGS INCL. BELOW.