22CarbGrayElite

Looks like we have a winner… took these off the Fusion steering wheel buttons for the cruise control and radio. None of the Fusions had paddle shifters. Now I have to order my leather wrap and wait for that to come in and then I can get this project done.

Called today for an update. My transmission is apart in pieces on a work bench at the dealership. They are going to replace that clutch and a bunch of one time use parts that need replaced once removed from the transmission. If for some reason this does not fix it, they will either rebuild it completely or order a reman from Ford.

Stopped at the Ford dealership parts department and as suspected, the screws are not available to buy separately. In fact, they don’t even come with new paddle shift buttons. I checked with the mechanics at my job and they only have M4x0.7 screws. There is a U pull it junkyard around the corner from work. I looked online and they show four Fusions in the yard and no Edges. Gonna go Saturday morning after work and hope I get lucky.

I took one of the switches to Lowe’s and Tractor Supply and didn’t have any luck. The M4x.70 is too big. Moving up to an M5 makes it too big. Gonna hit a junkyard this weekend, if they are open on Saturday, and see if they have any Edges or Fusions to pick at. Pretty sure Ford doesn’t sell the screws separately but I am gonna stop there in the morning and see.

And just like that, the dealership sold the F150 today. They brought me a 2026 Bronco Big Bend edition to replace it. Just as well, as I went to wash the pick up and fuel it, it was $65 for what I used and it was just under a half tank. I’m guessing $100+ fill ups would be the norm for this thing so, not for my budget right now.

After doing a little more digging, it looks like the screw is an M4x0.7x10mm. I’ll just take one of the switches over to Lowe’s or Tractor Supply and test fit them. I bought the switches and wire harness from one vendor on eBay and the rear cover from another. I’m in it for $50 so far. I am going to order a custom leather steering wheel wrap and do that while I have the wheel apart for the button shifters.

No… they are going to have my car for a few days. Service advisor was only working a couple of hours today and is off on Monday, so I probably won’t hear anything until Tuesday at best. I get to ride around in this brand new loaner pick up truck while my car is in the shop. Would I buy this pick up or a pick up truck? No, not living so far from work. The payment and gas would not be fun, even though this one has been getting 24ish on the highway. It is a base model F150 super cab with the 2.7 twin turbo motor. It’s ok, but not for me, not now anyhow.

And I am now on hold with this project. My Edge is at the Ford dealership having transmission problem repaired. Made a post in the Ecoboost section about this if you are interested. When I get it back, I am going to install the Axxess ANC bypass harness which is behind the touchscreen. I am also going to install the dash storage bin with lid that I bought from Ford a couple of weeks ago. Once that is done, I need to set the Accubass on the LOC and set the gains on it and the amp.

Shortly after I got my Edge in May, I began to notice a thump, or jolt, when slowing down at 15 mph. I decided to change the PTU and rear diff fluids since they needed to be done, and see if that would resolve the problem. No dice. Went on vacation in early June, and when I got back, I took it to my local Ford dealership to look at. They heard the sound immediately on the test drive and stated they felt the transmission needed to come out to tear down and find the failure. They had no loaner cars and told me they would call me when one came available. Fast forward a couple weeks later and I haven’t heard anything. I call the service advisor and she tells me she hasn’t forgotten about me and that they only have two loaners available for the entirety of the dealership service department to use. So I wait, and continue to wait, just over two months until I decided I had enough of waiting. I decide to call another dealership that I pass by on the way to work, albeit 30 minutes away. I call the service department and explain the situation. SA tells me they can’t go by what another dealership says and has to do their own diagnosis on it, to which I agreed and acknowledged. I made an appointment for a weekday early morning and the SA and his transmission tech drive it and acknowledge the thump at 15 mph. He says they want to pull the driveshaft and drive it and see if the noise remains or disappears. They wanted two hours of time that I really didn’t have. We got further into the conversation and he said he was short on loaners as well. I told him I had to leave and needed to reach back out to him when I could figure out transportation. I called the service department back Monday afternoon and told the service advisor that I needed a loaner and that I couldn’t find a vehicle to borrow. He told me that he just had a loaner come available and I could bring my car in Tuesday and leave it and take the rental. YES!!! I got a brand new 2026 F150. More importantly, my car is finally getting looked at and fixed. They pulled the driveshaft and drove it. The noise remained. Next step, pull the valve body out of the trans and inspect it and air check the clutches for proper operation. When they drove it, they had a scan tool hooked to it monitoring everything, which returned nothing to go off of. They found an issue with the C clutch for third gear so now they have to tear down the transmission to find the failure. This is Ford’s stance to warranty a powertrain part. More to come. Service advisor has acknowledged that this will be covered under the power train warranty so enjoy the new F150 while they get this fixed.

Finally finished up the install last night. I have to dial everything in but so far it sounds decent for what it is. I was lightly bumping it last night and didn’t have any issues with any interference or other abnormalities. Will definitely need more time with it to see if anything arises. One thing I learned about the Audio Control GTO turn on feature… the Ford Edge doesn’t play well with it. Disable it and run a typical switched remote wire and call it good. For the switched circuit, I used fuse F2 in the car fuse block with a fuse tap. Easy enough but just an absolute pain to get to that fuse box. Another tip… I grounded the amp and LOC to a bolt along the door sill that secures the plastic trim that lets the interior plastics snap down into place. I took a wiz wheel and scuffed the paint down to bare metal and hooked it up. Once I get the output and gain set on the amp, I’ll update with my impressions. I could be inclined to swap the stock sub for a Kicker 8” DVC shallow mount sub just to see what happens, but I doubt that will be necessary. I just want to sound good in the car, not from three blocks away.

For anyone that did this by buying the switches, the wire harness and the rear cover for the steering wheel, how do the paddles bolt to the wheel? I didn’t get screws for them but I don’t know if they are needed.

Made a little more progress today, but I had a set back that prevented me from finishing. As some of you may know, the fuse panel under the dash is in a miserable spot and accessing it is a PITA. There are three major wire harnesses attached to it. Well, in my efforts to check and test for switched and constant power, I managed to loosen the latch lock to the middle harness and my issues eventually began. The key fobs stopped working, the car went into battery protection mode, the car wouldn’t go into accessory mode or power on/engine off mode, let alone start. I was beside myself. I had to call my daughter to come get me and go get my battery charger and scan tool. After doing my due diligence, I called a knowledgeable friend who walked me through a couple of things, one of which was checking a certain fuse in the panel, and that was when I discovered the loose connector. The scan tool told me communication was lost to the BCM and the push to start button was stuck ON. Couple that with everything else, and no flashers or horn, it was frustrating. I snapped that connector back it and secured it and everything came back to life like it should. Note to anyone going into that fuse panel under the dash… be mindful of those harnesses and double check they are secured properly before you call a tow truck. I have signal wires hooked up, the power harness for the LOC ready to be plugged in, and power, ground and remote for the amp ready to be cut to size and plugged in. Sub wires are also ran and ready to be plugged. Last is the amp fuse. Realistically, this is an hour or two of work and it will be running. Hopefully there will be no more set backs or being pulled away to do something else and. It being able to get back to it.

If the amp and LOC prove to be an issue, I will move them to the cargo area. I have installed amps under the seats of a 2014 Impala I once owned and never had any problems. We shall see, good to know regardless.

Amplifier installation wiring is a KnuKonceptz Kolossus 4 gauge OFC power and ground kit along with a set of short Klarity RCA cables, a mini ANL fuse holder and 12 gauge speaker cable. They also include 20’ of remote wire. KnuKonceptz has been at the amplifier and speaker wire game for a long time and has a stellar reputation for reliability. Their amp wiring kits are significantly cheaper than Crutchfield’s offerings as well. I also have the Metra ANC bypass cable as well. I haven’t hooked that up yet as I want to see what the AudioControl LC2i can do with its Accubass settings. Hopefully I can finish this install next weekend and get it dialed in.

The AudioControl Epic500 amp, which will feed the sub 350 watts RMS @ 2 Ohms, and the LC2i line out converter…