Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives ford engineers need a swift kick in da nuts

Do the Ford engineers lay awake at night thinking of ways to make it more difficult and messy to do a, what used to be" simple job? Anyone doing their own oil changes on these new F150's have probably figured out that it is a messy pain in the arsh.
I do fleet maintenance here at work. The simple stuff like oil changes, tire rotation, etc. Newest F150 was due for an oil change today. Figured I'd have 4 bolts to remove to take off the stupid aero-dynamic "mud catcher" plate that the 17,18, 19's have only to find that now you have to remove 6 bolts to remove the connected "mud catchers" from under the truck just to reach the oil drain plug. And then on top of that, the engineers manage to place the oil drain plug almost right above the torsion bar, real handy.
Of course, if you ain't a skinny [bleep] like I am, you can't even get on a creeper and roll in under the side of the truck because they sit so low these days and don't even try to roll in under the front of the truck to reach the oil filter, which is also placed in a horrible location so that when you unscrew it the oil drains down on the front diff., and other places that ensures the spent oil will miss the catch pan that you have on the floor. And then the spent oil drip, drip, drips for days after the oil change any where and every where you park.

Good lord Ford could learn a thing from Toyota. My Tacoma is the easiest damn oil change ever. Easy to catch the spent oil, easy to reach the filter on top of the engine. What a concept....

Would someone kick a Ford engineer first chance you get...…...end of rant...

My gas F250 is the easiest vehicle I’ve ever had for oil changes, better even than my 79. Sits high enough I can slide right under and almost sit up underneath it. Drain plug is easy to get to and doesn’t have anything under it for the oil to spill onto. Filter is vertical on the driver side of the pan up high enough to not get hit off-road but easy to reach to take off and put on.

Why they don’t make the half tons the same way is beyond me. Some enginerd that’s never seen an oil filter probably designed them I’m sure.

My 90's Subarus were great.
Short fat me could lay on the ground and pull the plug and filter.
No lifting required.

The tranny filter is a screw on canister beside the oil cooler/radiator.

Fuel filter?
Pop the hood, 3 or four hose clamps that are right there.
Snap open the clamp, swap old for new, clamps.
Done.
No lifting, nothing but a nut driver.

Went from them to a Ford.
WTF was I thinking?

Don't have a clue what you was thinking. But I'm thinking you didn't want to be a homosexual anymore.....grin

actually only a pain in the arsh the first time to reach the oil drain because the cute little mud catcher pans don't get put back on. When the day comes that the trucks get ready to go to auction, I'll put the pans back on for their final trip out of our shop.

Apparently not many on this board change their own oil on their F150's, because surely I can't be the only one that it bothers, just a little. Or maybe it's the fact that I have a fleet of the suckers to do so it's more than the occasional routine.

How about cutting an access hole below the drain bolt to get your socket wrench extension through? I use to change my own, but $20.00 plus my own oil and filter at the local repair shop makes it not worth my time and mess under the truck.

I agree it a PITA.
I've got a FX stuff on mine. The bottom engine cover/splash guard thing has to be removed to get to the drain plug. I put a Fumoto plug in which makes it a little easier because I can attach a hose which keeps the draining oil somewhat contained.
You have to just crack the oil filter and let it drain slowly or oil gets all over the skid plate (which has some kind of oil guide assembly).
As I said, its a PITA and I initially was just going to have my dealer do it but since they messed up in some way every time I've been there, I now do it myself. Not happy but at least I know it's done right.

My 20024 Tacoma is just as bad.The oil filter is on the side of the block.Unscrew it and oil goes every where. You can't just reach up and unscrew it and have to be a contortionist to get your hand and foream up around things and then have a 6" shorter wrench.
To get to all that,first you have to remove the rear skid plate which is held in place by two bolts buried up in a hole and then 3 screw to remove the front skid plate.

Putting it all back together you find your chances are 50/50 to be able to get the bolts back in without stripping them.
I leave the read skid plate off , but have to keep the front one on because of all the plastic under there

Your engineer was the misbegotten child of the engineer who designed the mid '90's air intake plenum that draped over the right hand bank of the 5.8L. Guaranteed 6 or 7 hours to change the right valve cover gasket..shop rate back then made for a 700 buck valve cover gasket r&r. Happy customers? Oh yeah.

I suppose a guy could but the hole would have to be about 8" long because when you pull the drain plug oil shoots out a good 8" or so at first, then eventually drains directly down to a trickle.

Anytime ya work on things you'll sooner or later you'll cuss an engineer.

I love the story or how I've heard it, about the Lear jet company. Anytime they hired a new engineer they put him//her on the assembly line for six months. When they got cut or had to a contortionist, or had major problems with assembly they made note of it & when they got to the drawing board they improved things & thought ahead with new designs.

It's been said that Lear jets are very easy to work on. Mechanic friendly.

I think that most cars and trucks are designed for a certain amount of longevity but primarily for ease and timely assembly on a moving assembly line. I have a 2012 F-350 6.7 Ford Superduty that requires the removal of the cab to access/repair engine for many break downs, $$$$$.

Aircraft can be tough to work on, I spent my USN time working on Lockheed P-3 Orions and other misc aircraft.

All about the dealer revenue.
50% increase in the number of bolts means more labor hours....

Ford engineers must have done the Tundra’s as well then.

2020 Tundra requires 3 bolts plus 3 other sized bolts (or a philips bit) to remove the mud catcher. Plus it hangs in catch hooks. Which means it catches on everything you don’t want it to catch on when trying to reattach it. Knocking mud off in your face. Plus the front screws are in some stupid plastic knock in insert that gets popped out. The back bolts are retained by a special sheet metal washer and a stand-off that go flopping around god only knows where.

Wife’s Infiniti is about as bad. Takes 3 different sockets to get the mud catcher off. But at least they got the oil draining on the cross member solved. Bent up sheet metal funnel welded on to catch the oil and funnel it forward to catch in your bucket.

Talk all you want about the failures of a Ford 6.0. At least the oil change is easy. Filter on top of motor. Don’t spill a drop changing it. Of course, the lack of spill there is made up for by the fuel filter down on the frame where your whole upper body takes a bath when you pull the drain plug that you couldn’t access due to the drive shaft coming off the transfer case.

I agree. My 4.0 Tacoma is really simple. No mess, no fuss.

plate has to be removed on the newer ones to get at drain plug. They copied Toyotas idea about putting the oil filter at the top of the engine. Still a POS Subaru.

Genie lifts do the same. They require their engineers to be mechanics or atleast have been a mechanic before the design any Arial platform. Easiest piece of gear I have ever worked on. They also ask the workers who assemble the lifts their opinions and if things could be done differently. They pay their employees a nice bonus for good ideas.


Spent a week in their factory. Very impressive.

Our Toyota Highlander is easy for an oil change. The filter is just behind the front 'skid plate' (actually a plastic mud shield) and very easy to get at. The drain plug is just behind that. I run it up on some ramps and I'm done in 15 min. It does use one of those cartridge filters but it's easy to work with, no harder than a spin on.

My Dodge diesel is worse. Getting at the filter takes a real long socket extension and a filter wrench that fits on the end of the filter. It's not terrible but harder than the Toyota. You really don't want to overtighten the filter on that one. If you do, you have remove a fender liner to get a strap wrench on it from the side.

Amazing. I change the oil and filter on my 2012 F150 in less than 30 minutes taking my sweet time. The wifes' 2018 F150 takes less than 20 minutes and I never get any mess. I must be doing something wrong.
I should add that hers is a cartridge filter. Doesn't get any easier IME so don't kick anyone on my behalf.

Remember years ago when Ford was selling Mazda pickups? I looked at one...very briefly. The 1st thing I saw was where they had the oil filter. It was in plain sight but down low right on top of the axle. I tried to reach it but my arm needed 2 elbows to get at it through the steering gear. I didn't buy myself a headache with that one.