Oil changes

[rusty ol ranger]

Not at all; your springs are starting to get weak.



The ratchet knew it needed oiling.



Time for a new coat anyway, right? Now you have a good excuse to buy one.



Confirmed that the tire's inflation is good. And, as long as you can still pick your nose, no harm, no foul.



The tailight was probably already broken, and you would have never known about it if the wrench didn't land close by.


Vent away. I've had plenty of "those days", too. Cussing at it does help (a lot!), and beyond that, all you can really do is laugh about it once you've gotten it all done.

Hang tough!

I enjoy your positive spin on things

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I've started being one of those people who dealer-services the daily since I bought the '21. 70$ for oil, a tire rotation, washer fill, and general inspection, can't beat it. I also accrue ford points for the services throughout the year.. so the next time I go in it'll be free.. and I'm relatively sure they'll even come pick it up and then drop it off when theyre done.

If i rolled rusty into a ford dealer they wouldnt let it leave

 

[19Walt93]

I always hand-tighten the filter moderately tight. Rarely have I needed to use a filter wrench on it (sometimes it takes a little effort to get off by hand, but after a couple seconds it usually lets go).

I do my own oil changes because "quick-change" shops hire too much incompetent labor too often (even new-car dealerships are known to screw up a simple oil change on occasion). Nowadays who knows if a quick change place would even know what weight oil to put into a 33-year old truck (I can't see 0W-16 or even 0W-20 doing much good for a 2.9L).

One thing I hate though is the dumbass sideways drain plug on the 2.9L oil pan... WTF Ford!? I have to find an old piece of cardboard or something to direct the oil downward into the drain pan so it doesn't spew all over the passenger side radius arm, tire, and ground.

I agree about quick lube shops, we used to make a lot of money fixing stuff Jiffy Lube had "serviced". A former tech managed at Jiffy Lube for a short while and brought his cars to us for transmission services because Jiffy Lube had one ATF and dumped additives in it that were supposed to be brand specific, at the time we had 8 ATFs for Fords only.
The drain plug location probably worked good in the European car the engine was designed to fit, the Crown Vic police oil pan on the 351 in my Ranger has a drain plug in the front sump that points right at the tierod so I made a deflector for oil changes.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I actually gave up on farming out oil changes after midas of all places put a filter on my 460 that supposdly cross refrenced to the FL1A but was way smaller (like small enough it would fit inside an FL1A if you gutted it)...3/4 of the way through that change my mains started knocking on an 80,000 mile engine.

Rather that caused it or not i dont know...but im not giving it the benifit of the doubt.

 

[bilbo]

I just did the IDI a few weeks ago and had a similar experience. The filter is like 5 degrees off vertical and huge (same filter as a 7.3 PSD), so taking it off is a balance act while trying to lower it to the drain pan and so it can be tipped and drained. It slipped and fell out of my hand, hit the drain pan and splashed nasty black diesel oil everywhere. Then fell on its side on the driveway and rolled away, puking oil the whole way. Then I found I had no floor dry so had to run and get that. Now there's a huge black splotch on the driveway, with a drain pan shaped clean spot.

 

[rumblecloud]

Why is something so simple such a pain in the ass?
Get pissed...lob filter wrench across barn...of course it wacks my quad and cracks the taillight.
Just needed to rant....and ask why do we do this to ourselves? Why not pay the guy at the quick change a measly 10 bucks over what we paid for this overpriced oil and filter to avoid the headache?

F it.

First of all, thanks for the good laugh.
I have a temper problem and have been known to toss a few things without regard to where those projectiles may land.
I have learned over the years to examine what it is that I am about to toss and measure it against the value of where it might land and the value of what it might destroy. Usually, by that time I have calmed down enough to not throw it.

If I haven't calmed down enough, I pick a less valuable target.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Your truck hates you because you bought it with a 2.9. The answer is to swap in a 3.0. Then your truck will love you and won't make oil changes such a fight.

So you’re saying you like to burn your hands on the exhaust manifold? Sweet…

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

This is part of why I’ve gone to Motorcraft filters and the cup style filter wrench…

But I’ve had those days, chin up…

 

[sgtsandman]

I’ve seen too many of other people’s vehicles get screwed up by fast oil change places.

Last I saw, oil changes for synthetic oil is somewhere around $70. I can change my own for $40.

I have vehicle ramps so having enough room to work isn’t problem. Not as nice as a lift but better than working with the trucks flat on the ground.

Not to say have I haven’t had my share of tool throwing moments. The last one I remember was changing the left catalytic converter on the 2011 and dealing snapped bolts on the exhaust manifold.

In any case, while it can be frustrating, doing your own work lets you know what was done and how. Hopefully right but that may be another story.

Another down side of letting someone else work on your vehicle is they love over tightening everything with an air gun. Especially the lug nuts. Real handy when you have a flat, on the side of the road, either in the rain or in salt laden wet snow.

 

[mikkelstuff]

Who says oil change with a 3.0L is easy? Yes, easy to drain the crankcase but the oil filter is a pain. The only way I see to change the oil filter in my 2002 Ranger is with a long ratchet extension and a flex socket connector to the near worthless plastic oil filter tool reaching through the fender well. Then I still have to reach around the left front tire to extract and reinstall oil filters.

I was thinking a 45 degree angled oil filter mount adapter would help but there is just no room for it, at least not with the Ford adapter.

 

[Josh B]

I’ve seen too many of other people’s vehicles get screwed up by fast oil change places.

Last I saw, oil changes for synthetic oil is somewhere around $70. I can change my own for $40.

I have vehicle ramps so having enough room to work isn’t problem. Not as nice as a lift but better than working with the trucks flat on the ground.

Not to say have I haven’t had my share of tool throwing moments. The last one I remember was changing the left catalytic converter on the 2011 and dealing snapped bolts on the exhaust manifold.

In any case, while it can be frustrating, doing your own work lets you know what was done and how. Hopefully right but that may be another story.

Another down side of letting someone else work on your vehicle is they love over tightening everything with an air gun. Especially the lug nuts. Real handy when you have a flat, on the side of the road, either in the rain or in salt laden wet snow.

Totally Amen SGT, Some of the very reasons for my motto here

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Not at all; your springs are starting to get weak.

Because of the weight of the driver...

If i rolled rusty into a ford dealer they wouldnt let it leave

We have worse come in...

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Because of the weight of the driver...



We have worse come in...

Worse? Really?

And yeah...solid steel is heavy

 

[wildbill23c]

Welcome to the 2.8L and 2.9L V6 world LOL. After 20+ years of dealing with RBV's the oil/filter change isn't so bad anymore, but the oil filter location has got to be about the dumbest, obviously the engineers never have done an oil/filter change in their whole life to realize its a PITA to get to a filter between the exhaust and frame rail...getting to the drain plug in the oil pan is simple, getting something on the filter to loosen it up not so much.

Although, I have to give dumbest idea of fluid checking to Ford once again with my 08 Explorer which has a dipstick for the transmission, but you have to crawl under a running vehicle receive 2nd and 3rd degree burns from the exhaust and catalytic converter to access the dipstick which is about 2 inches away from said exhaust....would it have broke Ford to just put a regular dipstick in the dang thing, I mean come on my 2005 Ford Taurus has a dipstick for pete sakes. You'd think a higher end SUV would have been better thought out LOL.

 

[racsan]

I remember getting pissed at my first car, 1979 amc concord. I threw a wrench at it and I dont know how but it went clear through the windshield. I opened the door afterwards and picked it up off of the back seat. Good thing was that I found one at a local junkyard for $25. You’d play hell to find a’79 amc windshield now. This was about 1987.