Any Ford engineers in the house?

[mdisher]

Find the guy that designed where the oil filter is on a 1998 Escort ZX-2. Send him to my house. I have something very special to give him?

WTF? Why aren't servicable items like oil filters put where you can get to them?

Our 1993 Ford Van is just as horrble in this regard.

 

[radman]

I'll add it to the list. Lessee, page 492, item 39 and 40. Got it.

 

[S76]

It may not have been put in the most logical place.

It may not have been put in the most easily accesible place.

But you can bet your life it was put in the "cheapest to manufacture" place.

 

[Capt. Bob]

For all you Ford lovers.

****** On a Real Deal :glare:

Now now, haven't used that line since high school and drove an F-150 for 12 years.

 

[OGRE]

and also for any ford engineers.....hurry up and put out a third generation Lightning..... I'm still waiting.

 

[TriggerT]

I'll add, take all your super fancy new diesel engines, and cram them. Go back to the 7.3 that everyone still loves, and is good for hundreds, and hundreds of thousands of miles.

 

[wfooshee]

Cars are designed to be assembled, not serviced. That's why my '95 Probe GT has all the vacuum connections for the fancy-schmancy variable intake manifold and the EGR system (along wth coolant hoses feeding the throttle body) up against the firewall, with a 2.667-inch gap to fit your hands through between the top of the manifold and the firewall. It would be EASY to work on if I lifted the car up and dropped the drivetrain!

Oil filter wasn't so bad. It was up over a bunch of plastic splash guards that had to be unscrewed and removed, and one day I just decided they didn't need to be there. Oil change became much eaier after that.

Timing belt change meant jacking the engine up off the mounts to access some of the cover bolts, as there's not room to remove them when the engine is down in the frame.

As for the Probe, that was Mazda's fault, not Ford's. Not sure your Escort didn't still have a lot of Mazda in it.

 

[Panman]

The Escort GT had the Miata twin cam in it. And yes a PIA to work on.

 

[mdisher]

Not sure your Escort didn't still have a lot of Mazda in it.

I tend to think it is, it's 100% Metric...

Still for what we paid for this thing (oil changes not withstanding) for the boy to drive, it's been worth every penny.

 

[bergs]

:lol:

2001 Ranger with the 4.0 SOHC

6 spark plugs, 4 hours of work.

Raise the vehicle on the pass. side, remove wheel and remove fender lining to access the 2 plugs underneath the blower motor....don't bother trying to get smart and remove the blower motor....it just won't work that way.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Those idiots put the oil filter on my '97 F-150 4x4 up behind the front axle where it was impossible to reach with a standard filter wrench. After I bought the right wrench, I still could not change the filter without getting oil all over myself and the garage floor; because of the way the filter was situated. After that, I decided it was worth the cost to have someone else do it and save myself the frustration. Many times I think the people who design and build these things do not actually work on them, but I still love my Fords.

 

[Crash Cash]

This is why I don't own a car... I go to car dealerships or the Honda tent at Bike Week and open the hood and look at an engine that seems to have been POURED into the car. There's no other way to describe it. The thing's packaged so tight there's almost no room to stick your hand anywhere or put a tool in. Getting to the sparkplugs or the oil filter, or changing a belt or water pump looks like an absolute nightmare requiring that you drop the engine for just about anything.

I'd have to do most of my own work because the car dealerships around here are even more clueless and evil than the bike dealerships. Honda ended up charging my roommate $3500 to change a $10 relay in his Accord. My Camaro ended up in a guardrail because I couldn't get Chevrolet to fix the damn ABS wheel sensor.

This is literally what kept me from buying a Honda Element. Getting groceries on my SV-650 isn't that difficult. **** 'em.

 

[juniorfjr]

Had to replace a broken fog light on wifes 03 Escape. Remove wheel, inner fender liner, then washer fluid resevoir, then reach up at a god awful angle with a 7 mm socket until your arm goes numb.

But not exclusive to ford. Friend had an early Maxima, had to undue motor mount and jack up the motor to remove the oil filter. Even the dealer charged extra for a oil change on that model.

So when dealer offered me a lifetime oil change on my new F 150 at only 200 dollars I jumped on that. I don't even care where the oil filter is.

 

[stellarsteve]

At first, to change the oil on my wife's VW Beetle it took 11 bolts (4 different types, torx, triplesquare, regular and then allen for the drain plug). That was just to remove the big pan under the engine. There was a hole designed in the pan that was near the drain plug but the oil would miss and spill all over the pan. Took out the trusty side grinder and made the hole in the pan bigger. Now all I need is the allen wrench to remove the plug.

That is what I love so much about the FJR. It is so EASY to work on.

 

[mtnhigh]

I'll add, take all your super fancy new diesel engines, and cram them. Go back to the 7.3 that everyone still loves, and is good for hundreds, and hundreds of thousands of miles.

I agree! Spend all that damn R&D money to clean up the 7.3l for the EPA standards, instead of figuring out how to cram all those computer monitors and coolers under the hood.

Renegade, I would like to join you when that engineer shows up. You think escort oil filters are bad. Ford originally said the whole cab had to be removed just to get a turbo off of the TOP of the new diesel engine. Yes , current employee. Don't like working on the current designs even with the dealer tools. I couldn't imagine trying to work on these at home.

 

[quicksilver]

Find the guy that designed where the oil filter is on a 1998 Escort ZX-2. Send him to my house. I have something very special to give him?
WTF? Why aren't servicable items like oil filters put where you can get to them?

Our 1993 Ford Van is just as horrble in this regard.

Actually, there is an aftermarket adapter for that one that turns the filter down 90 degrees to make it serviceable.

It think Ford was mounting them during dealer oil changes. I think the next year can from the factory with an adapter.

Yep, Ford released a car with never changing the oil. You start to unthread it and it hits the firewall before coming off.

Brilliant!!!