^I don't know, I rather like that I can check the oil on the car while driving down the road.
I'm much less freaked out about that, then I am the ELECTRIC oil pump. That uses load/throttle calculations to determine the proper amount of flow.
^I don't know, I rather like that I can check the oil on the car while driving down the road.
I'm much less freaked out about that, then I am the ELECTRIC oil pump. That uses load/throttle calculations to determine the proper amount of flow.
It's funny to come on GRM and see so many comments of "I just take my car to the lube shop" and "who cares if it's a terrible design"!
In my house, we don't take our vehicles to the lube shop because they're not going to use the best oil, or they're going to screw up your car. The dealer, sure, if you are lucky enough to have a new car they probably gave you some coupons, otherwise you're paying through the nose for generic oil. The local guy, ok, around here they're going to charge $90 and you get generic oil. So, no, we DIY.
As for the Ranger, this is a truck fer goddsakes! I guess trucks truly are the new sedans. Tires off, fine, you will rotate them that way. Except, you know, if you change your oil on a shorter interval or if you have something like a brake-in oil change. So more like "fine". But a panel with 9 plastic fasteners? Hard pass, that's a recipe for broken fasteners. I get that there have been so many more difficult designs in the past, and that Ford really doesn't care about you and me, and probably actively dislikes us, but come on....
Toebra said:What is the problem with this again? The BMW no dipstick thing was a deal breaker for me.
A lot of manufacturers are going this way, it's for evaporative emissions reasons.
AnthonyGS said:P.P.S. I don't care about Harvard or it's silly comma before the and.
It's an Oxford comma - Harvard doesn't give a E36 M3 about commas.
Automotive idiocy has been with us for a long time - the first DOHC version of the MGA came with a distributor that couldn't be reached with the engine in the car. After the dealerships started complaining that they would have to hire an orangutan to set the timing, the very quickly introduced removable lower inner fender panels so you could take a wheel off, remove the panel and reach up to twist the distributor blindly from under the car.
Still happens tody - My Solstice coupe requires one to remove a rear wheel, jack the car up and take out the inner splash panel to get access to the taillights to change a bulb, a job that would have taken 5 minutes on one of my old cars with taillight lenses you could remove with two screws from the outside of the car. Similarly, changing the battery requires you to remove the front fender......progress?
And remember the Chev Monza V8? Had to loosen the engine mounts and jack up the engine to get the rear spark plugs out.
z31maniac said:^I don't know, I rather like that I can check the oil on the car while driving down the road.
I'm much less freaked out about that, then I am the ELECTRIC oil pump. That uses load/throttle calculations to determine the proper amount of flow.
Electric oil pump sounds great for startup.
In reply to rslifkin :
Exactly.
In reply to wspohn :
I guess my point is, this is a pickup truck, not a low-volume tiny roadster. And, even so, as you know changing the oil in the solstice is easy, although the filter needs a really long extension!
Dave M said:It's funny to come on GRM and see so many comments of "I just take my car to the lube shop" and "who cares if it's a terrible design"!
In my house, we don't take our vehicles to the lube shop because they're not going to use the best oil, or they're going to screw up your car. The dealer, sure, if you are lucky enough to have a new car they probably gave you some coupons, otherwise you're paying through the nose for generic oil. The local guy, ok, around here they're going to charge $90 and you get generic oil. So, no, we DIY.
As for the Ranger, this is a truck fer goddsakes! I guess trucks truly are the new sedans. Tires off, fine, you will rotate them that way. Except, you know, if you change your oil on a shorter interval or if you have something like a brake-in oil change. So more like "fine". But a panel with 9 plastic fasteners? Hard pass, that's a recipe for broken fasteners. I get that there have been so many more difficult designs in the past, and that Ford really doesn't care about you and me, and probably actively dislikes us, but come on....
These crack me up. I work at a quick lube and we use pennzoil and rotella. I'm not sure what generic either one of those are, but if you ask just about every lube shop ever built offers oil changes with a non generic oil. These comments always make me chuckle. Too many internet stories
How easy it is to change oil is one of my primary concerns when considering a car purchase. Since you can commonly get many brands of synthetic oil in 5 quart jugs for 25 bucks and less and a lot of the time the Zone will have oil change specials with the 15 dollar filter and 5 quarts synth for less than 35 bucks, it saves me a lot of money to do it myself and I do it at home because any garage time is cathartic and treasured. Still, I like my oil changes to be easy. Plus I know it's done right, or if not, I can follow the trail of liquid gold right back to my own garage. Had a 1994 4.0L Ranger from brand new. That's not going to happen this time around.
In reply to CJ :
True
Update: Actually you don't need to remove a wheel, just crank the steering over to one side and remove a panel:
Also on the topic of electric oil pumps, the idea doesn't really scare me on a modern engine. With a good analog oil pressure sensor it would be easy to program an oil pressure monitoring/cutoff system into the ECU. The only increased risk vs. the status quo is the possibility of the oil pump ceasing to spin in an otherwise perfectly fine engine due to pump motor failure. The upsides would be increased efficiency, decreased wear overall, and especially decreased startup wear.
codrus said:Toebra said:What is the problem with this again? The BMW no dipstick thing was a deal breaker for me.
A lot of manufacturers are going this way, it's for evaporative emissions reasons.
Rubber o rings are pretty inexpensive and do a fine job sealing it. This is just an added layer of unnecessary complexity. As an additional bonus, it drives business to the dealership service department.
GameboyRMH said:Update: Actually you don't need to remove a wheel, just crank the steering over to one side and remove a panel:
That actually sounds worse than just removing the wheel LOL.
Tom_Spangler said:The worst I ever had, though, was a 1990 Subaru Justy with the 3-banger. I'm not even sure that car had an oil filter. 3 different quickie lube type places tried and couldn't get to it. They all said to go to the dealer. I sold the car instead.
That's weird. I had an '88 or '89 (my beater when I had a Lotus Esprit S4s - talk about contrast) for several years. The oil filter must have been easy - if it were hard, I'd actually remember after all these years. Mine was a total stripper. FWD, manual trans, carb....
Come to think of it, I wonder if the switch to fuel injection in 1990 made the difference. (Can't remember to take out the garbage, remembers when FI was introduced in a 28yo car)
GameboyRMH said:Update: Actually you don't need to remove a wheel, just crank the steering over to one side and remove a panel:
Also on the topic of electric oil pumps, the idea doesn't really scare me on a modern engine. With a good analog oil pressure sensor it would be easy to program an oil pressure monitoring/cutoff system into the ECU. The only increased risk vs. the status quo is the possibility of the oil pump ceasing to spin in an otherwise perfectly fine engine due to pump motor failure. The upsides would be increased efficiency, decreased wear overall, and especially decreased startup wear.
Good on them for owning up to it.
"Ford North American product communications manager Mike Levine states only three fasteners need to be removed in order to peel back the flap to access the oil filter. The wheel does not have to be removed to facilitate this. You’ll want the wheel hard over, though."
In reply to xflowgolf :
Still sounds like a PITA.....
Toyota got the 4runner v6 right, oil filter is right on top, at a little angle, so they put a little catch tray under it, and a drain plug on the catch tray so you can easily drain it if it spills a bit. Hole in the skid for the drain plug. Easy.
Toebra said:codrus said:Toebra said:What is the problem with this again? The BMW no dipstick thing was a deal breaker for me.
A lot of manufacturers are going this way, it's for evaporative emissions reasons.
Rubber o rings are pretty inexpensive and do a fine job sealing it. This is just an added layer of unnecessary complexity. As an additional bonus, it drives business to the dealership service department.
O-rings are permeable.
This is why all flexible lines are plastic instead of "rubber", why we are seeing things like evap test ports (and fuel pressure test ports) eliminated. Some cars don't even have removable sending units, the fuel tank is a sealed assembly. That O-ring on top was identified as a large enough source of emissions to justify the expense of removing it.
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