Oh and Ford has been sealing up the transmissions for years on other models. I think too many ppl were screwing with the fluid prematurely.

Our '04 NBX has a sealed tranny and we are around 145k - supposed to go in for a check up at 150k... the very FIRST check up since it rolled out of the factory.

 

I believe Ford should have never removed the rear sway bars and twin I beam front ends from the 150, it just make it ride like a Chevy or tundra on logging roads.

 

Shorebird is right, one who wrenches on cars/trucks should be allowed to kill stupid engineers. I did Ford parts and service for 22+ years and always swore I'd kill the first person who told me they were responsible for putting together the master parts catalogs. Some days...
Serviceability is just not designed into some vehicles any more, just plain stupid.

 

I am a mechanical engineer and I see exactly what you mean....pisses the hell out of me sometimes.

I think it should be mandatory in any "engineering field to spend at least 3 years on the floor of whatever you are designing to "learn" how crap actually works. btw...all due respect age has NOTHING to do with it........

 

"common sense" is not so common. what you think is common sense may be different that what i think is common. I fully agree with everybody's opinions so far on this post, but to each his own. a lot of people think they have common sense but have no sense at all. It's all about how you were raised and what you were taught. If someone who doesn't even know how to change his oil/tire or even use a gas pump goes to school for an engineering degree, his output will be very different than someone who grew up on a farm and has done everything under the sun as far as vehicles/ manual labor who got the same degree. I am young to most at 24, but i know what a days work is, and even i have seen some pretty sorry young people try to do everyday "common sense" things and fail miserably.

 

Outstanding! And thanks for your service. See all you old farts, there is hope for the young generation!

 

These are not big trucks. Well in my opinion. I just traded in a crewcab 8ft box f250. Now that's big! No such thing as a three point turn with that one!

Loving my new ecoboost 6.5' box. I can actually do uturns and manouver my 20' trailer. Even through residential bays!

 

I'm not an engineer, hell I'm not even educated. It seems to me that if you've designed an engine and all looks good while mounted to a stand, then build a mock up of a 4x4 truck around it and see how serviceable the routine check points are then.

I really see no excuse for these simple oversights. These trucks were in test mode on public roads for a long while before production began.

 

Quality on Fords have come up the last few years and down on Toyotas so they seem to be about the same now from my opinion and I have had both.I like the F150 better than the Tundra and I have had both but I still like the smaller size they were several years ago.Not everyone has a large garage.The only operator error was the folks who built a garage with 8ft wide doors instead of 9ft.I must admit most people must like very large trucks or they would not sell so many.I would love to have had my Ford 9/10 the size they are now and I would still have it.

 

I know this isn't about a newer F150 but did anyone have a 99 Super-Duty Truck?? I think 99 and maybe 2000 were the only years they had this but whoever designed and/or tested the truck didn't try the in-dash cup holders. There were more like a tray - I still have that old truck - its been incredible @ 210,000 having to drive up and down the beach around Corolla, North Carolina. No major problems except its really rusty now but if you have a drink - you might as well take it and dump it all over yourself before you leave the house because the piece of crap cup holder won't hold anything!!!

 

I totally agree with the lack of common sense these days! I was raised on a farm, and the closest mechanic or parts store was 45 mins away. I grew up learning to repair things with what we had in the farm shop....at least until we made our weekly trip to "town".

On another note, my Father In-Law ran the Ford Production line when they first started building the Explorer....I can remember him talking about Production meetings where the main thrust was to figure out ways the company could engineer vehicles to take the "backyard mechanic" out of the picture. That's been a number of years ago, and I can only image that mentality has evolved.

At our local Ford dealership, they purchased a new piece of equipment for the shop....it's used to lift the entire "dog house" off of 2010+ F series trucks, so that the Techs can work on them, which seems to further the notion of owners not being able to work on their vehicles.

I've actually stood in the shop and watched the Techs.....they are no longer "mechanics"....but more so "parts changers" and "computer techs". The first thing they do is plug in the scanner, and if no codes show up, they write "cannot repeat problem" on the ticket and send the vehicle back out.

Just chatting with some of them will make you realize that most of them do not have the knowledge/experience to "connect the dots" of Symptom+Symptom=Problem.

But I'm getting away from the thread.....I have no doubt that all of the auto makers do their very best to design/engineer everything so the average person can't get to it, or work on it.

 

You are quite welcome, thank you for your support, and i'll take the last part of this post as a compliment as well!

 

I am not down on young people. But age matters because you can't get experience in a book. It takes doing and making mistakes, it's called learning and that takes years. It's no ones fault that it takes years. Some kids who go into engineering have had a lot of experience at home, on the ranch, at the farm, odd jobs or from their Dad and Mom. Many DO NOT. I should not have used the word punk. I was mad. If you notice I am blaming the persons responsible for mentoring and reviewing the work (dip stick access, etc) I have the 5.0 engine. Nice! I don't see anything wrong with sealing tannys and Xfer cases. They now last way long and if they don't leak, they don't need checked because the modern fluids don't "break down" or loose effectiveness. So it's OK. Xfer cases don't get 500 miles on them in a lifetime for most of us. Of course people in Alaska and elsewhere get more. But the gears and bearings and seals will last the life of the truck which is probably, in most cases, 200,000 mi plus. I'm just mad about the oil maintenance issues, NOW GET THIS!!!!!! The 5.0 takes 7.7 QTS of oil. Here we go again. 7.7 qts? Would a slightly bigger pan or a slightly longer filter make it to 8 Qts? What the hell are we all going to do with .3 qts ???? I guess we will have some for our oil cans so we can oil up our lug nuts or something. After two oil changes I will have .6 accumulated. Still not enough for a .7 shot. I calculated that if we leave 1.20 ounces in each bottle, we could use 8 Qts.
By the way, .3 qts more would be 9.6 oz. Would 9.6 oz blow up the engine seals or foam oil out all over the dip stick? (if you could locate the dip stick!) Why not just move the dip stick max/min markings up a little higher to fit 8 full qts? HELLO? I know you think I should get a life. I'll try to ignore the voices in my head that are telling me to kill. Should I go to Walmart and have my oil changed and hope they don't forget to put oil in it like they did my wifes car? I wish I drank. .

 

no, you are right...7.7 qts is stupid. freaking rookies....btw.

If you owned a diesel there is a perfect place to hide that .3 qts of fresh motor oil.....hahahahahahahaha problem solved.

 

I am 6' 3" and I have no issue checking my oil, thus I am not bothered by that. My first oil change is coming up this weekend (3,500 miles) so I will see for myself just how big of a pain in the *** it is.

I'm not gonna get mad about it though. Less and less people change or even check their oil these days. When I move in to the city in 2 months, I sadly won't even be able to change mine any more. Everything else about my truck is great, especially the mileage, which I will trade for maintenance that I only need to do once every 6 months on a synthetic anyway.