Well, I guess the plastic oil pan for 2011 was just not a good idea. The plastic one twist plug is gone too. This truck came in to our lot over the holidays so I will do a detailed inspection tomorrow and report back with other changes. This is a 2012 6.7 F-250 XLT.

 

Yeah, I'm interested in Ford's reasoning for the change.
I'm keeping mine though. I like the plastic quarter turn plug.

 

That makes another. I would think the nylon pan would dissipate heat quicker. As well as less noise. $$$$$

 

Yeah...very interesting! Hummm.....



biz

 

I love my quarter turn plug! I never have to remember what wrench to use under the truck.

 

I'm pretty disappointed in Ford if they caved b/c of public opinion.

I do feel the steel pan is several steps backwards unless there's a real reason to need stamped steel.

 

Back when this came up before, I felt and stated that Ford's primary concern was cost. The plastic pan was said to be 30-35% cheaper than metal. The plastic pan sells for over $300!! So assuming that Ford keeps consistant margins on parts, that would put a metal pan in the $400ish range!!

It is now said that the new metal pan is $5 cheaper than the plastic pan.

So I figure that all that other hi tech talk about the attributes of the plastic pan was just marketing.
I wouldn't be a bit surprised to hear Ford touting the new metal pan as being superior. Marketing again.

 

Anybody know how many quarts a 2012 takes to change the oil? Still 13?

 

I bet the metal pan is heavier and lowers the center of gravity for better handling?

 

I think the metal pan adds 20 HP and 70 lbs TQ.

 

It is likely a silly issue like a supplier problem/cost/raw materiel issue. I would think that with the knowledgeable people that visit this forum, we would know about it if it were a quality or engineering issue.

I would bet the supplier raised the price or ran into problems getting the quantity manufactured according to Ford's demands.

 

I don't know why Ford made the oil pan in two pieces in the first place.... This requires making two pieces, a upper and a lower (probably from two different suppliers and requiring casting tooling and injection molding tooling to produce these two items) a gasket, X - amount of bolts and the additional labor to assemble these two pieces.

If Ford was pursuing a cost reduction project you would think that they would just cast the oil pan out of one piece and therefore eliminate the extra materials and labor and could still manage the NVH design requirements.

My opinion for this change was the publics perception of a plastic oil pan with a plastic drain plug wasn't a favorable one.

 

My guess is 99.9% of SuperDuty owners do not know what the oil pan is made of.

 

I just went at looked at mine (2012 built last month) and it is metal painted black with the metal plug. I like the yellow plastic plug.

 

Have to think about fleets.
There are lots of fleet vehicles.
The drivers may not know/care but the maintenance crew will know what's under the x # of trucks they maintain.