I've been driving F 150's since 1979 and recently purchased a 2001 with the 4.6 V8. I changed the oil for the first time yesterday and could not beleive the hassle that was required to get the oil filter "out" after it was unscrewed. In the process, I could not begin to count the number of directions the oil ran to, and dripped from!!

Does anyone know the "secret" that the new-age Ford engineers had in mind when designing such a poor setup? I can't believe that, in an age where we have sent men to the moon, we can't be offered better-designed maintenance features.

I like everything about this truck -- except the location of the oil filter. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

You may want to ask this in the 150 forum a couple of slots down from here..JMO..

 

Hello- Welcome to FTE! I have moved your post to the specialized forum we have here for your question. Check out the list of tech forums we have here. There is a wealth of information and expertise here to help you. There are a number of links in my sig below to help you also. Have fun!

 

I feel your pain. I wonder that everytime I change my oil too. It is almost impossible not to drip oil on the ground and you have to wait a long time for the oil just to quit dripping off of everything even after trying to wipe everything down. Its not hard to get at the filter, just getting it out.

 

Also, it helps if you turn the wheels slightly left.

 

It would also help to do a car wash right after, make sure you stick that wand in the area around the oil filter and give it good once over, otherwise fine dust and dirt get soaked up by the oil over the years and you get that greasy tar resin build-up. I spend about the same amount of time cleaning the undercarraige as I do the outside, helps prevent rust from forming and keeps debris from falling into your eyes to a minimum.

 

Doug- I see you've found one of Ford's "Better Ideas"! I own a big block Dodge Coronet R/T, an El Camino SS 396, a Camaro SS, and have owned 3 Rangers (2 V6's and a 4), a Chrysler Cordoba and even an AMC Gremlin, and I've never ever seen a worse location for an oil filer that my 2003 F150. Let's see, we'll hide it above the crossmember, where removing it will be complicated by a harness running underneath the filter, and the steering linkage. Then, we'll add a really sharp dribble tray so that fingers can be sliced while performing a filter change. Say, with all this fun, why don't we make the sparkplugs impossible to get at. Now we're cooking with gas! Good thing my truck has been almost trouble free!

 

I couldn't believe it myself, when I changed mine the first time either. The best solution is to install a "relocation kit" on it. I think that the 4x4s have the filter located behind the front bumper, but I don't know for sure. I know that there has to be a better place than where it is

 

My '02 4x4 has the filter behind the bumper on the left side. Although that is a good place to have it for the routine oil change, when I was out 4 wheeling last season, I managed to put the plug on the back side of my fog lamp into the oil filter when i cleared a small dune with a touch too much speed. The patch of desert grass I landed on didn't help either. Long story short, I popped the oil filter in the middle of the desert in the middle of the night. My "day-in-the-desert" turned into a night and a long struggle the following day to get the truck out of the desert and to a garage. I'll tell you this much, I would rather have the cut knuckles then to go through that ordeal again!!! I'm still looking for a way to protect the filter for this season of 4x4ing.