Changing your 2019 Ford Ranger's oil? You better be ready for a few extra steps
We can already hear the internet trolls sharpening their pitchforks over the Ranger's more complicated oil change procedure.
Changing your own oil is one of the simplest and most approachable bits of maintenance that you can do for your vehicle -- unless of course, the manufacturer for some reason decides to make the process more of a pain than it needs to be.
According to a report published Thursday by The Truth About Cars, Ford was said to have made the new Ranger's oil filter nearly impossible to get at without removing one of the car's wheels. However, a Ford service training webinar made available to Roadshow states that removing the wheel isn't necessary, though removing three trim clips and pulling back a rubber flap in the vehicle's wheel well is.
This screenshot from a Ford service training presentation shows clearly that the wheel does not need to be removed to access the Ranger's oil filter.
The 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine found in the Ranger is slightly different from the one found in other applications. The Ranger's enlarged oil cooler means that there isn't room for the filter to live down by the oil pan, and instead, it was relocated up and into the side of the engine block, protruding at a right angle. This means that removing it is a little less simple than sliding underneath the truck with a pair of slip-joint pliers (please, don't do this) and a can-do attitude.
But things don't stop there. To get to the oil drain plug, there is another panel in the vehicle's underbody tray that has four fasteners that need to be removed. Granted, having to access a drain plug through an access panel in an underbody tray isn't all that weird on a modern vehicle, but when added to the rest of the rigamarole, it's just annoying.
Clearly, this kind of inconvenience isn't the end of the world. And thankfully, it's not nearly as bad as we originally thought.
Update 1/7/2019 11:13 A.M.: A previous version of this story mistakenly stated that removing the Ranger's wheel was necessary to access the oil filter. This was inaccurate and the text has been changed to reflect this.