Second Oil Change

General
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Just did my second oil change at 18,519 miles (this one lasted 9688 and almost 9 months, the first was done at 1 year).

I’m reminded when I do this how I hate the filter location on the 2.3L. Nearly impossible to really get to. I mean I need to use my wrench while laying under the driver side to loosen it (but not too much) then slide the pan in that location (where the drip rail ends) and switch to the wheel well to remove the filter, carefully tilting it once out to not spill and pull it out the wheel well.

Since my truck has been places (off road) the drip rail for the filter was filthy and had a lot of sand in it, so it needed to be cleaned. The underside also was filthy. When removing the drain plug on the pan the oil came out pretty fierce (the car had been sitting over 2 hours since last driven) and at some point during the process it “burped” and got oil on some cross member and my cardboard (need to get the floor epoxied really).

So always drama, but now its done. I hope the next one isn’t before April of next year… I hate Winter oil changes.

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We did my son’s Ranger a couple of times. The 2.3 oil change is definitely a PITA. I do my own oil and tire rotation and still enjoy doing it myself.

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I’m going to get a 2.7 in my Ranger which has the cartridge filter, but the drain plug on those is plastic (I assume Bronco is same as its the same engine). I can’t decide what annoys me more the plastic drain plug on the 2.7 or the filter location on the 2.3L. Either way you lose, well unless you buy a fancy drain plug for the 2.7L (which I will), its from Ronin (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H56TP4F/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

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I do have an aftermarket drain plug that makes the 2.7 oil change easier. The biggest issue for me is pulling the skids and cleaning them up. No matter how much I power wash, that are almost always filled with mud and debris.