A hypothetical ford engineers meeting

[mattadams]

What a frustrating day! As I was busy swearing at the truck and slicing my hands left and right, I thought of how a potential meeting of Ford Engineers might go...
"So we need to think about spark plug location"
"I'd say we make one or two accessible, and put the other ones behind some pipe, tube, wire, or canister of some kind"
"But will that be sharp enough to ensure they loose at least 1/3 of the skin on their hands while replacing spark plugs?"
"We can make sure any metal near there and any plastic edges are sharpened?
"Sounds good... now lets talk about the rear shocks..."
"Well, its our tradition that we make the top bolts inaccessible. Perhaps we should consider placing an access grommet under the carpet?"
"No, then nobody would bring their vehicle to the dealership for repairs... "What we should do is place a rod type connection that goes above hte frame but below the body... and lets make it so you need 2" of socket, but lets only give them 1" of space"
"But couldn't they use a wrench instead?"
"Good point... lets raise the metal near the bolts, so they have to use a socket so even a ratcheting wrench will be worthless"
"I like the way you think... bonus for everyone involved!"
"I get 2% of all dealership spark plug jobs and rear shock jobs, if I make it last at least 5 hours!"
"Wow... maybe we should talk about the oil filter next"
"Well, we've already designed it so oil is guaranteed to get all over the changers hand, impossible to do it otherwise..."
"Should we make it so the oil coming out of the oil pan hits the frame and splashes all over everything?"
"what an idea!"
"Next, lets talk about making the interiors smaller and smaller, so anyone over 6' can't fit in them..."

[Legend]

thats cold man but i understand where u r coming from when i has replacing the shocks on my moms areostar a few years ago i had to turn a little 5/8" nut up 2" of bolt an 1/8 of a turn at a time with a open end wrench because there was no room to get any other tool in there just to get the old shocks of the fucking van

[thesoundmaster]

hey uh, matt, I need to do the plugs in the Ranger, and since you've already had experience with the 4.0 in doing this, you wanna help me with it?


Kidding with ya!

I know how that goes, I was cursing the Bronco when I did the plugs last summer on it. Why they put EVERYTHING on top and around where you need to work I don't know, but it bugs the Hell outta me. Least it's not a GM 4.3L Vortec.... Eli has told me horror stories about changing the plugs on those...

[mattadams]

Theres definately worse vehicles... Ford had a good idea with the coil on plug design (97-current F-150... and I think Explorers started it in 01 or 02) so its right on top of the engine, but theres so much crap in there, plus the engine sits so far back in the engine compartment, that at least half of the plugs are a nightmare to get to, whether they are on the side or on top of the engine. Too much shit int he engine compartment. ONe of the reasons I wanted a 4.0 instead of 5.0, but still makes no difference, they just fill it with other shit.

[thesoundmaster]

So while we're on it, and since I'm going to be doing my plugs on the Ranger in the next couple weekends, what is the easiest way to go about doing them?

[Hypoid]

"No, then nobody would bring their vehicle to the dealership for repairs..."
They dumped the advertising campaign with the light bulb being turned on. The slogan was: "Ford has a better idea!" Yeah, right Henry! I've got a few ideas for you as well.

[Warrlord]

It ain't just Ford, I cuss GM everyday at work.

[RayLCC]

I changed by spark plugs with no problem on my Explorer. You just take the inner fender panels off and they are right there in plain view. I figure the Rangers should probably be the same. Takes a long extension, but its pretty simple to get to.

[mattadams]

Yeah for passenger side you have to go through teh wheel well. On mine I discovered with my big hands I had to m ove the transmission dipstick out of the way, which meant unbolting it from the engine, which meant dropping a socket into the engine compartment, which didn't go all the way to the ground, which equalled me cursing. The drivers side is about as easy as spark plugs come, just need a wobbly, several extensions, and its no big thing. The furthest one back on the passenger side is the one I had the most difficulty with, because I couldn't see it and theres a big canister which prevents you from getting a good grab on it.
Theres a possibility I cross-threaded the middle spark plug on the passenger side, but not much I can do about it now I suppose. I got it started by hand like you should ALWAYS do but after 3 or 4 turns it was harder and harder to turn and overall it was a bitch to get cranked in, compared to the other spark plugs. Could've just been a tighter spot, or a plug with weird threads, or it could be I cross-threaded it... either way, not much I can do about it now! LOL.