I agree with your first sentence as written, but I think that you are making an assumption that I disagree with. If Ford makes the 2010-2012 2.0L Ecoboost crankshaft sensor and decides in 2030 that once they sell off their stock that's it, who can blame them? I think that's what you're saying and I completely agree. BUT I would also argue that the problem is a bit contrived because the sensor is so particular to that specific vehicle. IF an OEM produces the issue or stocking 400 types of non-interchangeable crank position sensors, then we cannot expect them to stock all 400 in perpetuity, BUT we CAN ask why that OEM felt the need to build 400 non-interchangeable parts in the first place.
I haven't had problems with drivetrain parts. Most of the engines and transmissions are used across a number of models and for a number of years, so there is a larger demand for those parts. The parts that I have trouble with are model specific and are only made for a few years and tend to have a long service life. To be specific, the pneumatic actuators for the interior vent controls for the HVAC in the R129 Mercedes SL500 1992-2002. The things are pretty simple contraptions that control the path of the airflow in the HVAC system and were trouble free for 20 years. They stopped making them a decade ago. My 1999 SL500 needs several of them and the newest ones in junkyards are over 20 years old, just like mine. Plastic trim parts can be 3D printed and there are sources for some of them, because some parts just get brittle with age and will just fall apart.
You are exactly right. I haven't had to deal with a spin on filter in over thirty years and I'm not looking forward to it. I remember the hot oil running down my arm to my elbow. Years ago, I had a mat that I slid under the car to help catch oil spills. It looks like I will need to come up with another one. Do the skid plates get in the way of drain plugs or oil filters? Those are the kind of things that they should protect. Please tell me that I won't have to remove the skid plate to change the oil.
I think that the new era of EVs will be less disposable than the old era because the batteries degrade is a mostly linear fashion, while the starting capacity rises and the mileage floor for replacement stays constant. An electric ForTwo that started with 88 miles of range is flat done when it hits 80%, but a Tesla S with 400 miles is just fine at 80%. The vehicle may not be suitable for the original owner's purposes any longer, but it won't be ready for the scrapyard.
the large skid plate needs to be dropped... :-(
Mercedes designs its cars to be serviced from under the hood. You can use an inexpensive, less than $20, transfer pump to remove the oil through the dipstick tube. They started doing that on their cars when they started using belly pans to decrease drag and improve fuel economy. I first learned it with my 1992 500E. After about the second time removing the belly pan, I started pumping out the oil and haven't had to crawl under a car to change the oil since.
Damn!!! I guess that I will have to decide whether the risk of not having one is worth the PITA of messing with it. The designers need to be made to change the oil without a lift.
The "skid plate" CAD design file needs to be dropped back into the Recycle Bin where belongs. I don't understand why Ford offers a big piece of fiberboard as an add-on. And they install marginal but still much better stamped steel skid plates WITH THE SAME PACKAGE, so there isn't an excuse there either. A suspicious person might suggest that the Ford engineers/bean counters made materials choices based upon the assumption that prospective buyers might get a good view of the engine and t-case skid plates but would be hard pressed to see the transmission skid plate during a brief look over.
Four 8MM nuts does it... If you change oil by raising the front end (I do this with 3 high 2x6s). you can get away with just the front two 8MM nuts... The oil pan drain plug is 15mm & has a captive rubber o-ring in it. Mine is steel.
I'm considering installing a remote filter setup so that I can change the filter from above the engine...
Post pics if you do. It's hard to justify installing your inline filter idea on its own, but a remove filter with an extra fine filter in line would be a pretty awesome setup.
Yet they still have drain plugs! The best a pump can do is drain the same amount of oil as a drain plug removal would. In some cases it isn't able to get close to that. Check this thread for proof.
No issues with pan attachment points over here after 8 years of service on mine. I honestly wonder how anyone up to servicing their car would have issues with this. I also don't think anyone can dispute the other benefit that pan removal achieves... a full under vehicle inspection. No tech with a pump on top can do this.
What I know to be true is that I have owned and serviced three Mercedies with aluminum V8 engines of two different designs, the M119 and the M113 V8s. The M119 was in my 92 500E and was the first car that I started removing the oil as the dealerships do. The first time, I suctioned the oil and then removed the drain plug to prove to myself that the process worked. I got very little, less than a teaspoon of oil to drain from the drain plug hole. I changed the oil and filter in that manner for the rest of the time that I owned the car. I changed the oil and filter at 10,000-mile intervals as the factory recommended, using the recommended oil, Mobile 1. I owned the car until it had 340,000 miles and the only other maintenance that I did to the engine was to replace the timing chain and associated ramps and guides at 160,000 miles as a preventative measure. I never had to add oil between oil changes. That was the first car that I ever owned with a belly pan. The belly pan was removed for other access and service seldom done by me. Before I let the car go, I had to use fender washers around the bolts that were used to secure the pan due to the wear and tear of removal over the years. The car and the pan were over twenty years old by that time and things like that shows the age of the car. Suit yourself, remove it all that you like, but that is why many of those cars live their old age without a belly pan.
