2025 2.3l fx4 oil change

[purdyd]

So today I did an early oil change. Why not?

so you take your 15mm socket and remove the four bolts holding the pan behind the front skid plate.

only you don’t have to remove all four since rhe front of the pan is slotted so you loosen the front two and remove the back two.

the 16mm socket removes the drain plug and it has a nice path to drain.

replace drain plug

then move the bucket underneath the little waterfall drain from the oil filter and stand up on a stool and leaning in I loosened the oil filter with a filter cap wrench and let it drain and reached down and lifted it out.

i used a 74/73mm 903 14 flute wrench. That fit tighter than the 74mm 14 flute wrench.

hand tightened the new filter

so the factory fomoco black oil filter is exactly the same size as the fl-2127 motor craft oil filter

so I used the same filter wrench

I added 5.5 quarts of pennzoil ultra platinum. the manual says 5.6, 5.5 looks like about what came out.

replaced the bottom slide plate and that was it.

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[FreezingFlatlander]

That is a very helpful post. Thank you for the post and pictures. Appears to be much more room on the drivers side of the engine bay than the 2024.

 

[CACTUSGREYFX4]

So today I did an early oil change. Why not?

so you talk your 15mm socket and remove the four bolts holding the pan behind the front skid plate.

only you don’t have to remove all four since rhe front of the pan is slotted so you loosen the front two and remove the back two.

the 16mm socket removes the drain plug and it has a nice path to drain.

replaced drain plug

then move the bucket underneath the little waterfall drain from the oil pan and up on a stool and leaning in I loosened the oil filter with a filter cap wrench and let it drain and reached down and lifted it out.

i used a 74/73mm 903 14 flute wrench. That fit tighter than the 74mm 14 flute wrench.

hand tightened the new filter

so the factory fomoco black oil filter is exactly the same size as the fl-2127 motor craft oil filter

I added 5.5 quarts of pennzoil ultra platinum. the manual says 5.6, 5.5 looks like about what came out.

replaced the bottom slide plate and that was it.

Did the socket talk back.

 

[SandiG]

So today I did an early oil change. Why not?

so you take your 15mm socket and remove the four bolts holding the pan behind the front skid plate.

only you don’t have to remove all four since rhe front of the pan is slotted so you loosen the front two and remove the back two.

the 16mm socket removes the drain plug and it has a nice path to drain.

replace drain plug

then move the bucket underneath the little waterfall drain from the oil filter and stand up on a stool and leaning in I loosened the oil filter with a filter cap wrench and let it drain and reached down and lifted it out.

i used a 74/73mm 903 14 flute wrench. That fit tighter than the 74mm 14 flute wrench.

hand tightened the new filter

so the factory fomoco black oil filter is exactly the same size as the fl-2127 motor craft oil filter

so I used the same filter wrench

I added 5.5 quarts of pennzoil ultra platinum. the manual says 5.6, 5.5 looks like about what came out.

replaced the bottom slide plate and that was it.

Great info, thank you!! How many miles are on your truck? I was always told with a new engine to change it at 1,000 miles. Any opinions on that? Our 2024 Ranger is just coming up to 1,000 miles on her.

 

[purdyd]

Great info, thank you!! How many miles are on your truck? I was always told with a new engine to change it at 1,000 miles. Any opinions on that? Our 2024 Ranger is just coming up to 1,000 miles on her.

yeah I’ve seen enough oil reports to think it is worth doing early

ive never done this before.

I don’t think it will hurt to change it early, maybe just the pocket book

https://www.ranger6g.com/forum/thre...-plug-blackstone-oil-report.18147/post-301350

 

[rikairving]

Did my first oil change today on my 2025 2.3l at 2860 miles. Overall pretty straightforward, though Ford does make things harder for the owner/tech. Mostly highway miles (1400 in the first 3 days of ownership), and oil level was still right at the full mark. Oil was clean enough that I would have been comfortable going another 1k+ miles.
Some swear by the first break in change at 1k, but these modern oils are good out to 5k intervals with easy duty.. Have a 3.5k mile trip starting this week, and would have blown by that 5k threshold, so decided to do fresh oil in the truck. Factory oil was still fairly clean, so real happy with the motor so far.
Was able to do everything without a jack, and just a stool for oil filter access. Removing the skid plate to access the oill pan plug is an extra step, but worth the protection. The oil filter was best accessed from above, but here is my (minor whiney) complaint.: I wish Ford offered or included a right angle (vertical) mount for the filter. More for orientation, though improved access wouldn’t hurt! My F150 3.5 has the same (even worse access) issue.
Because this filter is in a horizontal position, it can’t be prefilled with fresh oil before install. I HATE starting a motor after an oil change and hearing the sounds of dry mechanical bits until oil pressure has built. That much less air in the system to purge with pressurized oil can only be helpful. Yes, I use the crank trick to force the oil system fill without a start, but even that still allows additional dry cranking. It’s a simple thing that other manufacturers seem to understand. Plus, it spills so much less oil during filter removal.
Just sayin….
Still looking for an OBD oil pressure and transmission temp gauge solution.

 

[purdyd]

@rikairving i don’t think there is anything wrong with the oil to warrant an early change

but there seems to be more stuff left over from manufacturing or from the early break in

like I said, I have not done this before with any car truck I’ve owned but looking at people who have done oil reports, it appears to me that an early oil change might be a good idea

the internet is a wonderful thing I suppose….. ?

 

[aworstell69]

Anyone find the torque spec for the oil drain bolt? Another thread here had a link to what appears to be an excerpt from the Ford service manual showing 20 lb.ft (27 Nm). But that seems to be for the Gen 5.

 

[purdyd]

Anyone find the torque spec for the oil drain bolt? Another thread here had a link to what appears to be an excerpt from the Ford service manual showing 20 lb.ft (27 Nm). But that seems to be for the Gen 5.

I don’t imagine the drain plug has changed any for the 2.3 liter engine.

i don't think I have ever used a torque wrench when tightening an oil drain plug.

 

[aworstell69]

I don’t imagine the drain plug has changed any for the 2.3 liter engine.

i don't think I have ever used a torque wrench when tightening an oil drain plug.

Looks like the drain pan for the gen 6 is different than gen 5.

Don't really have a reason not to torque to spec.

 

[purdyd]

Looks like the drain pan for the gen 6 is different than gen 5.

Don't really have a reason not to torque to spec.

yes but the plug is I think the same. And the torque spec is based on the plug, not the pan.

the plug does nothing to hold anything together, it just needs to hold itself in and compress the rubber integral gasket.

 

[Ron Quixote]

Thanks for this. I wound up finding the easiest access from the top on this new 2025 2.3L. However, I’m 6’2” and still had to stand on a stool in order to be able to reach the filter. Once I got a good grip on it it was pretty straightforward. But screw Ford for having the filter in such a dumbass location.

 

[Ron Quixote]

Note to future readers: the FRAM Synthetic Endurance FE12060 filter threads properly on the 2025 engine. The 2024 has different threads and a different filter.

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