couple questions

[clutch]

hi ya'll, I got an '04 Ranger, 2wd, 3.0, with almost 94,000 miles. Had her since about 3k, anyway, might be headin' out next week on a little road trip, so I changed the oil today, I like to use the Motorcraft filters, FL-400S. Noticed my new one was about a 1/4 inch shorter than the old one! Anyone know what that's about? cost savings? seemed to run ok, so we'll see. Think I had a Fram on the time before, so didn't notice anything when I put the longer one on...
Also was wondering about my spark plugs, this trip's probably gonna be at least 5k miles if not 6 or 7k, which means I'll be due for new plugs and wires, any harm if that gets postponed a thousand miles or so?

And one more while we are at it, but maybe this should go in the towing section, if FTF has one. Found an older Explorer being used by one of the local fire deptpartments for training, has a nice U-haul hitch model 71866.
According to the U-Haul website, my Ranger takes a 78165, anyone know if she'll fit on mine?

 

[smokey]

The filter should be fine as long as it threads on.
The plugs should be ok a few miles isn't going to hurt anything.
The hitch will be to wide the ex frame is a bit wider.

 

[clutch]

righto, thanks smokey, glad you concur. yah, shoulda thought to measure the frame width, and I had just bought a new tape measure too, dough!

btw-aintcha got a B-day comin' up?

 

[smokey]

Aug 9th 1944 was Smokey recognized birthday.

 

[clutch]

best wishes

 

[Fordzilla80]

I've seen this before, the size of the FL 400s was just just downgraded. Same filter, just takes up less space. As long as it seals against the block and threads on normally, then you'll be fine.

 

[racsan]

if theres physical room for it, a FL-1A might fit. had a '93 taurus with the 3.0, the FL-1A would fit on and is a bigger filter, i put over 100,000 miles on it using the larger filter. granted, it might not work on your truck due to space restrictions, but if it does you would be gaining more filter surface area.

 

[clutch]

thanks for the info Fordzilla.

and thank you too, racsan, with that larger filter, is there any issue with oil starvation during start-up? seems like I heard about that somewhere, because too much oil sits in the filter...

 

[racsan]

if the filter was empty every time the engine was started i could see that being a issue, but i think (at least some) filters have some sort of a anti-drain back valve, otherwise motors like the older 2.3 that mounted a fl-1a sideways would be fireing up on a empty filter every time it was cold-started. as long as theres oil in the filter, as soon as the pump build pressure, it pushes oil to the rest of the system. i do put some oil into the filter before putting it on if its a vertical mount filter (such as the 4.0 engine) the 3.0 in the taurus chassis mounts at about a 45 degree angle, cant really fill it or you make a mess when you go to start it on.

 

[Fordzilla80]

Every Motorcraft filter has an anti-drainback valve that keeps oil inside the filter when the engine is off to prevent "dry" starts.