nofortunatesonII
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- September 14, 2007
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- 107
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I found out the hard way today that the starter is close to the oil filter on my '99 Ford Ranger 3.0L. I almost started the truck on fire changing my oil. This is the second time I have replaced the oil filter as I havn't been driving the vehicle too long. The first time I changed the filter I used a band type filter wrench. This time I used a different type of wrench (photo of filter and wrench below). Anyway, the oil filter wrench touched up against a hot wire and created one heck of a fireworks display which eventually led to a fire on the filter. I managed to finally remove the wrench from the filter. The arcing was so much that it burned a hole through the metal shell of the oil filter. I was very lucky the oil that spewed out did not catch fire. I pour solvent into my oil pan via the dipstick tube to help remove sludge from the bottom of the oil pan. I rock the vehicle to agitate the solvent in the pan and then drain it out. I repeat this until the solvent drains out clean. This really helps to keep my oil clean longer as it keeps the old crap from mixing with the fresh oil. I happened to have solvent in the pan at the time of the mishap. Fortunately the fire went out after removing the wrench. The whole ordeal was somewhat frightening as I thought my truck could possibly burn. I guess from now on I will disconnect my battery when doing an oil change. I sure wish this vehicle had the old style remote solenoid, this would not have happened. Ford needs to quit using dumb GM designs. It was not a fun afternoon.