Engineering and Design are two different disciplines that seem to rarely intersect, but I was pleasantly surprised tonight to find such a confluence in my garage. My wife has a a 2006 Jeep Liberty CRD. The time has come for its first oil and filter change, so I crawled under and found what you see above.
Finally, some engineer that designs engines actually changes their own oil! Take a look at what you see above. What a refreshing thing to find! At first I saw a huge skid plate covering the oil pan and I groaned, imagining having to remove the plate via a bunch of bolts to get at the drain plug and then dig goodness knows how deep to find the filter. But as I crawled further back I found behind the skid plate a nice tight package of the oil drain bolt and filter, sitting right next to each other.
It was a simple drain, and very clean since I could put the drain pan in one spot and get both the oil drain and filter out at one time.
This engine, though sold by Jeep, a division of Daimler-Chrysler is neither American or German engineered… it is Italian(!)
So whomever that Italian engineer might be, my hat is off to you! Thanks!
My bride’s Subaru is nearly as good. You don’t need to jack it up to drain the oil, and the filter hangs down keeping the contents inside until you’ve tipped it into the collecting tray. Contrast this with my ’68 Ford truck, where the drain plug is located directly above a frame cross-member. I mean directly above; it’s a mess to drain. Filter isn’t much better.
Well Roger, it is a Ford you know. 😉