That newer Ford F-150 I worked on had a transmission dipstick that took me 30 minutes to find

Customer came in with a 2023 model complaining about a leak, and I spent way too long hunting for the dipstick under the hood before I realized it's hidden behind the passenger side wheel well liner. Has anyone else run into these stupid new dipstick locations, or was it just me missing something obvious?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_emery21d agoMost Upvoted

Wait, did they seriously tuck it behind the wheel well liner? That's wild, I thought my luck was bad when I found one wedged between the engine block and the firewall on a Silverado last week. I mean, I get that engineers want to save space under the hood, but hiding a dipstick feels like a cruel game of hide and seek, especially when you're already frustrated with a leak. Idk, maybe it's just me but I feel like they could slap a bright orange handle on it or something so we don't have to strip the whole wheel well just to check the damn fluid level.

milesrobinson21d ago

Oh man, did they really tuck it behind the wheel well liner? That's brutal. I had a similar headache with a Ram 1500 last year where the dipstick was shoved under the intake manifold, I kid you not. Had to pull off a plastic cover and contort my arm like I was playing Twister just to get a reading. And no bright orange handle either, it was just black plastic blending into everything. I feel like these engineers never actually have to change their own oil, you know? They just sit there laughing while we're peeling back wheel wells and swearing at the hood latch.