Don't know if anyone else has had this problem or not. I just traded my 99 4x4 sport for a 2001 supercab 2wd with 700 miles on it. It now has 1100 miles on it and started to leak oil like crazy. (My first thought, HEAD GASKET) NOT!! That nifty pan that sits under the oil filter cut into the filter and caused the leak! Called the dealer I bought it from (50 miles away) and they said "Bring it in first thing Monday and we'll take a look at it!???" So, drive it 50 miles leaking like crazy??? So a trip to the parts store for a filter and 5 minutes with some tin snips and a bench grinder and we're golden. Oh, and I think the same "musclehead assembled my engine too! I had enough room to get a filter wrench on mine though. There were no other marks on the filter beides where the pan cut it so I think it would be safe to say it was Fords error when they assembled the truck, (set the motor in that way)??? Anyone elses pan close to their filter??

 

just changed the oil and filter on my '02 4x4 with 5.4l eng. filter had no visible signs of damage whatsoever until i got a hold of it with the wrench of course
will have to keep an eye on it though. thanks

 

On my '01 4x4 5.4 there's too much of EVERYTHING ELSE near that darn filter. Maybe the 4x2 is different?