Yeah, wall-o-text-y but it's a funny story, there is some helpful info in it and it just happened yesterday.
It's been a solid 5000 miles on the last oil and filter change on the 01 Cobra, 2500 of which was cruising at 2400rpm. So, I figured pick up some Mobil 1 Extended Performance and run over to a quick lube I managed almost 30 years ago for a nice 10 minute oil change. The hood tech starts calling out filter and gearbox fluid specs to the pit tech. The pit tech yells, "Hey! There's no filter on the engine. Where's the filter on this thing?" just as I holler out, "Hold on there, bud! This car is not stock. It's got a filter relocation kit and a giant oil cooler kit on it. It may not take the book filter. It could be a PH8 or an HP1 or PH16 or a PH820. Whatever is on it, use that same filter." And boom, service paused and they start talking about not being able to do the car, that I'd have to take it to a mechanic. Right then my internal rage button lit up just begging me to press it but I decided to sally forth.
They start yammering on that they can't tell what filter is on it, just that it's black and they can't see the numbers. So I'm asking them, "Is it about 4 inches tall or about 7 inches tall?" and the hood tech holds up a PH47 and tells me, "It's like this." To which I reply, "No. It definitely is not." and was just about to start really raising the volume when I realized, these are not gear heads. They're people that couldn't get a better job because they didn't know anything about anything. So, let's show some patience and empathy. I myself was that ignorant once. I realized I was ignorant when I started as a quick lube tech so I memorized the whole Goshe book (listed air/oil/cabin/fuel filters, PCV valves, fluids, capacities, etc... for all cars from like 1970-present along with a part number cross reference for other brands of filter than the Warner's we used) during the first week. I became a store manager after 3 weeks and after a year I became the store troubleshooter. They'd send me from underperforming store to underperforming store to have me figure out what was wrong with them and fix them. It was always bad staffing.
Anyway, since I used to run that exact store and the guys there recognize me from prior visits where that fact had come up, I said, "Let me come down and take a look. I'll bet you a dollar that it's just the stock book filter and it's been moved to behind the bumper cover." and they agreed. So I go down to the pit shine my flashlight on the oil filter's stock location and follow the -10AN lines around the side of the radiator and there it is. I shine the light up at it... short, fat filter, gasket recessed from the can's edge a decent bit. I look down at the filter rack and, spotting a line of filters marked 4561, I grab one up and hand it to the pit tech telling him to use that one and that 4561 and 820 are the same filter, just different filter brands use different part numbers. He looks aghast. I rotate the filter 90deg and show him it says ph820 on it, just like the factory filter for 96-04 4.6L V8 mustangs all take. I wander back up and then the most bizarre thing happens, the hood tech brings my filter and a new 4561 and puts one on top of the other so as to compare gasket locations and tells me that that's the best way they know to check compatibility. I look aghast and tell him that that's insane and dumb and, "Let me save you from getting fired." so I hop out of the car and wander over to the hood tech bench, grab up the parts reference and show him the back of the book where there's filter specs and cross references. I then show him that there are a number of different filters that will fit the gasket diameter, width & thickness, thread pitch, pressure relief bypass setting, anti-drain-back valve requirements and exterior dimensions. He's jaw open. They finish the service in just under a total of 90 minutes since I got into the service bay and shut'er down. So much for 10 minutes or less.
I did find out 3 pieces of helpful information: 1) The car still takes PH820 stock filters. 2) The car takes at least 7 quarts if you don't drain the cooler's heat exchanger so probably closer to 10 if you do. 3) There's still a difference, even in our all-the-information-literally-at-your-fingertips world we live in, between factual knowledge and procedural knowledge. This is why "years of government training" has the nerve rattling connotation that it does. They almost refused service because they didn't know enough to realize it was just a by-the-book change with a different appearance.
Side note that I think you'll all like because it'll save you money: Using the Mobil 1 EP oil that I use, and I've tested this in the past on a turbo car a hybrid and a prior mustang, I can very much go well over 10k miles between changes. Sometimes even the full 20k. The oil stays looking pretty new on high performance engines that get driven hard even on turbo engines well over 10K miles. Ring gap matters just as it always has. On my now crashed hybrid, I could do 40k mile oil changes with it since the gas engine only ran about half the time the car was in motion and it wasn't really possible to drive it hard.
It's been a solid 5000 miles on the last oil and filter change on the 01 Cobra, 2500 of which was cruising at 2400rpm. So, I figured pick up some Mobil 1 Extended Performance and run over to a quick lube I managed almost 30 years ago for a nice 10 minute oil change. The hood tech starts calling out filter and gearbox fluid specs to the pit tech. The pit tech yells, "Hey! There's no filter on the engine. Where's the filter on this thing?" just as I holler out, "Hold on there, bud! This car is not stock. It's got a filter relocation kit and a giant oil cooler kit on it. It may not take the book filter. It could be a PH8 or an HP1 or PH16 or a PH820. Whatever is on it, use that same filter." And boom, service paused and they start talking about not being able to do the car, that I'd have to take it to a mechanic. Right then my internal rage button lit up just begging me to press it but I decided to sally forth.
They start yammering on that they can't tell what filter is on it, just that it's black and they can't see the numbers. So I'm asking them, "Is it about 4 inches tall or about 7 inches tall?" and the hood tech holds up a PH47 and tells me, "It's like this." To which I reply, "No. It definitely is not." and was just about to start really raising the volume when I realized, these are not gear heads. They're people that couldn't get a better job because they didn't know anything about anything. So, let's show some patience and empathy. I myself was that ignorant once. I realized I was ignorant when I started as a quick lube tech so I memorized the whole Goshe book (listed air/oil/cabin/fuel filters, PCV valves, fluids, capacities, etc... for all cars from like 1970-present along with a part number cross reference for other brands of filter than the Warner's we used) during the first week. I became a store manager after 3 weeks and after a year I became the store troubleshooter. They'd send me from underperforming store to underperforming store to have me figure out what was wrong with them and fix them. It was always bad staffing.
Anyway, since I used to run that exact store and the guys there recognize me from prior visits where that fact had come up, I said, "Let me come down and take a look. I'll bet you a dollar that it's just the stock book filter and it's been moved to behind the bumper cover." and they agreed. So I go down to the pit shine my flashlight on the oil filter's stock location and follow the -10AN lines around the side of the radiator and there it is. I shine the light up at it... short, fat filter, gasket recessed from the can's edge a decent bit. I look down at the filter rack and, spotting a line of filters marked 4561, I grab one up and hand it to the pit tech telling him to use that one and that 4561 and 820 are the same filter, just different filter brands use different part numbers. He looks aghast. I rotate the filter 90deg and show him it says ph820 on it, just like the factory filter for 96-04 4.6L V8 mustangs all take. I wander back up and then the most bizarre thing happens, the hood tech brings my filter and a new 4561 and puts one on top of the other so as to compare gasket locations and tells me that that's the best way they know to check compatibility. I look aghast and tell him that that's insane and dumb and, "Let me save you from getting fired." so I hop out of the car and wander over to the hood tech bench, grab up the parts reference and show him the back of the book where there's filter specs and cross references. I then show him that there are a number of different filters that will fit the gasket diameter, width & thickness, thread pitch, pressure relief bypass setting, anti-drain-back valve requirements and exterior dimensions. He's jaw open. They finish the service in just under a total of 90 minutes since I got into the service bay and shut'er down. So much for 10 minutes or less.
I did find out 3 pieces of helpful information: 1) The car still takes PH820 stock filters. 2) The car takes at least 7 quarts if you don't drain the cooler's heat exchanger so probably closer to 10 if you do. 3) There's still a difference, even in our all-the-information-literally-at-your-fingertips world we live in, between factual knowledge and procedural knowledge. This is why "years of government training" has the nerve rattling connotation that it does. They almost refused service because they didn't know enough to realize it was just a by-the-book change with a different appearance.
Side note that I think you'll all like because it'll save you money: Using the Mobil 1 EP oil that I use, and I've tested this in the past on a turbo car a hybrid and a prior mustang, I can very much go well over 10k miles between changes. Sometimes even the full 20k. The oil stays looking pretty new on high performance engines that get driven hard even on turbo engines well over 10K miles. Ring gap matters just as it always has. On my now crashed hybrid, I could do 40k mile oil changes with it since the gas engine only ran about half the time the car was in motion and it wasn't really possible to drive it hard.