Was going to do an oil change this weekend on my sons Focus, its a Mk 2.5 1.8 diesel, not lowered or anything, I got the jack in there and virtually to the top of its lift and managed to get a jack stand underneath but even on the jackstand(whch was on its lowest setting) there was still hardly any room to get underneath to undo the undertray.

So has anyone had any success with ramps? I mean the plastic ones, do they provide more height to get underneath or will I need a bigger jack!

1 hour ago, jonj1611 said:

Was going to do an oil change this weekend on my sons Focus, its a Mk 2.5 1.8 diesel, not lowered or anything, I got the jack in there and virtually to the top of its lift and managed to get a jack stand underneath but even on the jackstand(whch was on its lowest setting) there was still hardly any room to get underneath to undo the undertray.

So has anyone had any success with ramps? I mean the plastic ones, do they provide more height to get underneath or will I need a bigger jack!

I would suggest there's definitely something wrong if you haven't got enough space under there using jack stands so yeah possibly a new jack is in order.

I personally prefer ramps for servicing - much less hassle and bought some high grade plastic ones from amazon (about £60iirc). They've been good but I ALWAYS place jack stands underneath and choc the wheels just in case they failed. Can't bring myself to fully trust them ! 

Last time I used a jack it was on my previous car (Mondeo) and it put a big hole through due to the rust. I had to get my dad to put my current car on ramps when "we" were fixing the heat guard as I was too scared. 

Thanks for replying.

The plastic ramps you bought. Did they get the car high enough to do oil changes etc?

The plastic ones I saw only raise the car 17cm, didnt know if there was still room to get underneath to undo the under tray etc.

 

1 hour ago, jonj1611 said:

Thanks for replying.

The plastic ramps you bought. Did they get the car high enough to do oil changes etc?

The plastic ones I saw only raise the car 17cm, didnt know if there was still room to get underneath to undo the under tray etc.

 

I have no problem with space on both our focus cars and a polo I've done. None of them are low vehicles though 🙂 If you lived nearer I'd let you borrow them to find out first!

Thank you that's very kind of you.

I will get some from amazon and see how I get on 🙂

14 hours ago, jonj1611 said:

Thank you that's very kind of you.

I will get some from amazon and see how I get on 🙂

I've a MK2 with the same engine, I ended up buying steel ramps with the "extenders" as the ramps on their own were too steep and the lower part of the front of the car would have been too close to the ramp for my liking.  The ramps give me a decent amount of room to work with.

I have heard about clearance issues on some cars so I have some wood so going to try that first with plastic ramps and see what happens, the metal ramps are a lot cheaper and get better clearance but I don't have room in my garage to use the extenders unfortunately.