Ho-leee-CRAP! (Change your fuel filter!)

Rich

Rich

Asshole at large
Joined
Mar 17, 2005
Location
Central PA
Since the cruiser has been apart, the other "bay" in the garage has been full of tools and other pieces, which made working on the Dodge near-impossible. As a result, I haven't changed the fuel filter in a while, and the air filter was pretty dirty (which means with these POS gauze filters, it's actually filtering)

Cleaned the air filter & replaced the fuel filter last night, and punched it on my way in this morning.. The subject line was my reaction. Noticably faster. :driver:

I didn't have any of the usual "time to change the filter" symptoms like hard starting, rough idling (well, no more than usual), high EGT's, etc...

Oh, and another helpful maintenance tip - make sure you have a new transmission pan gasket when you drop the pan to change the filter... I thought it was wrapped up in the package with the trans filter.. no such luck. :shaking:
 
Wow... I only change mine every 40 - 50k ish. I've only seen 2 get clogged up. 1 that had never been changed - 166k. Recently one around 75k. Bad gas?? I have heard of letting the fuel get too low in an old tank and the pump sucking up rust/sediment on the bottom of the tank.
 
12V Cummins right? IIRC the service interval for fuel filter is every other oil change, ~15kmiles. Do you have a fuel pressure gauge, notice any changes with the fresh filter?

What air filter are you running?
 
I've been changing mine at oil change every time. seems like cheap insurance.
 
Prior to the FASS, I could tell by a drop in pressure...but that was also due to another failing lift pump. :rolleyes:
 
RenegadeT said:
12V Cummins right? IIRC the service interval for fuel filter is every other oil change, ~15kmiles. Do you have a fuel pressure gauge, notice any changes with the fresh filter?

What air filter are you running?
Click to expand...

No FP gauge on mine, most 12v guys don't run 'em.

I'm using a Scotty II intake, which has a f'n gigantic AFE cone filter inside.. Off the top of my head, it's about 15" long, 4" OD at the small end, and 7-8" at the big end, but that's just guessing.

As for the interval, wellll....it's like I said- when you've got nowhere to work, things tend to slip a little.
 
Rich said:
No FP gauge on mine, most 12v guys don't run 'em.

I'm using a Scotty II intake, which has a f'n gigantic AFE cone filter inside.. Off the top of my head, it's about 15" long, 4" OD at the small end, and 7-8" at the big end, but that's just guessing.

As for the interval, wellll....it's like I said- when you've got nowhere to work, things tend to slip a little.
Click to expand...

I'm adding a FP gauge (actually a $10 water pressure gauge) since I have room, triple pod is just a bit more than double. I was just wondering if you noticed any pressure differences before/after the filter change.
 
I'd bet there was.. if not pressure, certainly flow increased..

Boost pressure is up about 4-5 lbs to an easy 41psi, whereas it would hit 39-40 only at high RPM's before. I need more air though.


RBO - not bad fuel, the 2 stations I use most are high volume.. It's just when you modify the fueling system to flow alot more fuel, things that would be un-noticable on a more stock vehicle become more apparent.
 
I change mine every 15k. It's cheap and easy to do. At 20k, wouldn't that include the change to ULSD?
 
I change oil at 5-6k and fuel 10-12K its easy and fast......
For the most part it has always been 6k for oil if I'm not on a trip and the fuel filter is every other oil change.
Started getting all my oil and filters for free so I don't think my truck will see much past 5k without a change and may start doing the fuel filter ever time to.....
 
I change mine ever other oil change when I had stock system and will prob do the same now with airdog since filters are cheap and yes you can see a drop on a fp guage when filter starts getting clogged
 
As I've only had the truck a couple of months (and busier than $#!7 since), I hadn't got around to swapping mine yet...

After taking off the old filter, it appears it had been changed... at some point since it rolled out of the factory! :shaking: There was at least a teaspoon *snasty* crap in bottom/drain... filled up a nice WIX unit that looked to be slightly larger than the purolater fleet cheapy.

Still need to do some additional tweaks for the low end (smoke screw/starwheel... as I had to pull a 1/4 turn off the fuel screw to get the idle down :( ), but it was definitely a noticeable improvement.
 
I change mine every 3 months because I have had the same issue, but I am also running grease. Even thought I pre filter it really good, my main filter will clog up sooner. When I change my engine oil I also change the fuel filter.
 
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