Fuel Filter

[Imran]

Is it worth changing the fuel filter on my passat. I doubt its ever been changed from new, how easy is it?

[Eddie]

I change my fuel filter every 10,000 miles and i can feel the difference every time for what they cost (£7.50) you would be a fuel :)) not to,they are easy to change about 15min labour.

[Imran]

I change my fuel filter every 10,000 miles and i can feel the difference every time for what they cost (£7.50) you would be a fuel :)) not to,they are easy to change about 15min labour.


feel the difference, in what sense?

[Eddie]

The car runs smoother and feels more responsive after all after 10000 miles of filtering diesel which we all know is not 100% clean it does get a bit clogged and inhibits fuel flow so hindering performance,you must fill urs up in some special 100% pure filtered diesel filling station then so ur filter will never need changing until it disintergrates through old age. Ed

[Imran]

Actually mine is a 1.8 petrol, I might just change it anyway, just for piece of mind. How hard is it to change, Ive been told its under the right hand side of the car near the boot at the back...correct?

[Eddie]

Petrol or diesel it doesnt matter my wife used to insist on filling up at tesco to get her clubcard points i dont do supermarket petrol myself she drove a 3.0 ltr senator at the time one day the car was making a noise from the rear end after hours of diagnosing the noise it turned out to be the fuel pump contaminated with sand seems silly to have the pump before the filter doesnt it we tried to get compensation from tesco but failed miserably.However most petrol fuel filters are fitted o/s/r just by the tank held on by a little clamp,two hoses are connected inlet/outlet one blue connector one red connector remove both inlet and outlet pipes slacken clamp remove filter replacement is reversal of above 20 min labour

[Eddie]

OOOPS dont forget to depressurize the system first,shrader valve on the fuel rail

[snapdragon]

I used to work for Gilbarco/Veeder Root.
Fuel from any normal filling station is already filtered twice from the tank to nozzle.
There is a screen on the underground tank pickup, a water trap, and finally a large 10 micron or better spin on filter in the body of the dispensing pump. It looks exactly like a spin on filter for a car, but about 3 litres in size. When the filter is blocked, an alarm will show on the point of sale system, and when flow is reduced to a certain point, the pump will shut off and be out of order. I am telling you this, because it is more likely someone put sand in your tank, or filled the nozzle at nights via the spout. Maybe it is best we all look inside the nozzle if filling up at a quiet station, or early in the morning in case yobs put something in there.

[Eddie]

I disagree as a past shell franchisee we used to frown upon the cleanliness of supermarket petrol station refuelling procedures they leave alot to be desired i used to run three service stations not one complaint what about the outcry in 2002 when tesco supplied thousands of vehicles with contaminated fuel??

[Imran]

OOOPS dont forget to depressurize the system first,shrader valve on the fuel rail

Im a complete newbiew when it comes to car stuff, how do I depressurize the system?

[Eddie]

your injector pipes connect to a fuel rail in the engine compartment,at the end of the rail is a tyre valve somtimes it has a dust cap on it take the dust cap off poke the valve with a phillips screwdriver and when no more petrol comes out the system is depressurized go take ur fuel filter off now

[Rubens]

I changed the fuel filter on my 99 1.8 se recently.

To depressurise the system take out the fuel pump fuse and the turn the engine. The car will try to start then cut out as no fuel is flowing through. Do this a couple of times but do not keep the ignition turned for more than 7 seconds each time.

Now when you take out the old fuel filter you will not get too much fuel flowing out.