Fuel Filter change every 12K is that often enough?

[Pit Bull]

How often do you change your Fuel Filter?



I drive mostly highway miles and alway keep the tank above 1/2 full. I change my Fuel filter every 12K miles. I alway get my fuel from the same Big Rig high volume truck stop (texaco), except when out of town, then I will only use Big Rig high volume truck stops. I also use Rotella DFA in every tank of fuel. Just want to get a feel for what others are doing and make sure I am not over doing or under doing any maintance item. Thanks

 

[LSMITH]

It really depends on what kind of fuel you get. I have had a filter last all of 3500 miles and I have had on last over 20K miles. I change them when I get 4 PSI of restriction BTW. At 4PSI of restriction I can feel it starving for fuel on the high end of the RPM too.



Personally I believe in the differential pressure method of deciding when it needs changed. At least that way when you are checking it you won't run a marginally clogged filter for another 6K miles if that is when it happened to clog. You also will never change a good filter. Over the last 60K miles I have saved at least one filter change and maybe two by taking pre and post pressures. Hope this helps.

 

[illflem]

Remember reading of one 24 valver here going 63k before his filter plugged. 20k works for me since I mainly use the same known fuel source.

 

[WyoJim]

I have good luck with Cenex fuel and buy most of it at Cenex in Greybull WY.

The refinery is in Laurel MT and about 6 miles west on I-90 at Park City is a Cenex Truck Stop.



Well the other day I did not have enough fuel to make it home from Billings so I went there and filled up. About half way home or about 75 miles later the Fuel pressure gauge went to zero. I was on the cruise at 70 and when I kicked it off cruise the gauge went to 11 psi, then back to 0, then started waving between 5 and 8 with an occasional drop to zero. The engine never missed a beat.



I told the wife not to worry, she will get us home, and the problem has to be either the filter, the sender, or the pump and I have them all. I suspected the filter, even though it had only been on about 2000 miles. After while the gauge settled to waving from 5 to 8 and I put it on cruise at 70 the rest of the way home. The next day I changed the filter.



There was nothing but clean fuel in the bottom of the canister, but the 2000 miles old filter looked grey. Any how this fixed it and a hundred miles or so later all is still normal.



So much for Big Rig stops, using the same fuel all the time, and the filter is brand new reasoning. I suspect the truck stop had just had their tank filled and stirred up sediment from the bottom.



In this situation if I had not had a pressure gauge I wouldn't have known the difference and would have been terrible hard on the VP44.

 

[Tom G]

15,000 +

I agree with what everyone else has said here. It's mostly determined by the fuel you use. I use Pilot truck stop fuel when traveling and a local Texaco station which has a high volume of diesel customers.



Went 15,000 on the first filter and then did analysis by cutting old filter open so I could examine the flattened out pleats for contamination. Also checked bottom of filter canister for dirt/crud/water and cleaned Water In Fuel (WIF) sensor. Results were:



1. Only 1 speck of dirt on filter otherwise very clean.



2. Canister was very clean on the inside, and



3. WIF sensor was clean.



Could have easily gone 30,000 miles based on condition of first filter. I also had just taken the truck to the stealer for poor mileage complaint and they had checked differential pressure which was fine.



So to make a long story short - it all depends ;-)





3500, QC, 2001. 5, Auto, 3. 54.

 

[John Berger]

I change mine every 12-15K. I went over 15K on the last filter. The truck never noticed. My filter out sender was jumping around, but I think I have a quirky sender, as it has done this intermittently since I installed the fuel pressure gauge.