fuel filter change

[Hemiville]

Have an 01,1/2, put in larger fuel tank so thought I should change the fuel filter. Heard,here, all the stuff you should do, drain this and that, but all I did was take the top off the assembly,carefully lift out the old filter and slowly put in the new filter. Truck started right up, as usual, and idled,like usual. Easy as pie, took about two minutes. No muss, no fuss. Only have about 7k on the truck, so the inside of the housing looked clean.

 

[BigDaddy]

Easy as pie, took about two minutes. No muss, no fuss.

Gotta like that



I drain the canister a bit. Just enough to get the fuel below the filter. Yes, this is a simple task.

 

[BV]

Filter change

The reason you drain the housing is so you can wipe and sediment out of the bottom and remove any water that settles to the bottom as well. Another thought is that when you pull out the old element, you might be washing off any loose grit which could end up on the wrong side of the filter

 

[Bigsaint]

BV is correct. No doubt that it will fire right up if you leave the fuel in the canister when changing the filter, but when you pull that filter out some sediment has to be falling off the filter and back into the bowl, which gets sucked through the injection pump at start up.



I always drain the bowl completely and wipe off the WIF before installing a new filter. Maybe it's overkill, but it's worth the extra time to me.



Scott W.

 

[joesoot]

I did mine a couple weeks ago and noticed some very mucus-y looking stuff on the bottom, I could swirl the jar around and it would roll across the bottom of the jar... any clue what this was?

time to find a new filling station?

 

[DarrellB]

I can't do it

I've changed my fuel filter twice now myself and both times I couldn't get the truck to start without a little help from a can of WD-40. #@$%! Every body talks about how easy it is but I can't seem to get it right and it's really getting old fast. I've tried bumping the starter several times and even bleeding the fuel lines but still no luck. Guess I just ain't smart enough. :{



I'm done *****in now

Big D

 

[The Sequel]

I've changed my without draining the fuel. Are you just draining it by opening the lever on the housing or are you doing something else? And when you say "bump" the starter, do you actually turn the key until the starter starts to turn, or are you just turning the key on?

 

[lschultz]

This is what I do. I remove filter. Drain out diesel in canister. Fill it back up 1/2-3/4 full with fresh diesel. Turn key on and you hear lift pump run, when it shuts off turn key off. Turn key back on till it just bumps starter(engine turns over some)and you will hear lift pump run again but longer this time pumping in more diesel. Then when it shuts off I turn key off and then back on and start truck. Changed it 10 times now on this one and it starts every time. Don't forget to torque the cap 10Lbs on mine.

 

[Hemiville]

filter change

It seems , here we go again. The replies I've gotten is why I had some trepidation about changing the fuel filter. Am I just super lucky, or what? I climbed up and looked down into the fuel filter housing, using a flashlite and everything looked clean as a whistle, that is why I saw no reason to drain and remove every smidge of the old fuel. If you don't need to drain and refill the housing why would you have any trouble restarting etc. ? You haven't changed the fuel level, nothing that the pump can't compensate for when you turn on the key. Again, I don't get it, easy as pie, unless of course you're TRYING to make more of it than is justified. If you do see something swirling at the bottom, yes, it's water, then you should get it out. I guess it's like the old saw" there isn't anything that can't be made more complicated with a little ingenuity".

 

[The Sequel]

If you do see something in the bottom, wouldn't it just make more sense to drain it after you put the lid back on? Then you haven't allowed air in the system. And if you pour fresh diesel in the canister, aren't you allowing diesel in that does not get filtered? Forgive me if I'm missing the obvious but I'm new to this.

 

[DarrellB]

That would work as long as you don't see fuel allgie in the canister. The fuel allgie will not run out the bottom of the canister you will have to dump it out then. I have a 99 so I have to take the canister off to get to the filter and then I just dump out the fuel that's in it anyway.



Big D

 

[Steve Campbell]

Joesoot, that stuff in the bottom of the jar was probably alge as mentioned above

The fuel has to go from the outside of the filter to the inside to get to the injection pump. However there is a small chance during assembly, with fuel left in the housing, to get some dirty fuel on the clean side.

 

[Bigsaint]

Hemiville, if you look into the canister and see no debris I agree, simple swap of a filter is all that is required. The first time I changed mine I drained the bowl and found enough debris that I decided to wipe it out before I replaced the filter. Who knows, maybe the suction of the canister drain actually pulled the debris from the filter and into the bowl. Bottom line is that you should do whatever you are comfortable with as it's your truck.



Scott W.

 

[RBallard]

The first time I changed mine I never gave the bowl a thought. I opened the canister, full of fuel, and pulled the filter and then reassembled with the new filter. Couple minute change over. The truck started right up no problem.



It was time to change the fuel filter tonight, I read the above post just in time, and this time I paid attention to the fuel bowl. After removing the lid and old filter I noticed debris in the bottom. I drained the bowl using the lever and cleaned it the refilled the bowl with filtered fuel. Stuck the filter back on and turned the key. Perfect!



Thanks for the tips,



Bob

 

[SEmerson]

I clean the bowl replace the filter and bump the key. After I get steady fuel pressure I start it up. No stuble or nothing just runns smooth.