How Often Fuel Filter Change.

[Doughboy21kd]

I have talked to a couple of different Dodge dealers and they all telling me to change fuel filter at 15k... . To me that seems kinda lengthy..... I have recently been getting good mileage now after towing i get 11-12 mpg... . I have the 3. 73 gears with 48re... .



I am just wondering when most you you change your Fuel filter? how many miles you run a filter. And when you pull the filter out of canister do they still look new all the time?

 

[Mobius1]

I change mine about every oil change roughly 5,000 miles. Most of the time when I take the old one out, they are blacker than my truck. Throttle response does seem to be a tad better with a new filter.

 

[Doughboy21kd]

I pulled mine out after 15k and its still brite white..... You think having 15k on a filter is sucking my mileage that much?

 

[Nate]

I change mine every 2nd oil change... 10k. Easy to keep track that way.

 

[RDyson]

I change mine every other oil change. About 10K. I've never seen one come out bright white. Mine are always black. When I installed my fuel pressure gauge, I had 3K--- already black.

 

[Doughboy21kd]

How many fuel filters are there?



The fuel filter i am talking about is the one in the canister under the hood... .



Are you guys talking about same filter i am talking about?

 

[Haiti4me]

Have a good friend in the area near Glenn Falls(Hammett) his name is Gary Ellis and drives a 2003 Dually Good fellow to know. LCL

 

[Nate]

Yup.



I've only changed mine once so far, about ready for another soon... but it was a light gray.

 

[MRay0324]

I had a 2003 CTD - had 50,000 miles when I traded for an 06 2500 4x4 Megacab. I hadnt changed the filter since I owned my 2003. Ran fine - water in fuel lite never came on so I left well enough alone. What do you guys think? Asking for trouble? I had heard they are hard to change so I never messed with. Is a mute point now but just curious as to what harm can be done. My new truck only has 1100 miles on it. Oo.

 

[klenger]

I'm glad this topic came up. I've been working on a service schedule that I think will work for me. FWIW, I drive about 12K / year, about 20% towing my 10k 5th. Winter weather here is above freezing, with sumer temps up to 110.



5K - Oil, filter, rotate tires



10K - Oil, filter, tires, fuel filter



20K - Oil, filter, tires, fuel filter, air filter, rear axle



40K - Oil, filter, tires, fuel filter, air filter, rear axle, transmission, x-fer case, and front axle



Some of these are more conservative than recommended and some are somewhat extended. I almost never use 4WD, so the front axle gets very little stress on it. Dodge has no recommended service for the NV5600, so 40K should be OK for that. This schedule seems like it should be a good compromise between low change intervals and reasonable cost. What say you?

 

[Nate]

Sounds ok. I do my diffs, transmission and T Case every 15k.

 

[Prairie Dog]

I had a 2003 CTD - had 50,000 miles when I traded for an 06 2500 4x4 Megacab. I hadnt changed the filter since I owned my 2003. Ran fine - water in fuel lite never came on so I left well enough alone. What do you guys think? Asking for trouble? I had heard they are hard to change so I never messed with. Is a mute point now but just curious as to what harm can be done. My new truck only has 1100 miles on it. Oo.

I suspect performance will suffer and it may be a load on your fuel pump - not sure. resrticting the flow to you high pressure pump isnt good.

There's usually a cost to neglecting maint.

BTW, a lousy tank of fuel can clog a filter in less than 2k. I carry a spare and actually had to change it out at a campground one time. (Their easy to change - 15 minutes).



Scotty

 

[fkovalski]

I'm glad this topic came up. ... . what say you?

Ken-

Obviously you are doing the 5K & 10K changes respectivly in between 10/ 20K . . and... 20/ 40K.



If I may pggy back on to the topic and ask: How best to clean the filter housing of debris after removing the FF?

 

[Nate]

The 2nd gen the whole assembly comes out, not sure on the 3rd gen? When I changed mine it had tiny rocks in the bottom. I just cleaned it with brake cleaner (I buy that stuff by the case) and a rag.

 

[swexlin]

I change mine every 2nd oil change... 10k. Easy to keep track that way.

Same here, much easier.

 

[Buffalo]

Q

Ken,



I changed out the fluid on my NV-5600 at about 15,000 miles. It had a fair amount of debris & wear-in contaminants in the fluid. I'm glad I did it at that time.

In my opinion, first time, early changes of fluids are not a bad idea, especially, if you are planning on keeping your truck for a long time. Those components that don't have filters just keep recirculating contaminated fluid.



I changed the fluids again at about 37,000 miles & they all were much cleaner than the first change. Probably threw away still good fluids but, how do you know? I do know that I wished I had done thr first change earlier.



Those that have the stick shifts may want to consider adding the trans. filter (sold at Geno's & Quad 4X4). A while back, I saw a picture of one of those filters & it was filthy. All of those trapped contaminants would have been circulating in the trans. had they not been filtered out.



Regarding the 3rd Gen. fuel filters, changing them out is no where near as much of a hassle as on my 1st Gen. I can't believe some of the dealers are charging over $100. 00 for that proceedure!!! Believe me, I'm no mechanic & I can do it easily.



One thing that I do is keep the old fuel filters in a container in the bed of the truck in case I ever get a load of bad fuel. Rather than installing a new filter, stick one of the old ones in & ruin it while it collects the bad fuel. If it plugs, install another old filter until your fuel is clean. Then install a fresh filter.



Joe F. (Buffalo)

 

[Grizzly]

On my 95 I changed my fuel filter every other oil and oil filter change, which would put it at 10,000 mile intervals. I have not yet changed the fuel filter on the 05. I know it differs some from the 2nd generation. Can someone post a procedure on changing the fuel filter on a 3rd generation. Thanks.

 

[steved]

Unscrew the top of the filter housing... the filter will come out with it... unsnap the filter from the lid, install the new filter and the lid oring... screw it back together...



VERY easy compared to the one that drops the bottom of the filter housing.



steved

 

[klenger]

Regarding my proposed service schedule on post #10, here is the summary of intervals:



Oil and filter @ 5K (recommended @ 7500)



Fuel filter @ at 10K (recommended @ 15k)



Air filter @ 20K (recommended @ 30K)



Rear axle @ 20K (recommmended @ 15k)



NV5600 Trans @ 40K (no recommended service)



X-fer case @ 40K (recommended @30K)



Front axle @ 40K (recommended @ 15K)



Yes, I am doing the 5k, 10k, 15k service between the ones listed. I did an early change of all fluids except the front diff, since it really never gets worked. My proposed schedule is from this point forward.



Currently at 25K. It looks like I'm more aggressive than recommended on oil and filters, but somewhat less aggressive on gear box fluids. I suppose I could do the front diff at 20K like the rear one, but that seems like overkill since I almost never use 4WD. At around $32 each to change the diffs, I'd rather not do them too often.



Still looking for more comments.

 

[MickeyMiller]

I've changed my fuel filters every 15K but they have always looked pretty clean. 4 filter changes so far and only once have I even gotten a little water (I drain the filer into a Mason jay to look for water), filters are aliitle discolored but definitly not dirty. I only fuel at high volumn stations, but so far, 15K intervals seem pretty safe.



'03 with 72K miles so far (3K to next fuel filter change).



Correction: 5 filter changes so far, 1st Fuel Filter change was at 600 miles.