Replacing Fuel Filter?

[ben1191]

Can anybody link me to a good guide,or explain it to me,all i seem to find is untold american videos/guides of it underneath the car...

Never changed one before,ive read a couple of people that have done it but they never said anything about putting diesel inside the filter which is what i thought you was supposed to do?

[jeebowhite]

I havent had the pleasure but there are some threads on here where people have talked through it, but I havent yet seen a thorough guide as to how to do it.

With regards to removal and refitting, the best advise is follow Haynes, but when its in place, make sure it has been filled with diesel (syringe will help) and also use a priming bulb in order to get it primed more suitably. You will need a fully charged battery and a lot of patience!

[STEADS]

Yes jeebos right a lot of patience did mine at the weekend simple enougth to do about ten mins the hard part is getting it restarted lol .

First take off the filter sheild 2x 8 mil bolts

Second remove the wired connector

Third remove the right hand fuel line from top of filter the one with the two push in white pieces and you will be able to swivel this line out of the way towards yourself

Forth twist the cap off the filter housing should be easy enougth undid mine by hand .once cap is off you will see the filter remove and replace . Once replaced fill with diesel either with cap off or through the nipple on the top of housing with syringe .there seems to be a bit of a debate where the new seal fits under the filter or over mine is over and runs ok . Reassemble filter housing.

Fifth pray no only joking it should start more or less straight away just let it tick over don't rev it .if it has dragged in to much air re prime the filter via the nipple with syringe till full and try again this is where the patience comes in basically keep doing that until lit runs

If it does fail to start after it has run initially it will not fire until the fuel pressure has reached roughly 1050 psi if you have a obd scanner you will be able to see it rise.

Hope this helps sounds a bit of a mare but literally takes ten mins to change the filter and prime hit and miss I suppose if starts first time after like jeebo says ensure your battery is fully charged I,d do it with a warmed up engine as well .

[ben1191]

i have read a few times where a seals been put on top,and it caused the car to cut out randomly etc,apparently it is ment to go on the bottom.but i couldnt confirm that myself lol

[STEADS]

In all honesty the seal was on the bottom of the old filter I removed but after taking new filter out again to re prime it I put it on top and it's not running any different than before so I'd say either or .changed the filter as I was getting a stutter at 60 mph thought new filter would sort it but it hasn't runs perfect until I sit dead on 60. Can live with it though

[Storm16]

I had my seal underneath and had random breakdowns fuel however put it on the top of the filter 3000 miles later no problems

[exponential]

When i put a blanking plate on my EGR, I found access easier by removing the fuel pump.

I presume the pump contains the fuel filter?

Undid the 8 bolts, unclipped the wire connector and the two pipes and lifted out the pump/filter and put it upright on the floor.

Once the blank was on, I put everything back in the reverse order, turned the key on and off a couple of times to "prime" it and the car started straight away.

Was I just lucky? A mechanic friend of mine said that becausd the the pump is electronic, the ecu deals with it therefore avoiding the need to "prime" it.

Have i missed something here? Could i have damaged the running of my engine by doing what i did??

[jeebowhite]

Steads, your stutter probably is the EGR (same problem here before I fitted the blanking plate)

[STEADS]

Jeebo I,ve got the egr blanked already with a stainless steel plate so can't see it being that scanner throws up no codes either .

[jeebowhite]

Steads, have you checked your pipes? I wonder if you have a hairline crack somewhere...

[ben1191]

Yes jeebos right a lot of patience did mine at the weekend simple enougth to do about ten mins the hard part is getting it restarted lol .

First take off the filter sheild 2x 8 mil bolts

Second remove the wired connector

Third remove the right hand fuel line from top of filter the one with the two push in white pieces and you will be able to swivel this line out of the way towards yourself

Forth twist the cap off the filter housing should be easy enougth undid mine by hand .once cap is off you will see the filter remove and replace . Once replaced fill with diesel either with cap off or through the nipple on the top of housing with syringe .there seems to be a bit of a debate where the new seal fits under the filter or over mine is over and runs ok . Reassemble filter housing.

Fifth pray no only joking it should start more or less straight away just let it tick over don't rev it .if it has dragged in to much air re prime the filter via the nipple with syringe till full and try again this is where the patience comes in basically keep doing that until lit runs

If it does fail to start after it has run initially it will not fire until the fuel pressure has reached roughly 1050 psi if you have a obd scanner you will be able to see it rise.

Hope this helps sounds a bit of a mare but literally takes ten mins to change the filter and prime hit and miss I suppose if starts first time after like jeebo says ensure your battery is fully charged I,d do it with a warmed up engine as well .

Ive changed the filter,it started ok and then c ut out after about 10 seconds.when you say prime the nipple via the nipple do you mean the one on top?and do you mean squirt diesel into it with the syringe?i tried to turn it over a few times after it cut out and one time it almost started up but diddnt.Need an answer asap

[Stoney871]

The seal needs to go between the filter and casing and make sure you use a new one or leaks can occur.

The nipple on top is actually for draining water out of the filter housing/fuel but does work ok to top the system up for restarting.

I think Ford were acting pretty stupidly when they didn't do as many other manufacturers do and fit a hand priming pump to the filter housing as standard.

[STEADS]

Sorry didn't reply earlier at work (no mobiles allowed) but Stoney answered your question did you manage to get it started .

In ref to Stoney and Haynes manual as it goes how you drain water from that nipple is beyond me as water would be at the bottom as where the nipple should be (another ford design flaw) on all other diesels I,ve owned this has been the case .but eh oh if it servers a purpose .

[ben1191]

Sorry didn't reply earlier at work (no mobiles allowed) but Stoney answered your question did you manage to get it started .

In ref to Stoney and Haynes manual as it goes how you drain water from that nipple is beyond me as water would be at the bottom as where the nipple should be (another ford design flaw) on all other diesels I,ve owned this has been the case .but eh oh if it servers a purpose .

To be honest i thought id give it a try,but without a haynes manual and proper knowledge of what im doing i felt a bit out of my depth for such a simple thing lol.Called a bloke out,had to jump it cause battery was dead,took the filter out a couple times to fill with diesel,cost me £45 but he did fill my antifreeze back up for free and lesson learned i guess.

[STEADS]

At least it's up and running 45s not to bad the way mine was looking at one point I was going to spend a 115 for the laser bleeding tube cos I needed the car for work on the Monday as it was I just persevered with it and got it going .

[Stoney871]

The 1.8 has two parts to the bleeding process.

Nipple at the bottom and screw on the top.

The bottom nipple is the outlet, attach a pipe and place the end in a bottle.

Crack open the nipple then unscrew the top bleed screw to flush out water and dirt from the filter housing.