1.6 TDCI fuel filter

[Dee_82]

Afternoon all,

anyone know why ford changed the 1.6 tdci fuel filter from the cartridge based one which was used on early Mk2s and the 1.HDi engines then replaced it with that insanely expensive solid metal one?

I'm fairly getting through these things and its driving me mad knowing how little the cartridge based ones cost compared to mine, I'm now thinking about replacing the whole filter setup with the other (older?) style, itll cost me half as much to buy the filter housing and the filter then it will cost to buy that metal filter so if theres no good reason why they did it then I might just mod it back on and save some pennies, the preheater is apart of the housing on the old one and by the looks of it its the same plugs so id just need to get a mounting bracket from an old mk2

 

 

[stef123]

How often are you changing the filter lol

[Dee_82]

11 hours ago, stef123 said:

How often are you changing the filter lol

Every 12k, but I had one fail after about 5k and its due to be done again in another 2k making 3 this year.  at the best part of 50 quid a pop it soon adds up, the other thing is that I don't know why that one before failed so soon, I'm guessing it was a dodgy batch of fuel

[TomsFocus]

Mine must've been in over 12k now, changed it in June last year, was waiting until I got problems before changing it due to the cost but is it noticeable when they start to block up?

I think you're right about bad fuel ruining your 5k one so I mean the 'normal' 12k ones?

[stef123]

Yes you'll end up in limp mode when it clogs up bad enough lol 

[TomsFocus]

I'd rather have limp than a cut-out!  You can still do 80 in limp in the Focus, just not uphill as the torque is massively restricted lol.   It was actually today last year that the glow plugs put it into limp...I'm not superstitious but...  

But I meant would I notice it getting sluggish or anything before that?  I've always changed fuel filters regularly in previous cars but with these ones being so damn expensive I'm more reluctant to change it before absolutely necessary.

 

[stef123]

I've only had it happen once, followed by a fault code. When the fuel pump cannot get as much fuel as it demands or expects it will go into Limp mode. I put mine down to the paper in the filter waxing as there was absolutely no dirt or anything visible within. 

I was able to get home at around 60mph still but with no turbo and no power uphill lol. 

[Dee_82]

well, mine was a little serious than limp mode,

I had full blown cut outs, any acceleration could cause it, speed didn't matter, it could cut out or not with acceleration or not. had to turn off ignition, coast then fire it up again.  Forscan would show some really erratic behaviour on the rail, pressure spikes and drops, really rough when you would expect it to be constant, the first sign was a slight hesitation on hard acceleration, it would feel like it skipped a beat before carrying on.

 

[TomsFocus]

Hmm, I give it a boot most days tbh, so I should notice a hesitation before it gets any worse than that...hopefully!  

[Dee_82]

Aye, thats the best kind of Preventative maintenance

Something I do notice quite a fair bit is how much of a difference the outside air temp can make and whilst the oil is slightly thicker she sounds a lot better when you get past 3000RPM, after half hour of driving it gets a bit noisy up past 3k

 

[TomsFocus]

Can't say I've taken that much notice tbh, mine just sounds awful all the time...