Had a bit of a frustrating experience over the weekend while changing my fuel filter. I'm wondering if anyone has experienced the filter primer failing? Basically I'd removed the old filter, which this time took some choice words after my strap wrench broke, and installed the replacement filter. When I began pumping the primer I noticed there was no resistance at all. Normally after maybe 10 pumps I can feel the resistance building, this time I pumped over 25 times with no resistance. Cracked the bleeder and no air came out. Closed and pumped an additional 25 times, again no resistance.


I figured I was unable to get the filter tight enough by hand to cause a seal, so took the spousal unit's car to the parts store to purchase a replacement strap wrench. Put a good additional ¼ turn on the hand tight filter and primed, again 25 times with no pressure build up, no air from the bleeder. Wondering if I'd possibly gotten a bad filter I proceeded to deform the crap out of this one to get it back off (yes it was one of those evenings) and installed the spare from my tool box. Again attempted to prime the filter, and again no resistance, no air from the bleeder.


So I removed the 3 torx head screws and delved into the primer. The small black “flapper” (I'm assuming it's a one way check valve) appeared to be in proper place and working. At this point I popped the silver “button” off the white assembly it sits on, noted the two seals looked ok (cussed and moaned trying to get that back together without rolling the upper seal). Finally to re-assemble I pulled the O ring which was still on the body of the fuel primer assembly off, inserted it back into the white assembly and screwed the entire thing back down.


At this point it took the nomal 10 (ish) pumps to get resistance in the fuel primer. I bled the air, and began to pump again, however again at this point there was no resistance. Approximately 50 pumps later I gave up, and attempted to start the truck. Truck ran for a few seconds, died, I re-started and let it run for about 2 minutes before backing it out of the garage.


Haven't tried to start the truck today (have to take the economy car, just can't afford to drive the truck much any more) to see if it'll run or if it's lost it's prime. I did check for fuel leaks around the filter and the filter head and didn't see any. Nor could I notice any cracks on the head (I feared I may have cracked the head while trying to get the filter off.. it was really, really stuck).


Anyone else have any experience with the primer failing to “prime” ? Is there a re-build kit available for the primer, as upon re-assembly I did use petroleum jelly to get the seals to slide easily and it worked for a short period afterward. I'm hoping this isn't a new filter head issue.

Moved to Maintenance!

I've only replaced the filter once, lost prime the next day once, so I can't claim to be an expert in the priming procedure. But, reading your description, it sounds like you close the bleeder while pumping? I think you should try leaving the bleeder open while pumping until diesel comes out the bleeder, then close the bleeder, then pump until it gets hard.

Good luck ! !

Yep, Jake has it right. Leave the bleeder open and pump until you see fuel at the bleeder then close it and pump till hard.

The first time I changed the filter I pumped until I was blue in the face. With the bleeder open and closed. Did not matter. Finally gave up and pumped air in fuel tank with a compressor until fuel came out of bleed screw. So I will have to say that some of the primer's do not work.

That is how I started off this weekend, normally it's open the bleeder, prime maybe 10 and I'd see fuel, close the screw, pump 1-2 times, crack the screw to see if any air comes out, close it pump again 1-2 times it's firm and walk away. After that failed to prime the filter as usual is when all hell broke loose and I just began pumping my a$$ off.

Even with the bleeder open once fuel is at the bleeder screw (unless you take the screw out) you can feel resistance once the fuel hits the head. I'm getting no resistance at all, screw in, screw out doesn't matter.

When I disassembled the primer assembly to check things and put it back together I was able to prime the system. I could feel resistance, I could hear the fuel before it came out of the bleeder. Once I saw fuel I closed the bleeder, and pumped a couple more times to firm it up, cracked it to get any remaining air out, closed again to pump to firm it up it failed again. That's the problem I'm describing, doesn't matter if the screw is in or out, the primer doesn't appear to be doing anything.

Fortunately the truck started for me yesterday to pickup a load. Just for fun I popped the hood and depressed the primer, and it's not firm at all, yet the truck is running. I'm fairly certain the primer has failed, so I've got about 10k miles in which to fix it. Does anyone know if there's a re-build kit for the primer assembly? Part number? Or do I have to purchase an entire head unit to get the primer assembly? If that's the case I think I'll just remove the PITA under hood filter assembly and go with an after market one that mounts to the frame rail where it can be changed while I'm changing my oil filter.

/rant
I never really understood why they put the filter up there in the first place. You've got to be under the truck to pull the oil plug and change that filter... why the heck didn't they just put the friggin fuel filter right there where you already are performing maintenance?
/rant off

My brother '03 is having a priming problem. He thinks it happened once with a really dirty filter. He changed the filter, it happened again. It's not clear to me, but I think he took it off to check for cracks, o-ring problems, etc. Put it back together and it happened again. I suggested he stop taking it off and just see if it stops losing prime more than twice.

I also suggested trying another filter.

I wonder if a lift pump is a solution?

Well, I'm due to change my filters (I also have a Nicktane), so I'll see if anything happens with losing prime.