How many miles can I expect from my fuel filter?
I have a friend who replaced his at 5500 miles and it's still clean inside.

Good question, I'm coming up on 10,000 miles. Getting in done with tire rotation, and 2nd. oil change.

It will depend a lot on where you get your fuel. If you are buying your fuel as you need it from a fuel station and you always get clean filtered fuel 10,000 to 15,000 miles would be a good range. If you get some dirty fuel once and a while then all bets are off. I buy my fuel (B10 premium) in bulk filtered as it goes in my storage tank and filtered when I pump it into my truck. I have run fuel filters 20,000 miles with no problems. The fuel I buy costs $.10 more a gallon but will get about 5% better fuel milage than fuel station diesel.

I'm at 13,800 and plan on changing mine at 15,000. I will probably keep changing it every 15,000 miles.

I changed mine after 5k and it was 75% dirty. Must be bad fuel or somthin around here.

How many miles can I expect from my fuel filter?
I have a friend who replaced his at 5500 miles and it's still clean inside.The reminder in your truck's DIC is set at the factory for 15,000 miles. But all it takes is one tank of bad fuel to plug it up.

I wish they had a glass bowl like they do in farm equipment and OTR trucks. That would allow us to visually inspect the fuel filter and change it when it really needs it rather than playing a guessing game "crap shoot".

:exactly:

I opened up the filters on my LB7 and it looked like 8K was where I was at 75% of the filter used up. Remember, those filters weren't as fine a micron as the LBZ filter. A bad filter will shut you right down, real quick.

Why not monitor the pressure drop across the filter? That is how it is done on compressed air. Heck you could even monitor the rate of change in the pressure drop and alarm when the fuel was clogging the filter at an unusual rate.

ya I got 10k on mine and asked the dealer to change it, they said to wait till 15k, wow!!! but now my truck get 14mpg.....I was getting like 18-20 WTF??? any suggestions???

Then change your fuel filter yourself and save yourself some money.

Great info right here on the sight that will walk you through it. I just changed mine today, at 11,400 miles. I had no symptoms but I decided not to wait till 15,000 miles.

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1508

Looks like a early preventive change is best. Maybe at 10,000 miles or every other oil change.

Every 12 k for me , when I changed mine the first time at 14 k the filter was pretty clean;)

I just changed my fuel filter, 9500 miles on the truck and thought it would be a safe thing to do before leaving to Lake Tahoe for our family vacation.

I thought it was going to be a bear to do. I couldn't get the strap wrench around the filter going over the fender, I took the wheel well liner off and it was much easier that way. It took me close to 1 hour from start to finish, what a piece of cake it was. I think the Gorilla was off the day they put together my truck, the filter came off real easy. Looks like 10,000 miles for me on the fuel filter, 75% of the filter was used up, little rust on the bottom of the canister, none on the filter. Thanks to all on this site for the tips on doing the change.

This is how I tell:

http://www.kennedydiesel.com/images/Dmax-fuel-filter-rest1.gif



Just snap it on when you want to check. FYI, the 15k interval is a stretch with 90% of the fuels out there. I coincide with oil changes at 7-10k unless something comes up where it loads fast. First change can be quite critical what with tank and line dust etc.

My very first filter plugged up at 12,000 miles forcing my truck down to 20 mph on the freeway in Virginia. What a nightmare.

Recently had another one clog up at 45,000 miles, but it was overdue. Had last been changed at 27,000. (15k exactly since the 12k incicent)

I'm leaning towards changing every 10-12k or so, just to keep it fresh.
I also need to find time and ambition to install the cat filter down on the frame rail. (Search thread: DIY Fuel Filter)

How hard are they to change, can an average wrencher like me do it myself?
I ask because the dealer wanted $90 to do it.

How hard are they to change, can an average wrencher like me do it myself?
I ask because the dealer wanted $90 to do it.

It's really easy! I bought a STRAP filter wrench from SEARS and I did it going through the wheel well, took me less than 1 hour. If you are going to go the wheel well way, use a small tip flat head screwdriver to pull the plastic pins, take your time so you don't damage them. You really will be surprised on how easy it is once you do it, I sure did and I'm glad I did it myself.

My friends dad is the head commercial powertrain mechanic and he changed my fuel filter in 10 minutes. He unplugged the sensor, and strapped it with a special wrench i hadnt seen before and it was off. put the new one on and purged it and was done. Mine had 7500 and was 80% plugged and he tested it for me just to show. He said the first one should be at around 7500 then every 9000-13000 miles

This is a fairly small filter, so should be more frequently than others. I did 20k on my old truck, but may do 10-15 on this one. One tank of bad diesel will kill that thing though.

On my old ford, I got a tank of bad diesel. I switched to that tank on the highway, and within about 30 seconds, the light was on. I about died. I pulled ofer, and drained a full fuel filter of water out. I got it on the highway, and had to repeat this process two more times before it went away. I changed my filter after that. I am a pain in the butt about which stations I fill up at after that.

Chow, Your dealer knows what what he reads in a manual. Local fuel quality is a big factor and your fuel may be fine in your area but why take the chance? At least your dealer isn't trying put the screws to you. Don't let them throw away your old filter, save it and split (or cut) it in two and look to see just how well you really were doing with your filter. I'm on the road with my truck doing boat deliveries and you never know what your going to end up with in your tank. My truck ran like crap with my clogging filter at 10K and it had been going on for 1k miles.

I have a question about the fuel filters themselves. Does anyone use wix filters? Are the OEM filters the best to use? Any help appreciated!

Jeff

I just had my fuel filter changed at 11,000 miles.
The filter looked very good. Also did the trans filter, rotated the front tires, and oil change............$ 201.50 at my local dealership.

I change my fuel and spin on tranny filter each time I change my oil every 3000 miles. Why not?

Truck on !!!:cool:

CRICKEYDOG, you may want to have your oil analyzed. I think that a 3,000 mile OCI is probably a little soon, even when towing.:D

FYI: -I am using Shell Rotella-T Synthetic 5W-40 in my truck, and I had my oil analyzed by BlackStone Labs in Indiana at 5,800 miles on the oil and they told me that the oils is fine and to keep running it and check it again in another 2,500 miles. I plan to change it when the DIC says to change it and get another oil analysis then to get a solid baseline in my oil life.):h

We had 3625 miles on our 05 3500 duramax and we had to be towed to Blythe Ca for the weekend so a new fuel filter was installed. I can do it now with the information on this forum and have done so. chevman

I bought a set of OEM filters on ebay from gmparts4less. This guy sells for a Chevrolet dealership, I think in Iowa. I need to look it up. He has a buy now of $44.95 for 2 OEM oil filters 1 OEM fuel filter and 1 Allison spin on external filter. I emailed him after I received the filters and he told me he would sell to me anytime direct away from ebay. At this price plus shipping it seemed to be a heck of a deal compared to over the counter GM parts prices. I changed my first oil at 3000 miles and did the spin on Allison. I did buy the Dexron VI from a dealer at about $14 a gallon. Just fill the new Allison filter letting it soak into the element to insure a full filter. Don't forget to clean the magnet. I will go 5000 more miles then do the next oil filter and first fuel and reorder a new set of filters. With this filter set I get an oil change every 5000 miles and a fuel and tranny every 10,000.