Change your fuel filter. Now. We all know that it's in a messed up place (above the differential, you can't see it or touch it). Many Mazda techs "smoked" doing it when the FDs were new, I blame 30% of blown original engines on a plugged filter leaning out the mixture. Do it. The new filter is cheap. It can be done in a few hours with the car raised up and basic tools.
Today I pulled my fuel filter with only 10,000 miles on it. It had red, rusted fuel coming out of it, sometimes barely flowing. Granted, I have been using corrosive C16 from time to time, and various name brand 93 premium fuels, but still.
I don't want to hear any more whining about people blowing their engines while not even performing basic maintanance. The Chevys I work on get their fuel filters changed every 15,000 miles, and it's not even that important for them.

 

yes sir, i will!

seriously... you just reminded me to put it on my "things to do while i rebuild the engine" list. thanks.

 

Mine was done about 4 months ago. I think im good for another year or 2

 

I would totally help you guys if you came down here. Seriously, I always knew it was one of those things you MUST do every 15k miles, but after what I've seen today, it became one of the "things that REALLY suck that you HAVE TO DO every 10k miles.

 

where you at? maybe you can help me with my clutch problems too

 

So why not just relocate it so future replacements are a breeze and you can even replace it every 5k mikes?

 

Outkast -you are nuts,you even got your big *** pick up doing 14s-you are a true
GEAR HEAD man

 

I'll go along with the 15k recommendation. 10k? I think your problem is due to using an unusual fuel. I agree, changing the fuel filter is more critical on the FD than it is other cars, but most of them have much longer change intervals too. My other car has a 60k recommendation.

Besides your unusual fuel, your real problem could be condensation in the tank and not the fuel filter. If your gas tank is often half or partially full then condensation in the tank could be the source of water. Keeping your tank close to full as much as is reasonable could extend the life of your fuel filter.

 

Ya i just had mine changed and relocated. Mine had very nasty brown crap coming out of it. So now i can change it in about 5-10min

 

95 Silver r2 (one out of 14) damn!

 

You could at least recommend to these people that they relocate the damn thing, so it isn't a problem in the future. I just use clamps to hold it to the back of the subframe, and leave the old one in place never to be touched again. Run a new fuel line from the pump to the filter inlet, then from the filter outlet over to the hard line by the frame rail...cut the hard line to give access for the new hose to slide on, clamp it down, and you're done. Now the filter change is a 10 minute job, including jacking the car up.

 

You beat me to it Kevin, excellent idea. I had a bitch of a time with mine, even with the rearend removed, due to an unfortunate dragracing incident. You need 3 wrist joints to get to this bastard.

 

Its the last time im running gas down my arm pits!!! Im putting twin mallary 40 micron fuel filters under the hood where its easy to get to. It was as if the mazda engineers said lets screw someone on the fuel filter!

 

I drove my car 250 miles to get it replaced right

 

+1

 

This is a thing that i think i need to do..... i just bought a 93 with about 53000 miles on it and it is really running rough. It "pops" at idle and i beleive that i have a vacume leak. But when i am excelerating you can feel the car like, well i dont know how to explain it but it feels like a fuel cut. And then it jumps right back to the acceleration. I was wondering if this could be linked to my problem. I do intend to replace it soon, but if that could be the main problem i will do that first........ thanks

 

I don't think it's all that bad. Then again I worked on F-18s and did lots of crazy **** where you had to squeeze your arm into strange positions to install things. I've got a WIX filter on mine right now. I'll change it after this auto x season and see how it did. The one I got from RP previously didn't have brown crud coming from it.

 

sleven, you may be describing the 3000rpm hesitation. Search it and see if it applies to you.

 

I have the Aeromotive filter bolted right above the differential on the subframe....easily accessible

 

I vote relocate! After pulling mine it was a no brainer.

 

I wasn't sure what's the best way to relocate, thanks for the suggestions. I am glad that perhaps this thread will make at least a few FD owners aware of the need to change the fuel filter often to save the engine. I also agree that using C16 / letting my car sit a while may have contributed to the nastiness in my filter, but none the less CHANGE YOUR FUEL FILTER. Now.

 

i relocated mine with a filter VERY common at your local parts store. do a search for filter relocation and youll see the pn's. mine is on the rear subframe, but i still use the stock filter bracket. the filter i used fits in it flawlessly.

here are the pn's:

fuel filter: f33144
fuel lines: 800153 (buy 2 of them)

the filter is used on MANY high demand vehicles and shouldnt hinder the FD at all. i bought these parts at an advance auto store. the filter pn should be the filters actual pn, but if that doesnt help. . . just look up the filter for a c4 corvette zr1 . the fuel lines are basically adapters and are 3/8" tubing. i have recently recognized that the stores will not be able to find the lines based on the pn itself. they are located in the help section, and possibly behind the desk. a buddy of mine (sevenlust) did this to his car as well, and he was able to get some lines that were actually tapered down to 5/16". do your own playing with the tubing you actually want, BUT make sure the tubes you get have the CORRECT fitting for the filter you get. another buddy of mine (GARCO MOTORWORKS) has done this and his filter has a different fitting style.

anyways, have fun. . .

heres a link to the original thread. . . although, the pictures are LONG gone. sorry about that. . . i need my own webpage.

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...ter+relocation

paul

p.s. i forgot to mention that the filter is under $10. . .

 

If you're plugging fuel filters every 10,000 miles you have other problems. Mazda recommends replacement every 60K so even if you drive 15K miles a year that's a fuel filter change every 4 years. Most of you guys change motors more often than that.

Fuel filter dissection

 

The fuel filter I removed wasn't in bad shape at all. Based on that, I'm leaving in mine for 15k at least.

Of course, if I saw red rust or was using some wacky fuel then all bets are off. But that situation does not apply to most FD owners.

Dave

 

Agreed. It takes me less than 1 hour to change my stock fuel filter, and I haven't got any aircraft mechanics' experience. So far, I've changed mine about once per year (15-20k miles).

-s-