A warning to all FD owners
08-09-06, 06:43 PM
#1
Mr. Goodwrench
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A warning to all FD owners
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.
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.
08-09-06, 07:07 PM
#4
Mr. Goodwrench
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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.
08-09-06, 07:15 PM
#6
Originally Posted by Outkast
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.
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08-09-06, 07:31 PM
#8
reliable performance
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Originally Posted by Outkast
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.
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.
08-09-06, 08:05 PM
#11
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.
08-09-06, 08:10 PM
#12
Rotary Enthusiast
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.
08-09-06, 09:56 PM
#13
Will work for horsepower
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!
08-09-06, 10:15 PM
#15
R. R. R.
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Originally Posted by RotaryResurrection
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.
+1