Fuel Filter

[NMuzj100]

The most relevant posts from the 80s threads from cruiserdan Land Cruiser parts guru.

Whoever is calling the fuel filter "lifetime" is not correct. Toyota does not consider it "lifetime" nor do they consider it a maintainence item.

They DO consider it to be a replace as required part such as door handles, valve covers, tail light bulbs and so-on.

I.E. you change it if you have a problem with it.

So, anyway,

The fuel filter is not "lifetime" It is "replace as required". In other words, you don't change it 'cuz you hit XYZ miles. Mr T used to recommend fuel filter replacement as a maintinence item untill people started fawlking up the high pressure fittings trying to change them while vehicles were still under warranty coverage (personal read on that). In addition, they seem to be pretty durable for a long time. That is as long as you live in a developed country where the fuel supply is somewhat dependable. I prefer to change the fuel filter around 50k mile intervals. I have not had fuel delivery issues changing the filter at this interval and could easily go further. That being said, I have been able to shake some interesting "stuff" out of the old filters upon removal.
I change them before there is a problem because it is a beetch to do it on the trail while you are on a once-in-a-lifetime Elk hunt.


D-

The filter is a consumable item and I'd rather have mine working with excess capacity for any bad fuel challenge.

To answer the OP - The FSM recommends disconnecting the fuel pump connector (electrical), starting the engine and running until it stops in order to drain the fuel line. It also has several other recommended steps for dealing with high pressure fuel lines but they are victims of poor translation. Threads for the 80s say leave the gas cap off overnight.

 

[Exiled]

My wife once got a clogged fuel filter in our '04 4Runner from getting fuel at this old gas station. When I pulled the filter, it was full of black flaky gritty stuff. Personally, I will continue to replace the fuel filter at regular intervals. Did it at 80K and will probably do it again at 160K.

 

[El Cid]

I'm with Exiled. I know it's not recommended and it's definitely a good Toyota part, but if you're talking about hoses, belts, filters etc, 100k is a good marking point to replace them just for peace of mind..as dirty as mine was at 135k, there is no way it was helping performance..

 

[super90]

It's cheap, it's easy to get to (compared to the 80-series), and it helps me sleep well. I change mine every 30k-45k miles or so.

No way is it good for 100k miles. At 13 mpg average, that's over 7,500 gallons of fuel, or about 375 tanks of gas. That's a lot of volume to not have accumulated a lot of junk in there.

 

[Porter]

10-15 minute job if you're not in a hurry, $27 OEM filter. Just pull the EFI fuse (20amp on my '99) in fuse box behind battery, start engine, engine cuts off and pressure is out of fuel system for the swap out. Replace fuse, start engine.

 

[KlausVanWinkle]

Let the man change it if he wants.

I ran my tank dry. Then experienced bad gas mileage. So I plan to change mine soon. 171k

 

[El Cid]

Okay, I replaced my fuel filter. Now I have a fuel smell coming from the air conditioning.

Any reason why that might be happening???

 

[1loudLX]

Is it a 98-02 & a very hot day? Charcoal canister could be your problem, although there's no real fix, it's just something that happens when it's really hot.

 

[El Cid]

It's a 2000. I wouldn't call it 'really hot' but every day from now til August is, so I guess that's a relative term

I did just fill up the tank, so I think it's unrelated to the fuel filter..

Okay, just FYI, it's very easy to not adequately tighten the clamps that hold the filter to the line. There was small drip of fuel from the filter and that was ending up as a the smell in the cabin.

Btw, if your cruiser is over 10 years old, you should replace the fuel filter no questions asked. I could tell in the fuel filter that I removed that there was some wear that affected performance. Most notably, moisture had accumulated that simply sapped the inside of the part. It looked somewhat moldy from what I could tell. I realize Toyota doesn't recommend it as a part that needs to be replaced, we're talking about ten years and the materials that are used for this part simply aren't lifetime durable.

But bottom line, make sure you tighten the clamps that hold the filter to the line. Mine wasn't tight enough and the small drip made for a powerful fuel smell in the cabin.

 

[PIPO]

Lifetime fuel filter my a$$...130k miles. Yes, there's water in there, I didn't want to light myself on fire and the metal shavings are self explanatory...but the filter was very dirty indeed.

 

[SWUtah]

Where do you buy gas?

 

[PIPO]

Shell and Chevron only (87oct)...but I have only had the truck for 4 months/7k miles and since then I have done 2 fuel treatments with seafoam.

 

[KlausVanWinkle]

I just ordered one from Beno yesterday. Glad to see it wasn't wasted money. Maybe I will light the old one on fire...

 

[bonze]

After seeing PIPO's pics, my OCD kicked in. I need to call Onur at Lowe Toyota. LOL

 

[OGBeno]

Actually, what I like doing is cutting a fuel filter I take off with a hacksaw and seeing how dirty it is. You will be amazed at how dirty a FF gets over it's life (generally indicating how un-clean our fuel really is).

 

[2000UZJ]

Beno, I will be calling you shortly

I wonder if PIPO will get some sort of commission off this one.

 

[PIPO]

Paypal only!

Not but really...now I need to hurry up and put 50k miles and check again. I wonder if the fact that the truck was barely used by the previous owner had something to do with it. He averaged 8k miles per year.

 

[2000UZJ]

I lived in South GA where the gas stations were horrible. I wonder how nasty mine is? How hard was it to replace?

 

[Bomar]

I will be in contact with Mr. Onur soon also for this bad boy.

 

[2000UZJ]

lol...Onur is probably jumping up and down right now.