Fuel Filter

My fuel filter is on the drivers side tower under the hood and there is no replacement interval for normal driving. Usually if the filter is in the fuel tank it is a no maintenance item. Why would anyone go ballistic over a fuel filter in the fuel tank? What does the manufacture recommend in your owners manual?"

AFAIK the filter on your car is in the tank. Subaru is hardly the only mfr that does this, it is very common. Those cars that have the filter in the tank do not require it to be serviced as frequently as those with external filters, I believe the interval for the in-tank filter is 60K. I understand you've had a bad experience with your particular dealer, but there is no need to extend the bad feelings toward Subaru in general or the car itself.

I agree. There are a LOT of dealers that will screw you over, no matter what car brand they are affiliated with. I know that around here, Suburban is crappy, but Hodges is awesome... I've had my HG and Timing belt replaced there and the service was great. Many people that work there are Subaru enthusiasts you can talk to on NASIOC. If you don't like this dealer, go find a better one. No matter what dealer you go to though, expect to pay a lot... it's a dealer...

Subaru pa> >

I agree that you need to separate car from dealer. I like my Forester and dealer is great. My other car is an old Nissan, great car but awful dealer. I have a foreign car specialist shop work on it. My last US car was a Ford: piece of junk and crappy dealer. I had to sue him and Ford over warranty and will never ever buy another Ford.

Well, somebody still has go inside there at 60K, and get to that filter (a regular maintenance item) that could and should've been located elswhere, not in the tank.

I keep my cars from new till they die. For me it would mean doing it at least 3 times- that is having to pay someone to do it for me 3 times.

Taking off the tank is always a very dangerous job with huge potentially delayed liabilities. Having to do it three times, in an average life of a car, is loaded with needles risk. On one of my cars, a GM, I've had a faulty in-tank fuel pump replaced several times, and messing around with the tank caused it to finally start leaking, ....and in my garage (!). It took two trips to the dealer, to diagnose and fix the leak itself.

I absolutely do not feel the OP is going "ballistic."

Ease of maintenance, its safety, and cost, are all very valid concerns. Just because some manufactures don't care doesn't mean its a non-issue for the consumer.

I would recommend not buying such cars. I know I would never buy a car that has a fuel filter in the tank, period.

M.J.

Mine has the fuel filter right under the hood... so that's nice.

Subaru fuel tanks are usually easy to get into since they have access 'hatches' from inside the car, where you can get at the fuel pump and all related parts. VERY easy to do... much easier than changing the fuel filter on most cars that have it outside the tank, since it's usually buried somewhere behind/underneath the engine.

If that's the case than maybe its not that bad.

I was under the impression that you have to take off the whole fuel tank (like with many GM cars when you need to get to the fuel pump).

M.J.

Well, IF it requires removing the filter in the tank, I'm pretty sure there is an access panel from inside the car under some carpet. No need to drop the tank (I expect). Check on a Forester Forum or ask at

.

Carl

Obviously you're not as mechanically inclined as you think.

1.) Many manufacturers now offer pay-as-you go online access to the identical documents used by the dealership technicians. Subaru is one of them, offering 24 hour, 30 day, and yearly subscriptions. You could also pay large sums for the paper version, but @ $10 a day for the most updated version, why? 2.) Code readers, PC based and stand alone, are now relatively cheap. As a mechanically inclined person wanting to do serious automotive work at home, you need to have one. As an alternative, many parts stores will loan you the reader, or read the codes to you for free. Really stuck? Pay the dealership a 1/2 hour of labor to get it for you, and pursue and repair the problem yourself using the online documentation previously mentioned. 3.) At least one manufacturer (Toyota) includes a "Self-Maintainers Guide" in the the USA-spec manual package, clearly laying out how you can maintain and repair your own car, and still maintain warranty coverage. 4.) Modern cars often have airbags and sensors all over them. Using the information above, in #1, will help prevent you from damaging a sensitive system or getting your head blown off by an accidental airbag firing. This is why so many repair procedures now start with (remove the negative battery cable...).

It's not at all impossible to work on a modern car, just different. Some would say that modern "mechanical inclination" requires basic computer literacy. Others might say that developments like OBDII make repairing modern cars easier than they ever were. Even tiny machine shops have CAD and CNC nowadays...

You can keep up with the times, or you can work with a hammer and axe...

What brand of bicycle will you buy?

Many cars have two filters, one in the tank, and finer screened version closer to the engine. Just 'cause you see one under the hood doesn't mean the tank doesn't have one as well.

Many of the in-tank filters have kind of a "self-cleaning" feature, where the crap falls off and sinks in the tank when suction is removed.

Or even needless.

Actually, *taking off the tank* is needless. You simply undo a few screws, lift an access cover, then pull the fuel pump directly from the tank.

Never say never. ;-)

Thanks Barry! Again I feel that I am not asking to much to be able to change my fuel filter without having to download a repair manual from Subaru! Every other car that I have ever had, and those have been "modern" had a clear shot of the fuel filter. So....maybe Subaru's and most cars are over engineered, or I am not as smart as I think I am. I dunno! Nick

B A R R Y wrote:

I guess you can zero in on the fuel filter as a major issue if it bothers you that much. However bear in mind that there are plenty of other things on modern vehicles that you can't deal with yourself. OTOH there are things that were necessary as maintenance on older cars that you no longer have to think about- such as replacing/adjusting points, changing caps and rotors every so often, checking and setting timing, messing with carburetors and so on. Older cars would often be finicky when cold starting, run poorly until they warmed up, require frequent tuneups. Jump into any fuel-injected car made in the last

10-15 years, even the cheapest >Thanks Barry! Again I feel that I am not asking to much to be able to

Mine is in the fuel tank (05 WRX). Its not meant to be replaced every

30,000 miles or whatever interval.

Yes, trade your car in for that. I think the dash clock also runs a little fast, so you can trade it for that too.

What evidence do you have that it wasn't caused by acid rain? His answer, while it may sound silly, may also be correct. Have you considered that?

Todays cars seem to a be little more 'binary' in that they can work just fine and then stop. In the old days, the plugs would wear, the points would wear, the carburetor would gum up, etc. Very analog allowing you to decide when you'd had 'enough' and do a 'tune-up'. Still, OBDII and other advances I think make todays cars a better deal UNLESS you like to 'tinker'. If you don't like difficult to replace fuel filters, good think you never owned one of those Ford Mustang IIs that had the impossible spark plugs to change! I had a Datsun SRL 311 and still own the syn-carb device for synchronizing the dual side draft carbs!

Carl