Fuel filter changing requency, diesel engine?

Roughly following the manufacturers schedule perhaps?

That's 20K IIRC for mine. 6000 is a bit extreme.

I thik mine may have done 100K+ before I got the motor and changed the filter, didn't seem too bad. Wa advised not to spill fuel on the clutch (new) 'cos that's nasty.

Depends on your vehicle. More importantly and more difficult for your average Joe to make a judgment on, is the cleanliness of the fuel. You may be unlucky and fill from a store that has just had a delivery which mixed all the sludge and shit and water from the sump of their storage tank all up with the fuel. In which case your filter might not last long before blocking. Water is your worse enemy. Your car may or may not be equipped with a water warning light for the filter. It amazes me that some premium brand cars do not fit this fundamental piece of kit. Perhaps they prefer to sell a new injector pump and blame it on the poor fuel? Some premium brand cars do not seem to have even a water drain tap at the base of the filter any longer! German cars are the worse culprits.

Huw

The message from "Huw" contains these words:

Those that do are often stuck fast.

by the book.

I very rarely see any junk in the filters I change, 10 or more years ago there was always loads of old rubbish in them. I think the fuel companies have been frightened at the idea of big payouts if their fuel can be shown to be contaminated

I know diesel and petrol are different to an extent but I recently stripped my 16 year old fuel filter out of my car - looks almost as good as new inside. I know looks are not everything in filter world but it shows theres no major chunks etc.

Is there ever a need to change the filter in the lines, that is assumng one exists?

Only if they are overtightened and/or never used.

Huw

Only if they are dirty or damaged.

Huw

The message from "Huw" contains these words:

Just about when they get to me, then!

That's cause water does not get through modern fuel filters. Even the diesel stuggles to get through some modern filters, and if they were any finer, it wouldn't.

It didn;t get through old filters either, the agglomerator was to prevent the filter housing filling up with water, back when wet diesel was common. The standards for diesel have got rather tighter over the years.

Oh it did. Maybe not at full flow, but it did get through. That's why alot of applications (generally not on cars though) had two filters fitted in series, so that what did get through the first filter, was hopefully caught by the second filter. Problems did arise when too much water got in the system, and got past both filters. It wasn't unknown for injection pumps to fail due to water contamination.

Yes. I have had the water warning light on my Land Cruiser after a dodgy fuel fill and about an egg-cup full of water came out of the drain. And yes of course it can get through the filter as you say and it can indeed ruin the high pressure pump. In fact it takes very little water indeed to cause very expensive damage.

Huw