Fuel Filter backward?

If it's the same as my '87 then this is how it's supposed to be. Fuel flows from the tank into the back end of the pump, and then out the front of the pump into that end of the filter and out the back, where it loops around again to flow to the engine.

Use the arrow as a guide. The new filter may be built different from the old one. If the old one doesn't have an arrow, it may work in either direction. Many do work in either direction.

I once got a tank of bad gas in NC which had sand in it. Luckily my 240 had a fuel filter so it didn't damage the engine, but it kept clogging up the fuel filter and quitting. I had to limp to a station where I could get it fixed. So, when the car wouldn't run any further, I disconnected the fuel filter and just connected it backwards to the tank side and pumped enough gas through it and onto the ground to clean the filter. Then I reversed it so it was the right direction, did the same then and then hooked it up. This would get us another 20 miles. I finally got to a gas station where they removed the fuel tank and cleaned it out. Then I used a new fuel filter a couple weeks before replacing it. It never did damage the engine or the fuel pump.

I looked at the old filter -- it too had the arrow pointing toward the

I installed the new one the same way (arrow toward rear), and the car's running fine. I may get back under the car to follow the lines to confirm what you've described, but I'm pretty confident that it's installed correctly.

Thanks!

Why is that strange? That's the direction the fuel flows, follow the lines. Like I said, it comes from the rear towards the front to go into the pump, comes out of the pump facing the front of the car and loops back towards the rear through the filter, it then loops back around towards the front. Since the pump and filter are side by side, it has to change directions anyway.

On second thought, you may have the Regina fuel system with a single in-tank pump, I've never worked on one of those, but I suspect they retained some of the same plumbing and bracketry from the more common Bosch system.

No, I've got the Bosch fuel system.

I guess once you start thinking about how the pump and filter are side- by-side, it doesn't seem so strange to have the "Flow" arrow pointing toward the rear of the car. It just seemed counter-intuitive to have the "Flow" arrow pointed away from the engine and back toward the tank. But again, once you consider the pump and filter positions relative to each other, it starts to make more sense.

Again, thanks, I'm pretty sure it's installed right and the car's running smooth.

Those filters are used in a zillion different European cars. The arrow indicates flow through the filter, not which way the filter points relative to where the fuel eventually ends up. In K-Jet Volvos the filter is transverse so the arrow points to the side of the car when installed.