OK I just spent the past 1 1/2 hours changing out my fuel filter and I thought I would pass along some tips. I know there are several how to's out there but I thout I would share my experience.

1. Run the tank to less than a 1/4 full. Start the engine and pull the green relay in the box by the battery the engine should stall fairly quickly. Open the gas cap to depressurized the gas tank.

2. Jack up the car and place it on jackstands. PUT ON YOUR DAMN SAFETY GLASSSES! Remove both of the shields on either side of the rear differential (5 10mm bolts each). Now the real fun begins.

3. Locate the fuel filter. This will take a while because when you look from the right side of the diffferntial the fuel filter will move to the left and when you look from the left side of the diffferntial the fuel filter will move to the right. Seriously though look at your fuel filter and study how the hoses are connected.

4. Look at your new fuel filter notice how on one side there is a straight metal line that goes to the filter body and there is also a line that comes out and turns 180 degees. The line that turns should be on the passenger side of the car. You want to disconnect this line first because it is much easier to access. I wa able to get it with a normal size needlenose pliers. Get ready for a fuel shower.

5. Now you want to unbolt the fuel filter bracket from the car. Use a 3/8" drive with a 3" extension and a 10mm socket. Follow the vertical part of the subframe behind the diff and you should see the two bolts. These are a minor PITA to remove.

6. Now that you have unbolted the fuel filter you want to move it over towards the driver side so you can get a good angle on the other hose. Here is where I used my extras long needle nose pliers from Advance. If you do not have these pliers GO BUY THEM. They are as essential for the FD as PB Blaster. As the hose comes off the filter will probably spill out the rest of the fuel that is in it. Remove the fuel filter from the passenger side of the differential.

7. Come out from under the car and rest your arms a bit. There is a single 10mm bolt that holds the fuel filter to the bracket . Take off this bolt and note which way the fuel filter is oriented. Put in the new fuel filter and turn it so it lines up with the bumps on the bracket. You will see what I am talking about.

8. Spray some silicon spray on the fuel filter lines. This will really help the lines slide right on with ease.

9. Put the filter bach up in the cars *** the same way it came out through the passenger side. Move the filter over to the driver's side of the differential. Connect the line that goes straight into the filter. I used a 3/8" worm clamp here because I had a real hard time removing the mazda spring clip.

10. Bolt the fuel filter back in. Lay a small piece of paper towell over your socket and the put the bolt in the socket. THis will keep the bolt from falling out as you sanke back into it's place. Remember to leve the first bolt loose until you get the second one started.

11. Use your long needlenose pliers to pull those small pices of paper towels off of the head of the bolts, or leave them there if you want.

12. Connect the other fuel line to the filter. You may need to respray the metal line with more silicaon. I preferred to use the mazda spring clamp here since I was able to get it off fairly easy. You can use another worm drive clamp here if you like.

13. Go to the diagnoses box in the engine bay near the battery. Open it up an place a jumper wire between the F/P and GND terminals. There is a "map" inside the lid that will help you find these terminal.

14. Turn the ignition to on to pressurize the fuel system for about 10-20 seconds. Check for leaks if you don't have any great!! If you do it just must not be your day.

15. Replace the shields from either side of the differntial. Lower the car back to the ground and you are good to go.

BTW, if anyone in the Knoxville area needs this done. I will do it for you for $75 if you supply the parts.

 

A really good write up!

A couple of additional thoughts:

If your hose is so dry and impossible to remove that you need to cut it off make sure to replace it with METRIC fuel line hose.

wrap two cotton bath towels around your arms and secure them to your wrists with duct tape. Put another towel over your chest.

Make sure you turn your head to the side and close your eyes when you pull the lines/filter. Gasoline makes a really shitty straight Martini.

Buy 2 cheap long reach hemostats (surgical clamps) at your local hardware store to pinch off the lines temporarily to avoid gas spilling out of them.

Don't do this is in a garage with a gas water heater.

 

Good call on the towels. I wrapped a couple around my elbows and still managed to have some gas seep by and trickle into my arm pits. Not the most pleasant feeling.

 

Really nice write up!!! Thank God I convinced Cantgostraight to do it for me

 

Why not relocate it? Then you will not encounter the same problem when changing it later on down the line.

-M

 

what i dont understand is why not just rip out all the stock rubber hoses, replace them with new ones (these are really not that expensive), and at the same time, relocate the fuel filter to some place else? Personnaly, I would just leave the stock fuel filter there untill I got on to a lift so I can access it easier, and just relocate the lines. Better yet, replace all rubber lines with steel braided lines!

 

Garfinkle relocates the filter and bracket to the rear of the rearend subframe . You drill two holes and get longer gas lines. He uses a filter with out the curved metal line .

 

Hmmm. This sounds almost EXACTLY like my write up

Fuel filter install

 

More MEGA THANKS! I am stalling on this one (no pun intended) cause it sounds like such a pain in the (*)! Get enough different (or like) procedures, maybe we can figure a way to avoid spillage alltogether. I like to burn gas, not smell like it. Ha!

 

Archive. DamonB's as well.

 

We don't have an archive any more.

 

Woohoo I made the advanced tech section!!

 

DON'T FEAR THE FUEL FILTER! After hearing how hard it was, It went fairly smooth for me. Patience, and using a small flat head screwdriver to get the hoses to slide off the old fiter (don't tear em) was the trick

 

change the pressure clamps to bolt types...make life a lot easier.

surprised no one brought up burning arm pits

 

If you're careful pulling off the hoses, you'll be able to put your finger over the end to prevent spillage, and then use a long steel punch or 10mm bolt to plug it when you pull it out of the way. Much easier than using clamps or whatever to stop the fuel lines leaking while you replace the filter.

 

One of the best suggestions I heard, was to get the hose grip pliers that harbor freight sells.



Also, if you don't have hemostats, you can stick something like a ballboint pen cap in the disconnected lines to stop them up.

 

Ball-point pens are too small in diameter; a long hole-punch or a 10mm bolt (diamter, not head size) will plug the line a lot better than hemostats or clamps. I used two hole punches; they stayed in place, virtually no leakage, and were easy to deal with. All the clamps I tried didn't seal up the end enough.

 

SAFETY GLASSES...SAFETY GLASSES

Seriously..I did my fff (fucken fuel filter) today and a huge chucnk of crap dropped in my eye (I wear contacts) Spent 20 minutes in pain in the bathroom flushing out my eye....oh yeah and gas in your eyes is not healthy

 

See step 2.

 

I can change mine in about 15-20 minutes not including jack up time. Why? Because I use one of these:

I also use 2 extensions. Both of different lengths. I have the extensions, universal joint, socket, and racthet EXACTLY the length of the subframe for the perfect clearance.

 

I agree with obviousboy: "gas in the eyes is not healthy"
I got gas in my eyes one day filling up a boat gas tank with one of those plastic 5gal containers w/a plastic spout. The plastic spout snapped off somehow, and gas shot all in my face.

Luckily I was by the water and other people were there to help guide me into it. After splashing water in my face for a few minutes, I could see again.

Is changing the fuel filter in an FC any easier?

 

I haven't done my FD filter yet, but my FC one wasn't that bad, its located in the engine bay so you don't have to worry about trying to get at it from around the diff.

 

The job really wasn't that bad. Most of the time was spent on jacking the car up and removing/installing the splash guards. What I do agree on is a good set of wide mouth pliers and 1/4 drop of dish soap on the fuel filter fittings so that the hoses slide on easily.

 

buy a washable filter, relocate to the engine bay and clean in 3 minutes with no tools, like I did 5 years ago

anything else is stupid

 

Fuel Filter Changing Tips: -
Could Admin add the below picture to the following Archive, gives a better idea what your looking at when changing the filter

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...584&styleid=11




Lee