FYI the majority of Flying J stores use conocophillips fuel I have never had a problem with their fuel. I'm a pipeline inspecter for conocophillips. Probably a coincidence but the one time I filled up with someone elses my water in fuel light came on within 70 miles. I'm not promoting Flying J or COP but this is my experience

 

Here in the North East 'IRVING ' IS the cleanest and best you can get

 

In Alberta, especally in Sherwood Park it comes from Shell in Fort Saskatchewan 25kms away. The truck must pull three loads a day. My filters were all black on Petro-Canada fuel, and they are still black on Shell. A tight filter, like a fuel filter should pick up all debris and coalesce water and asphalt from the fuel. Guess what the black stuff is. Running the risk of starting a Flame session, changing your fuel filter too often can put you at risk of contaminating your fuel system down stream of the filter. The holes in the filter are never bigger then when they are brand new. My service manager said that just after a filter change is when the majority of pumps and injectors get contaminated and fail. Now, to calm the those of you with itchy flamer fingers, the filter should and must be changed. I've worked in oil and gas up here and filtered amine and other stuff for years and have pulled filters that were both plugged right off, as well as filters that were inservice on clean product that never plugged off and the fluid actually wore the filter media out and made a huge hole in it. Ideally, there would be a differential gage on the filter, and you wouldn't change it until you hit a predetermined differential pressure, or hit a specific through put volume (you usually use "X" amount of fuel in the 25-35k kms or miles as mother Chrysler perscribes). The dp tells you if it's failling prematurely (keeping you from starving the engine when it plugs from bad fuel) and the volume method keeps you from erroding the filter media out of the container (leaving you totally unprotected). IMHO there is no point in changing the filter until it's plugged or has hit it's through put. Hey, at least you guys are changing them, I know a guy with a 97 or 98 12v and he figures his dad changed it once and he (with my help) has changed it the 2nd time. (wow the 100kms [62mph] to 130kms [80mph] really picked up!?!?!) there almost 300 000 kms on that unit. The fellas with the fuel pressure gage after the filter have the best of both worlds. If the pressure drops, change the filter, if they mile it out, change the filter. PS I've never seen anything for my truck, filters or otherwise, for $8. I'm not sure I'd be too trusting of it. That's just me though.

 

I have always changed out my fuel filter every 10k with a new Fleetguard 10 micron filter. So far no problems.

However, recently I added a GDP Walbro 392 fuel pump and remote 2 micron filter and big line kit. So that gave me the added benefit of great fuel pressure all the time over the stocker crappy fuel pump as well as better filtered fuel. That has to be a good thing for the CP3 injection pump and the injectors.

My fuel pressure gauge connection is down stream of the filters and right before the cp3 inlet. Currently it's reading about 18.5 or so at idle and 18 going down the road. So far I haven't noticed it pull down below about 15-16 at WOT.

Also.....I think (correct me if im wrong) it will help having 2 separate filters working. If I change them out 1 at a time, there is always the added insurance of the other one correcting any "mistakes" I might make by allowing gunk into the fuel flow stream somehow...right?

 

T', its like the paper or membrain turns black ... not crud stuck to it....mine are shiny and clean ....but the filtering membrain turns dark gray

 

i change mine every 20k, no problems..

 

How often do you 2mic filter guys change yours? I'm changing my 11" 2mic WIX every 5000miles.

 

I haven't changed mine yet, but I figured I will just do it every 10k when I change the stock one. May be overkill though. I don't know.

Speaking of which...I need to buy some replacement 2 microns.

 

The black stuff you guys are seeing is called 'asphaltines'. A chemical present in ALL petro-diesel fuel. They are NOT present in Bio-diesel.

If you are REALLY concerned about keeping your fuel system clean, you would be best off installing a 2u fuel filter. Otherwise, the 7u filter does just fine.

HTH

Tony

 

I am a guinea pig for this issue. Bottom line is Dodge is screwing me for being 3000 miles overdue for a fuel filter change. They said trash in the tank (which I believe is from the vent hose recall problem) clogged the filter and BYPASSED...yes BYPASSED the filter and plugged the injectors. In order to bring back to warranty status...6700.00 for the fuel system components to be replaced. The Dealer and supposedly Chrysler "lowered" the cost to 2800.00 for me to pay. So rather than screw up my credit and letting them "HAVE IT" (financed with chrysler) I am screwed out of 2800.00.....as bad as I hate to pay it for a 2006 truck with 33,000 miles.

So I would think twice about going to a smaller micron filter...thinking you are protecting your fuel system. You are actually clogging it up faster and allowing it to bypass it faster and ruin the system.
Also I have seen many comments about poor performance and change the fuel filter first. Yeah right...

I don't believe I want a truck that could go any minute if a shot of trash gets around the filter as they say. Oh yeah...they blame it on the sensitivity and high pressures of the new commonrail system...so look for more problems down the road.

Sorry some of you dont want to hear it...but I am LIVING it!

 

Something REALLY does not sound right....Reading through the service manual, there is NO description of a bypass circuit in the fuel filter assy.

You may want to talk to Cummins about the fuel filter assy to make sure...Then go back to the dealer & chew them up!

It makes ABSOLUTELY NO sense to bypass a filter on a fuel system that is THAT (<7u) sensitive to clean fuel. You can also read other threads here that talk about regaining lost power after installing a fresh fuel filter.

Unfortunately, I think you were taken for a ride...get off the ride and chew up the dealer...get your money back!

HTH

Tony

 

I bought my truck BRAND NEW and at 7500 miles the filter housing had all kinds of crud in it ...from where I only put the cleanest and best fuel in yet there it was...

 

QUOTE from dwhite "So I would think twice about going to a smaller micron filter...thinking you are protecting your fuel system. You are actually clogging it up faster and allowing it to bypass it faster and ruin the system.
Also I have seen many comments about poor performance and change the fuel filter first. Yeah right..."

dwhite, this is all the more reason to go to a high capacity 2 micron filter set-up. The 2mic filters are not the size of the ****-ant little factory filters, you do not install them in the same place, you have to buy filter mounts and install them in the filter line from the tank.

 

Is it hard to change the fuel filter? Do you have to let the pressure off of the system before you do it?

 

No...and no. Just be sure the truck is off.