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Stock fuel filter life? Towing.

WarWagon

WarWagon

Well it hits on 7 of 8...
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What are the hard working 6.5 TD’s getting for fuel filter life? Mine was 100% black at 6400 miles. Of course this is at 8 MPG tops towing so I am going through a lot of fuel. Yes it is uphill both ways! :D

Local busy truck stop is the source for all of my fuel. And one of the rare LSD fuel sources left. (vs. ULSD.)

Just curious how often this fuel filter needs to be changed as I am used to the duramax intervals at 15K.
 
Problem is it only takes one bad batch of gas to cause havoc. Almost all the ones i've ever changed were black, and I'd probably do it 2 times a year, roughly around 8000 miles apart.

When I installed my fuel pressure gauge, I was always getting good psi at the water drain, and was only getting 1psi at the IP with instant drop to zero upon throttle. It was a 1 month old filter, I had no idea, truck ran great.

New filter, and up to 5 (pump at the time) it went, never going below 3.

Fuel pressure gauge is wonderful add on.
 
Matt Bachand said:
Problem is it only takes one bad batch of gas to cause havoc. Almost all the ones i've ever changed were black, and I'd probably do it 2 times a year, roughly around 8000 miles apart.

When I installed my fuel pressure gauge, I was always getting good psi at the water drain, and was only getting 1psi at the IP with instant drop to zero upon throttle. It was a 1 month old filter, I had no idea, truck ran great.

New filter, and up to 5 (pump at the time) it went, never going below 3.

Fuel pressure gauge is wonderful add on.
Click to expand...

:drunk1: I am sure good or bad gas would cause havoc on a diesel!
 
Mine usually has quite a bit of black to it when I change it. And my filter is done every 12K. Though it wouldn't hurt to change it a little sooner just to be safe.

That reminds me, I gotta change my filter before the trip to CT next weekend :eek:
 
I'm using Baldwin fuel filters, seem to have more pleats and I get better life out of them. They also have the plastic cover as part of the filter rather than re-using the collar. Its wasteful I suppose, but much cleaner and easier to change.

I really need to install a fuel pressure gauge. That's really the only way to properly answer your filter life question, see when pressure starts to drop, just like Matt described.
 
depends on where you get the fuel,some stations are bad,others good.

I fill up from my farm bulk tank,its allways so clean i hardly ever change a fuel filter on any equipment,maybe once every couple yrs,sometimes i plunk them right back in if they look good.
 
Dave01 said:
I'm using Baldwin fuel filters, seem to have more pleats and I get better life out of them. They also have the plastic cover as part of the filter rather than re-using the collar. Its wasteful I suppose, but much cleaner and easier to change.

I really need to install a fuel pressure gauge. That's really the only way to properly answer your filter life question, see when pressure starts to drop, just like Matt described.
Click to expand...
They have the plastic cover? The first time I changed my fuel filter when I got the truck I was running around like an idiot trying to figure out why the new fuel filter wasn't working with the old setup! Turns out the USAF never changed the fuel filter to the collar type that everybody uses now.

that thing cause so many problemss:mad2:
 
With the Baldwin I can pretty much change a fuel filter without getting a drop of diesel on me. Maybe after I bleed it and close the bleed valve I get 2 finger tips wet, that's it. With the collar type I seemed to get it all over me, but maybe I'm just a slob! Anyway, I won't switch back.
 
Problem is fuel recirculates all the time so if truck is on its going through filter so some particulates will get caught. But then again too if you are adding fuel to tank more often more particulates are added to the system. So MPG does make a difference.

I read the Black color comes the fuel being hot/warm and the "asphalts" seperating and being filtered out. Heavy work or hot will increase black color on filter. The regular crud dirt and particulates I think can be any shade of brownish to black color. So color may not be the only indicator. Also look for rust colored crud indicating dead algae iirc.

Also one bad batch of fuel could plug filter at any time. I run a fuel gauge and go anywhere from 12-20 K miles depending. I probably should change it more often but if I have adequate flow (> 1-2 psi at all conditions) I figure everything is ok. Closer to 4-6 psi is better and usually what I get when filter is new.
 
I'm quite late to this topic, but I've changed my last 4 fuel & air filters (typically use autozone air & fuel filters) about 2500-4k miles, and the filters are almost completely black it seems. Maybe the fuel filter could last a little longer, but it seems like the truck performs better right after I swap out the old filters. I hit 5k about every other month.
 
Bad fuel can happen at any time, to get longer life overall install a racor or other brand filter, 10 or 20 micron element to sift out the bigger stuff that clogs the oem filter fast and also adds longevity to your lift pump. I chose the 60gph racor element for mine, not because I'd be flowing 60 gph, but because it was less flow restrictive than a 45gph element was.

My filters unless I get a bad load of fuel and the racor takes the brunt of that trash, lasts me 2-4 years @ 15k miles+ per year, I also equipped my filters with vac switches to let me know when the filters actually NEED changed, vs. a SWAG recommended interval, which IMO really isn't worth much as far as recommendations go, as one can get a bad load of fuel anytime/anywhere .

Case in point one towing event just 2 mos after a filter swap <5 K miles, my truck could not get out of it's own way just moving my 5400# empty gn trailer, max speed 45 mph towing trailer, swapped fuel filter trailer loaded to 18K, and I was sustaining 70+ mph as necessary. This was what led me to adding the racor and the vac switches, so I would not be caught off-guard again.
 
when i got my truck my heavy equipment mechanic uncle said to change it every 2000-3000 miles. his truck is a 1990 ford 7.3 idi which is similar to ours but he is old school so he is used to the old diesel fuel which wasnt the same quality as the fuel now.
 
Woody35 said:
when i got my truck my heavy equipment mechanic uncle said to change it every 2000-3000 miles. his truck is a 1990 ford 7.3 idi which is similar to ours but he is old school so he is used to the old diesel fuel which wasnt the same quality as the fuel now.
Click to expand...

:nono: Fuel is just as bad now as it ever was. Dirty fuel has plagued the older Duramax trucks injectors. It would shatter a cyl liner on the old school 5.7 diesels as dirt over advanced the timing during a pump 'jam'.

Maybe less sulfur, but, same dirt and water laced rusty tanks.
 
Could have a little water in the bottom of the tank forming a little algae.

Like mentioned only takes that one fill up to knock out a filter or entire fuel system. Fuel pressure gauge is a good investment, without one you just dont know whats going on, just because you changed it last week dont mean its good today.

I've put 25k on filters that came out clean and had to replace filters because there plugged with less than 2k, its just a crap shoot.
 
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