Most of the gasoline sold today contains ethanol, grain alcohol, which offers some protection against fuel line freeze-ups…But water CAN get in, usually from a gas station with leaking tank covers or missing tank covers…In this way, moisture can be introduced to your fuel tank…A very small amount of moisture will cause the gasoline, ethanol and water to separate into three layers in your gas tank…When this happens, the entire contents of the gas tank must be drained, the filter replaced, and fresh fuel pumped into the tank…
To simply replace the filter and drive on with no further problems would be quite rare…Perhaps your filter was simply plugged up and in need of changing…