have a 2002 montecarlo ss.been having a hard start.had the battery checked and alternator.he told me to put fuel injector cleaner in .if that dont work change fuel filter. and to use a pencils to put in the gas line while chaning the filter.is that the best way and were is the fuel filter on this car? what type of filter to buy? their is 43000 on car thanks again rob
ps never change the fuel filter in this car.
At 43000 miles that it is long past due for a fuel filter. Stop by the auto parts store. They should have the filter and more important they should have a how too book for that car. It should not be difficult and it needs to be done.
First off what do you mean by hard starting?
Is the car turning over fast, but just not firing??? Or is it turning over slow then eventually firing??
If the first…then I don’t understand why you had the battery and alternator checked.
Many filters are said to last 60k+. I use to change the one in my Pathfinder once a year (about 40k miles) and it was FILTHY. So I think it probably does need changing.
The type of filter you use depends on the car. Go to the Autoparts store and tell them what car you have and they’ll tell you what filter to buy. If you go to the help-yourself type stores (ADAP, AutoZone…etc) they provide books to use to lookup the filter.
Some can be a real pain in the butt to replace. I replaced the filter on my wifes 96 Accord ONCE. After that I had someone do it. It was a royal pain. And I don’t know why they moved the filter location of the Fuel Filter on the 90 Pathfinder to where it is on the 98 Pathfinder. The 90 Pathfinder filter was EASY…On the 98 it was a pain…but no where near as bad as my wifes 96 Accord. So before you attempt this find out WHERE the filter is…OR even if you have a filter.
it is turnng over slowly and then starting.so i i went and found out were the filter is usually at.and how to replace it.you are wright.i should of did this 10.000 miles ago.the filter is $12 at the auto parts.the last one i did was 15 years ago.so i"LL pick one up in the morining.thanks for your advice
it is long past due i just never thought about it .going to pick one up before work.thanks for the advice rob
Car turning over slowly has NOTHING to do with a fuel filter. Changing the filter will NOT help the car turn over faster. You probably should change the filter…but it’s NOT going help the starting problem.
I’ll second Mike on this and you should consider the possibility of a weak battery, worn starter, or dirty/corroded battery cables.
In retrospect, I forgot that the battery/alt was checked. However, there’s half a dozen wrong ways to check this and one correct one. I have no idea which method was used.
he used a hand held computer and had it hooked up to the battery first andhe got inside and started he also put the prongs on the alternator
.thecomputer device even checked the the bar code on the allstate battery.and even gave him a read out on a small piece of paper it also showed the cracking. he heard the rough start he suggsted fuel cleaner.first if that does not work to change the fuel filter.so i put in fuel injector cleaner in 2 days agoand the car is starting right up.i just went out and started the car .no problem.i"m going to change the fuel filter anyway no corrision on the teriminals and thewires are in good shape.something to do with the fuelsystem .i dont know thanks rob