Clear plastic filters are usually applicable to low pressure applications; carburetors and so on.
Any high pressure fuel injection system should use metal canisters.
This is just my 2 cents, but I’m of the opinion that externally mounted filters should be changed about every 15k miles. It only takes one load of contaminated fuel to start plugging up a filter.
An engine may run perfectly fine with a partially clogged filter but one of the not often thought of drawbacks to allowing this is that it makes the fuel pump work harder and can contribute to shortening the pump life.
If there’s any question about whether or not the filter is partially clogged simply drain the gas out and allow it to air dry for a few hours.
Now blow through the inlet side. You should feel no restriction. If you do the filter is clogged to some degree.
I also looked at the maintenance schedule so I don’t have to ask. However when I buy a vehicle this old I consider it recycling. Vehicles of this age have little value but can continue on with the right care.
The fuel filter on this vehicle is not shown as a maintenance item but after 13 years it should be suggested for replacement. Restricted fuel filters stress fuel pumps and result in fuel pump failure.
On the other hand if someone is planning to use the vehicle for two years and then move on then it may not be worth while to replace things like this.
Clear plastic filters are usually applicable to low pressure applications; carburetors and so on.
Any high pressure fuel injection system should use metal canisters
I had one one my 98 Pathfinder. It sat above the rear axle. Most filters are the steel canister type. And I’ve never seen one replaced in 5 minutes. The filter on my 90 pathfinder was a royal pain…much easier if I had a lift though.
Granted the car is already on a lift & the man had the filter & needed tools at hand . It took 1 minute & 25 seconds to change the filter by my timing .
There is probably 1/2 hour labor charge, that would cover a filter only replacement, assume it must include drive the car in, lift it, do the job, put it down and remove from shop. The service pricing guides do not count for if the car is up on the lift already, and the guide is pretty much sop.
The video on page 3 doesn’t show the complete process, they noted that the fuel system was already depressurized and some of the actions were edited.
If the vehicle is on the lift,
The vehicle must be lowered,
fuel pump relay removed,
engine run to depressurized fuel system,
vehicle lifted,
filter replaced,
vehicle lowered,
relay installed, engine started,
vehicle lifted to inspect for leaks.
That video should have been 15 minutes long.
When an original fuel filter is spotted on an old car it takes 15 minutes to write the estimate and sell the service plus time to obtain the filter. If the job pays 18 minutes labor it is better not to notice old filters.
This thread reminds me of my grandfather’s tales of working for a Ford dealership during the depression. Mechanics were paid a piece rate and as I recall a lube and oil change paid him 10c and some model of car caused all the mechanics to run to the outhouse on arrival because it had dozens of grease fittings and oil ports that required moving from top to bottom repeatedly for hours to complete the job. LIke they say, “the more things change the more things stay the same.”
BTW, who else is familiar with the oil ports on water pumps, distributors, generators, etc.?
@Sloepoke, I don’t mean this in a combative way but if you were running a shop and billing based on your stopwatch time of the actual procedure do you know where you would be very, very soon?
In the unemployment line wondering what in the hxxx happened and in court defending against those creditors who did not get paid because of the stopwatch time and who are now suing you for any assets until you march into bankruptcy court and clean the slate.
Quite a few excellent mechanics go broke in their efforts to open a shop. While they do great work maintaining and repairing automobiles they just don’t comprehend the profit and loss end of the business and soon go broke from not charging what their work is worth or gouging customers to make up for the prior days shortages. When a mechanic picks up a work order every second he spends on that job is costing the shop the use of hundreds of thousands of dollars of investment. Many years ago I totalled the fixed cost of my small shop’s operating expense and found that when I opened the door I was $200+ dollars in the hole not counting depreciation. I can only imagine what a shop in a large metropolitan area would face when the doors are opened. It is unlikely that I would attempt to open a shop these days knowing what I know because the public is so overwhelmed with gimmicks and crooked shops. I was lucky to have gotten started when I did and find success.
LOL , who are y’all trying to convince ? No matter how much y’all talk you just can’t un-see that video with all the special tools , back-flushing filter , difficult to access filter & all the other nonsense y’all postulated about can you ?
Show me one place I said $60.00 wasn’t a fair price for the shop to charge . Pretending to imply that I was taking into account the goof off , butt scratching high school dropout that wastes time working for a living doing this kind of work is laughable . This " is " the same place that tightened the OP’s drain plug with a breaker bar or air gun isn’t it ?
I think y’all know better + know that I was referring to actual working time but after making all those nonsense statements you now need to vindicate yourselves .
When you’re standing in the floor dripping all over the place it’s hard to convince anyone you’re not all wet .
Popcorn & Video anyone ???
I don’t have an axe to grind with anyone nor do I owe anyone an appology for the quality and value of the work they got from me. If anyone is unhappy with the quality or cost of service at a shop they should quickly move down the road. Over the years I have invited quite a few to move along… Do I need to vindicate myself?
The hazards of an open forum perhaps, we may not be addressing an individual, instead the hundreds of guests that visit each day.
People should not believe that mechanics charge $55 for 5 minutes of labor and stand around much of the day. This profession involves skill, physical labor and 10-12 hour days to earn $50,000 per year.
If nothing else, maybe visitors on this forum will read something like this and come to realize that the pie gets sliced into many, many pieces. That in turn could possibly lead to fewer ill feelings and confrontations along the way.
Even my late father had the “they’re getting rich…” opinion on mechanic labor bills. One weekend while chatting with him (many decades ago…) I started breaking it down with an explanation of how and where everything was accounted for and he developed a completely different outlook on it after that.
One thing that did appall him was to hear how most mechanics are paid; on the flat rate system.
On a family friendly forum I can’t repeat what he had to say about that…
Speaking of time - money, a couple of weeks ago I had to drop by the hospital and get an epidural injection for my spine. The neurosurgeon who did the needle spent right around 2 minutes total with me and his fee for that alone was 1500 bucks.
That’s not meant as a complaint against the medical profession because the guy is lights out excellent at what he does and the fee is appropriate for the job being done; just like an auto repair job.
