How often to replace fuel filters?

[PwrSmoke]

The tanks leaks was from the leftover water in the tanks that didn't suck out. Had you added some water absorber to the fuel it would have combined with the diesel and gone thru the filter and injection pump. It may have damaged the pump too but it would have gotten it all out of the tank saving it. It may have dropped out in the fuel filter too...

Yep. I have some vague recollection of putting something in the fuel but can't think of what it might have been. I think this happened in 1994.

 

[projectdagger]

so, as long has the light does not come on for having water in the fuel. i should not really worry about the water separater? i've only put on roughly 7 thousand miles in the year that i have owned the ford. should i go ahead and change the fuel filter, or let it go for a while?
the previous owner used a fram fuel filter, i switched over to wix.

 

[dgr]

That assumes your light works. Unless you've tested the light, you don't really have any way of knowing. I haven't really thought about how to test the light either. Sure would have been nice if ford had built a test circuit into when the key comes on. I stuck a petcock in the hose hanging out of the bottom. When I change my oil, I pull the cable and dump a little out. Once I get my hydroboost on, I am going to mount something else back there like a chevy 6.2L primary filter that has a replaceable element and has a petcock built in to drain any water.

You can also get a 7.3L filter head that has the water separator build in or a racor separator or a golden rod or, or, or

edit: The problem with water is you don't know when it is going to happen. Maybe I should just go for the 7.3 housing and wire in the WIF light.... hmmmm

 

[PwrSmoke]

Yeah, that the big question after 20+ years... does the system still work? That whole assembly is somewhat notorious for being the cause of fuel and air leaks so who's to say the water sensor is anything special. I don't see anything in my manual how to test the sensor itself.

 

[C.J.]

I never thought of it this way but just maybe... My IP is maybe 2 years old and under full throttle it bogs down a bit. I thought that maybe my advance piston or something was going bad or maybe I just got a cheap rebuild put on when I did the IP. This coincidentally started happening shortly after I changed my fuel filter and there is gunk all over the filter. After reading all of this, I now know that the gunk is from a leak between the filter and water separator. I hadn't thought about air intrusion though, I only thought about diesel leaking out.

Knowing this now, how does one go about getting a good seal between the filter and separator to avoid leaks. Hopefully the leak is also causing my WOT advance issues seeing as how it could possibly be air intrusion and not an IP issue

I would much rather change the filter again as opposed to the IP.

I suppose I should mention that this is on my '90 7.3 e350 box van and not my '87 6.9 f250

 

[hesutton]

Sounds more like a supply issue rather than air intrusion. How's the lift pump performing?

Heath

 

[C.J.]

I suppose I don't rightly know. When I bought the truck I threw gobs of money at it. Valve job, head gaskets, IP and a whole bunch of other stuff while it was "already torn apart". It ran like a champ but now when I stomp on it and it kicks down a gear, you can actually feel the point where it bogs down. Feather the throttle a bit and it picks up. Smash it some more and it bogs down. As the rpm's increase you can give it a bit more throttle before it bogs down again.

When I took it to OFI in Eugene to have it timed, they pretty much told me something was messed up with out saying something was messed up and I wasn't about to pay 200 bones to find out I need a new IP pump in addition to the new IP pump.

I suppose I was just hoping to get lucky and have a $40 fix.

 

[subway]

for the OBS style trucks you can just ground out the wire that mounts to the bottom of the filter assembly and see if the light comes on. i found this out when my wire worked loose and my water in fuel light started coming on randomly and blinking as i drove down the road. i found it odd since it was not a recent fillup. i checked when i got home and found i just had to push the connection back in place.

inside the filter house nut on the bottom of the filter is just two contacts spaced apart. when water is in the housing it lowers the resistance enough between the contacts that it can complete the curcuit and activate the light. a paper clip can accomplish this for a quick check.

 

[Devon Harley]

When I run only diesel I change mine 15 to 20k. I run wvo an bio alot an tend to change 5 to 12k. I run wix filters for about 25 dollars.