skurf
Well-known member
I've been using B20 - B50 in the winter and B100 since it warmed up and was wondering how often I should change the fuel filter. I have 11k miles so far and have exclusively used biodiesel since I bought the car new.
How would I go about doing that?tditom said:The change interval is every 20k miles. Drain the water separator halfway between each replacement.
How much are you supposed to let drain?Fortuna Wolf said:pull the filter up, unscrew the white knob and let drain into a container.
Honestly, its not really necessary. I've never noticed water.
Thanks. I've already joined the co-op. I'm thinking of going out next Tuesday to do a little homebrewing. Luckily my car is new (06) so I hope I won't be needing a mechanic for a while.skinz2k5TDI said:replying to the message in your footer... i don't know of a good machanic, but you could try the bio diesel co-op in Durham, they may know of someone... or even the TDIers in the area... a few have vagcom's.
skinz
Jason, a plugged filter won't allow the car to go down the road, that is when i would change it and not a minute before.compu_85 said:Because a plugged filter make the injection pump work harder, and that shortens it's life.
-Jason
skurf said:So is it 10 or 20?
When your filter clogs and your engine quits, back up one mile and
change your filter, as you will have gone a mile too far!
Seriously, if it concerns you, carry a spare.
Bill
For the most part I`m with you Bill, but here`s one reason why I`m going on a date schedule rather than when it actually needs it;TXBilll said:Why would you change the filter before it clogs? It seems to me the longer you leave the filter in, the better it filters. When you have a loss of power, change the filter. Maintenance schedules make $$$ for service departments.
RC said:For the most part I`m with you Bill, but here`s one reason why I`m going on a date schedule rather than when it actually needs it;
I drive the TDIs (47+MPG Hwy) and the Mrs. drives the 300TD (28MPG Hwy) so when she goes on a trip she takes the VW for mileage reasons. For the last few months I`ve noticed at start up a slight strain for fuel in the TDI and figured I`d get to it soon.
Well I didn`t and the Mrs. w/the Munchkin in tow took a weekend trip to the Big City, and thru some pretty unsavory neighborhoods to boot. On the return trip they luckily got over the Bridge and onto the Shore before the car began to buck. The Mrs., who`s been through this before (angel that she is), took it slow and called me (75 miles away at this point) for instructions. In a matter of minutes she called again after pulling off the road in a rather more convenieint location than the side of the hwy before the inevitable total filter failure.
Although there is a spare fuel filter, appropriate tools, and some B100 for priming in every car, I grabbed another fuel filter just for good measure and headed west for the rescue. In 75 minutes I found my girls in good shape and good spirits, changed out the filter, and we were on our way home.
I`ve got better things to do than to pull off these rescues and having to turn it into a show so my girls will think I`m a hero..... when I`m actually just being stupid. Imagine if this happened 120 miles away on the other side of the Bridge in one of those unsavory neighborhoods. I`m going to change the filters out before it actually needs it from now on.
And BTW, the filter had 32K on it. Not bad I guess.
Whatever floats your boat. I don't mind changing a fuel filter on the road. I'm not saying wait till the car stops. The filters give some amount of warning usually. I've done this on all my old MB diesels and it's working on my Golf. Mine's gone at LEAST 45K miles on the same filter, still going strong. I'll change it when i need to.tditom said:It is an extremely poor practice to wait for a filter to plug before changing it. Besides what Jason stated about working the IP harder, the problem with this approach is you never know when it will plug! It's never at a convenient time!! That's why its called "preventive maintenance"
What does it cost? $30? Less if you buy the filter packs already mentioned. Or you can go with the CAT set up- I think its cheaper that way long run.
Bottom line: Do it when its convenient for your schedule, and not Murphy's.