Ordered my new air (K&N), oil and fuel filter the other day in preparation for some routine maintenance. Slapped the K&N in as soon as it arrived. Ended up waiting a couple days until I could work on the car in the morning (to minimize fuel pressure when changing the filter). Unlike my wife's Audi, I was happy to find the fuel filter sitting up nice and pretty in the engine bay. Gave it a quick look over: support bracket, threaded bottom connection, threaded top connection. Seemed easy enough.......

WTF?!!?!!?!?! I had wrenches all over that blasted thing and couldn't budge ANYTHING! Am I freakin' missing something? I think I may even nearly bent the bottom part of the filter (I verified, it's not leaking, though) I was torquing so hard. Is one of the connections opposite-threaded or something? Do I just need to squirt some PB Blaster on there (don't think that stuff is flammable)? Please help!

EDIT: did get my oil change done with Mobil1 5W30. FYI, anyone who wants to put a Fumoto valve on a 1st gen 3.2, you'll need their adapter. I was kinda ticked to find their website incomplete, as it told me my model shouldn't need it. I had to order it and now wait until my next change to install it.

 

Click here... this might give you kind of an idea how its all put together... just select the model of TL you have... keep going until you can select parts for the TL... go down the list until you find fuel pipes... you'll see the fuel filter as a set numbered as 1... it might not help much like how to take it off or anything... but it does assure you that it can be taken off... check it out... you can buy a stock one from there as well...

 

I already have a stock one from ahmotor.com. The diagram does, at least, help verify that I view the system correctly, but that was the easy part. I still need to figure out why I can't get them apart. Think I'll just try some Blaster. Unfortunately, I need to wait for another morning when I can work on it after the car's been sitting for a while (or, just have lots of rags handy to catch all that gas.......).

 

you need a flared nut wrench to loosen the bolt and it is a pain in the ass. I believe its 9/16" but i'm not 100% sure. Just a warning it's extremly easy to strip this bolt to you might have already done some damage. My friend messed his up and he needs to change his entire fuel line. I had mine done by a mechanic, and yes we are lucky to have it located in such a simple spot. My accord that i did myself took nearly 1 small can of wd-40 to loosen it up.

 

i have no idea where to find it or what it looks like.. can someone post a pic for me please...

 

the red circle

 

Is it really SAE? I just picked up some metric flare nut wrenches! Hmmm, 9/16" is just a hair over 14mm - do you think that's it? A 19mm wrench seemed to fit pretty well on the lower part of the filter but that's almost exactly 3/4". Aaarrgh, if I have to go get another set of wrenches......

Someone else suggested hitting the top banjo bolt with an impact wrench. That scares me a little.

 

OK, I just went back out - lower connections are definitely: 19mm to hold the filter, 14mm on the fuel line nut. Top banjo bolt is 17mm. I definitely feel better grab with the line wrench on the bottom, but I don't have time to do it right now. Maybe I'll wake up early tomorrow morning and give it a go....

 

Got it! Left the filter completely bolted to the bracket and went to town. The top tab being in the bracket, I think, is key to getting the banjo bolt off, as it holds the upper fuel line as you torque the bolt. For the lower connection, flare nut/line wrench is key. You can tell it just grips so much tighter than an open wrench. Holding with the 19mm and pulling like hell on the line wrench got it free. Just a little spilled gas!

I placed the new filter in, made the connections hand-tight, remounted it in the support bracket, then tightened everything down. Turned the key to "ON" for several seconds to let the pump work a little, started right up and ran it for a minute or so, leak-free!

Question, though: my filter (genuine Honda) came with 3 washers, but I only saw two on the previous setup (top and bottom of the banjo bolt). The third washer was very small - looked like it fit up into the lower connection but, from what I could tell, it would interfere with the flared end. I left it off and everything seems fine but just wondering........

 

Well, at least now we kind of know how to take the fuel filter off... and also, if your car burns up... we also know why... ***knocks on wood*** i'll have to change mine too... Has anyone said anything about how many miles do you have to change the fuel filter???

 

too cheap to have someone else do it for me, to little time, anyone here using the long life oil for cars with 75,000 plus miles? just started using it.

 

I've heard annually/15K miles or so. Now that I have the right tools and have done it once, I can do it again in about 10 minutes. The filter's only $20 - pretty cheap investment to make sure you keep your fuel system clean. I'm going to run some injector cleaner through on the next tank, too.

 

im kinda lost here. how can you tell when you need to change your fuel filter. had my car for about 2 years and added 25,000 miles. the car has a total of 125,000 to it.

 

like someone said, its cheap - filter costs around $20ish bucks. I believe the recommended interval is 30k. I'd say change it.

 

did everyone loosen the gas cap to releive pressure on the fuel system?

 

I'm really looking into doing this, hopefully this week/weekend, is it possible to do it with just regular tools, or is it way to much of a risk? I'm guessing it would go for $40-50 at the dealership?

 

will a bad fuel filter make your car coast funny. my car decelerates really fast after 60-80mph. i went to a shop to scan my car and there was no code in the tranny or engine. i dont wanna spend $40-50 on an filter and find out that nothings fix.

 

If you're not willing to spend $40-50 to change the fuel filter to try to fix a small problem, you probably shouldn't be driving a TL. Not saying that to be mean, just meaning that these cars can get EXPENSIVE in a hurry. They are great cars, but when things do go wrong, parts can get up there rather quickly!! $40-$50 for something that probably needs to be done anyways is not a bad deal.

 

i spoke with the dealer today and they told me that the fuel filter should be changed every 100,000 miles.......................? is this true ?

where exactly is the filter located? near the trunk by the gas tank or the engine bay?

thanks

 

Engine bay...Not sure where in engine bay exactly on 2.5 though.....

 

I hope spooky doesn't mind I used a picture of his 2.5 engine but it's the yellow circle.