Diesel fuel filter

kam04, Nov 12, 9:30am
How often should a diesel fuel filter be changed on a vehicle. I assume this is based on km's. Or every time it is serviced.
onl_148, Nov 12, 11:54am
Given the cost of repair a diesel engine if it has had "dirty" fuel, I would think replacing the filter often would be a wise investment !
intrade, Nov 12, 12:12pm
use good quality filters 25000km be max .I made a catapiller filter housing for my electronic diesel . factory filter or good brand like wix, mahle etc . i pulled a collapsed oil filter branded ryco out of my passat. replaced with wix. oem filter brands are not oem thats just a name like onhanglow
franc123, Nov 12, 4:15pm
Normally 30-40km which is every second service on a modern diesel. This is assuming normal pump diesel from a station is being put in it directly, if it's being refueled from drums or containers, ie where it's got greater chance of contamination it should be done every service.
gpg58, Nov 12, 4:32pm
Every second service for my 2013 navara, so 20k, personally i buy all filters off nissan, as not really much/any dearer than the aftermarket junk, so never worth the risk.
annie17111, Nov 12, 4:56pm
Every second oil change so 20,000kms. 2013 isuzu dmax
msigg, Nov 12, 6:40pm
franc123 and some others are on to it. Yea keep it clean from the start and don't use second hand drums from the tractor yard.
franc123, Nov 13, 1:16am
If yours is the D40 YD25DDTi model that has the filter up on the drivers side of the firewall that has the 4 or 5 fuel lines going in and out of it, its critical that you do use the right parts. I've seen an aftermarket filter cause havoc with one of those, the bloke who serviced it did install it correctly, the lines fitted tightly and it appeared to bleed up ok but man the commonrail system hated that filter. It was hard to start and ran like an absolute pig and was generating some weird readings on the scan tool like perhaps it was sucking air or was restricted, the old filter was temporarily reinstalled and it ran fine, ditto when a new Nissan unit was fitted. The aftermarket one was a well known brand that is used extensively in this country too.
kam04, Nov 13, 9:18am
Thanks for your comments
intrade, Nov 13, 11:01am
if manufacturer states sooner then its on time or sooner Best not to go over Some diesel can be a nightmare to chage a filter like a older iveco and some ford mondeo i recall. I always prefill filters with clean already filtered diesel.
a lot of commonrail pumps will damage if you start them with no fuel like a empty filter High pressure pumps run dry = damage occures= worse then not change the filter .
Plus there is only a hand full of makers of commonrail pumps So yes it apply to all of them since its the exact same pumps internally. and thats where the damage happens when you grind em without diesel.
kam04, Nov 13, 2:51pm
I have a motorhome on a Fiat Ducato platform. I have it serviced every 12 months regardless of kms and averages about 8,000km / 12mnths. Every service, the fuel filter is changed. As I'm not a mechanic and not knowing a lot about diesel engines I was just curious how often the fuel filter should be changed. By the comments on here mine is well within the required or suggested time frame.
gpg58, Nov 13, 4:03pm
Cheers, think mine has only 1 in and 1 out(2013 rx Thailand built), but have read enough and seen a fair number of filters opened on youtube, so would never trust some untested brand.
Issues were plenty, including very little filter material, some not even pleated, and filter media being bypassed anyway, along with the sucked collapsed ones.
Trouble also, is some junk may have a known brand name, but be fake, so would never buy a cheap example online, from some some random trader.
intrade, Nov 13, 5:18pm
you better mark the fuel filter with a permanent marker to see if it really was changed. Trust no one.
gpg58, Nov 13, 5:24pm
Learnt that with my then brand new nissan, i marked everything including drain bung position (was warned by a friend), and sure enough they did nothing at all, except clean outside of vehicle, for its first service, and charged me almost $500!
Needless to say i have done my own servicing since finding that.
Will be marking everything again, when my 2 Holden's are due for their 1 year old servicing in 5 months time.
tweake, Nov 13, 5:38pm
the first service for a new vehicle is only a check over anyway. they don't do any filters etc until the 2nd service.

tho wise to mark them. a mate had it. he always i had the car regularly serviced. i pulled the air filter out and it was black. it had never been changed. put a 2nd hand one in and it went a lot better.
gpg58, Nov 13, 5:43pm
Yes both the holdens had first one at 1 month old, but the nissan was at 3 or 6 months (forgotten which), and an oil change was listed in schedule.(so i had it done elsewhere next day, and a sample saved and report provided. of course nissan denied not doing it, but evidence was clear, well filthy black actually) - i had center punched bung and sump to mark position, and smeared with dirt to hide them, so was obvious never been out.
kam04, Nov 14, 12:37pm
Looks very new to me.
franc123, Oct 24, 5:17pm
Yes quite likely it wasnt equipped with that one being a 2013, the Spanish Navara I think had been discontinued here by then. I've been buying genuine filters from USA for some years now , either from RockAuto or even some dealerships who sell on Amazon or Ebay etc, and usually get several at once. The price of aftermarket stuff locally has got too high now for my liking.