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Fuel filter replacement

posted by  Grey240Polar on  Thu Jan 5 14:23 CST 2017
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There have been some posts about when to replace the fuel filter, and there are some wildly varying mileages.

Volvo says to do it at 40,000 km (24,000 mi) and you may think "yeah right, make that 124,000 miles". So did, I. But while I was replacing the main fuel pump, I also replaced the filter.
Since I had replaced the old one myself and kept a record, I know it had done almost 69,000 km (43,000 mi).

Curious about the level of contamination, I tore the old one down and was in for a surprise. Shortly after, I had to replace the sender unit and primary pump in the tank. The surprise became even bigger.

So, first have a look at the tank of my 245 after 25 years:
http://i522.photobucket.com/albums/w345/jitter007/Benzinetank%20245%20na%2025%20jaar_.jpg

Looks clean, doesn't it?

Another look, two black specs of dirt. Upper centre: here's where the filter on the primary pump has been rubbing against the bottom of the tank.

http://i522.photobucket.com/albums/w345/jitter007/Benzinetank%20245%20na%2025%20jaar.jpg

So, that looks like almost no dirt at all, right?

All the more suprising, then, that the fuel filter looks like this after just 69 k km:
http://i522.photobucket.com/albums/w345/jitter007/ScanTech%2097.562%20benzinefilter%20vervuiling%20na%2069.000%20km.jpg

I think you can see why I decided to go for the recommended interval of 40k km in the future...







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    Fuel filter replacement

    posted by  Grey240Polar on  Thu Jan 12 10:31 CST 2017
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    Here are two pictures made by a fellow Volvo driver who's recently taken the time to open his fuel filter too.
    This one came from a 940 with an odometer showing 780,000 km (~485,000 mi), it's uncertain when the last time was when it was changed. No make could be discerned anymore on the rusty filter.





    I wouldn't like to drive around with this, look at all the gunk in the inward facing folds.

    Edit: now that I found out how to include photos in this forum, a look at what I found in mine again (notice the different construction).
    Peculiar to see how mine's solied with grey/anthracite particles while his are mostly brown. Would exceeding the replacement interval extremely be the reason the filter turned brown?





    And that was dirt in the fuel coming from this rather clean looking tank:







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      Fuel filter replacement

      posted by  Onkel Udo II on  Fri Jan 13 17:24 CST 2017
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      last visit: Fri Oct 24 08:50 CST 2014
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      Just had two stupid thoughts:

      Do the countries you go through use dyed fuels like East Germany used to? It could account for some differences in the color of the fuel filter deposits.

      One of the reasons our filters might look a lot cleaner if the long term used of 5-10% ethanol. If the tank started clean, Ethanol dissolves about anything organic (it is a solvent) so the only deposits on the filter would be inorganic (rust mostly).

      I still think you are super stressing over non-issues but that is OK.








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        Fuel filter replacement

        posted by  Grey240Polar on  Sat Jan 14 02:38 CST 2017
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        Ah yes, I can see why you might think that.
        But when I find something that surprises me and proves my assumptions wrong, I like to delve a bit deeper into it and share the results. It's mostly curiosity...

        I only know of diesel sold under lower tax rates being dyed red to prevent those with access to it using it in anything other than agricultural equipment and ships. There are many diesel powered vehicles, including passenger cars, over here, so you can understand the temptation.
        Nowadays it's been further restricted to use in boats and ships (excluding those for recreational/leisure use) only.

        As you can see on my photo, the tank is almost pristine, even after 25 years. In the seam of the intank fuel filter (the "sock") I found some hairs and sand grains, which probably fell in while filling the tank. No gunk, no rust... and still the fuel filter under the car clearly had a job to do.

        It's been suggested that thet grey stuff might be carbon worn off the brushes in the pumps, but that seems like way too much to come from just the brushes.

        About the ethanol, by law, petrol has contained at least 5% ethanol for years now. And there is a shift towards 10% ethanol (E10), but some engines (mostly directly injected ones) cannot be run on it. Volvo is one of the few manufacturers that say running E10 is fine in most models from 1976 on, most other manufacturers like to stick around 2000.








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    Fuel filter replacement

    posted by  Onkel Udo II on  Thu Jan 5 14:39 CST 2017
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    last visit: Fri Oct 24 08:50 CST 2014
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    Replaced my 173K miles (I assume) filter on my 940 because it had rusted under the clamp and was intermittently dripping. Still looked basically new inside. Is your fuel potentially coming from ancient underground unlined steel tanks (can't believe any are still left).








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      Fuel filter replacement

      posted by  Grey240Polar on  Thu Jan 5 16:20 CST 2017
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      I really don't know what we have over here as underground storage tanks, but suffice to say they must comply with Western European standards.
      Fuel will be of low sulfur content too. Some of what I got was E10 (10% ethanol), but even standard fuel has, by law, 5% ethanol content. Volvo says E10 is fine for 1976 and later model years (which is much older than most other brands will specify), except for directly injected (GDI) engines, which the B200F in my 245 obviously isn't.

      The fuel looks quite okay to the naked eye and with negligible deposits in the tank, even after 25 years. It must be down to very fine particles that the oil refineries don't filter out.

      All the fuel that filter has ever seen was filled at pumps in The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Luxemburg and Austria. Some of them were the big boys like Shell and Esso, others were discounters. So no dodgy Eastern European or Russian stuff.







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