I just did a quick search and didn't see anything on this so I thought I would post.

I decided to change my fuel filter (oil and Tranny mount too) Tuesday evening. I put the car on ramps and went to loosen the bolt on the end (one wrench on the filter, one on the bolt) and the wrench on the filter slipped and punctured the filter. I could not get the bolt loose at all and working under the car was very awkward so I thought I would look to see what all was holding all the fuel lines in place. It turned out that removing the line to the engine and the one to the tank was very easy. I then disconnected the fuelpump wires and the whole thing cane right out.

Now with the filter off the car, I finally got the bolt to turn however the threaded portion inside the filter was now turning too. I put a pair of vice grips on the end of the old filter and finally the bolt came out. The bolt on the other end of the filter (to engine) was considerably easier to get out.

Overall, if I had to do this job again, I think I would likely take the whole thing out if I didn't have a hoist. It just makes things so much easier. The only word of caution is that this method is a bit messy so you want to make sure you have containers to hold all that gas that comes out of those lines.

Just my 2 cents. When I first punctured teh filter I was a bit scared. I had rendered my car undriveable and was no where near finished the job. It all ended happily though.

I did one better lol, after removing the filter, if you take a hydr jack and put the filter between the jack and the jacking point on the car and jacker up the filter will go nice and flat and make and easy job of removing the bolts hehehe, though i only did this out of futration it worked well. putting the new one on really requires little force on the bolts, in fact if your useing new copper rings the seal is much easier to get.

that's exactly what I ended up doing when I started having problems removing the filter on my '92. I too think it was so much easier to remove that whole cradle and take care of things without a 3000lb brick resting inches from my head!

Ian

As you discovered it is very easy to puncture the filter. It is a real hassle when you puncture the new filter tightening the fittings- BTDT!) I learned to hold the filter with a very large set of adjustable pliers on the rolled seam to reduce the chances of that happening.

I agree with you it is easier to deal with the filter on the bench rather than under the car.

Randy

I Didn't relize that it was possible to "bust" all 10 knuckle in one day with out punching something.... that was until i tried to change the filter/pump on my 245 and i had a set of 4'high ramps to help! Much easier to take out the cradle, and while its out test your fuel pumpnever hurts.
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Dan D. '85 245 DL , Delanisdjd@aol.com