Well I finally changed the fuel filter in my '93 945 NA yesterday. The car has 131,999 miles on it and I don't know when, or if, the filter has been changed. I hate to do this job although it really isn't that hard.

I took the old filter and poured out its contents through the inlet side of the filter. I was surprised by the amount of water which came out. I don't know how much but there were a large number of water drops in the bottom of my oil drain pan. If I had to guess I'd say at least a tablespoon of water. I'd heard the filter stopped water and it apparently does.

Now my questions are these: Should that water be left in the filter for the life of the filter or should gas dryer (isopropyl alcohol) be used to remove the water? Does the water/alcohol solution actually pass the filter to be burned in the engine?

I'm not too worried about the Volvo but I have an older Mercedes with the CIS mechanical fuel injection and I've read warnings about how water can really foul up the fuel distributor. This fuel system is similar to the one used by Volvo around 1980. If the filter element were to rupture, the water would get into the fuel distributor. I'm wondering if it might be good maintenance practice to run fuel dryer through at regular intervals. I imagine the intervals would depend on climate, whether a person left the tank nearly empty often, etc.

What do you folks think about all this? Or should I stop fussing and go smell the roses?