Lemon Yellow 87 n/a

Hey guys, I just finished tinkering with the fuel filter. I was going to replace it today but I had no luck. I depressurized the fuel rail by disconnecting #35 fuse (fuel pump fuse) and attempting to start the car. The car did not start so I let it crank over for a few seconds. I went under the car but unfortunately I had one key and an undersized crescent wrench (my keys and wrenches are at my dad's restaurant). First I undid the IN side of the filter. The bolt was a bit frozen but not too bad. I drained the fuel into a container (fuel came out earlier than expected and went all over my arm) and proceeded on to the next side. At this point, I still had the filter mounted to the car so I would not yank it out by accident. I put the key on the filter and the wrench on the nut and nothing. I strained my trapezius. What do you guys recomend?? I'm no wimp, I've benched 230lbs since grade 12 (freeweights baby). I went and got a can of WD-40 and one of my bigger wrenches and a small plumbers wrench. Should I soak the frozen nut in WD-40 for an hour and try again with the new equipment????? Suggestions?????

Ken

Hit it wit a f*cking hammer!
Seriously, after you put the WD-40 on, tap it to try and loosen it. If ya did that, try to place both of the wrenches on the nuts and hit one with a hammer(in the direction of opening obviously).

TomH

Re-attach the other side before resorting to excess force.

jim968

When I'm upside down under the car, working on each end of a threaded assembly, I sometimes get totally disoriented, and have to stop & think which way to turn things... "Lefty, loosey; righty, tighty!" always helps me restore my sense of perspective...except for the turnbuckles on the aux drive belts...D'uh!

Not, of course, that this would happen to y'all young'uns....

Jim, old & easily confuseder-ized

Bryan

Uh huh. Yup. Exactly. I removed my fuel pump and all the lines, and once I had everything outside the garage where I could really get at them, it was STILL incredibly hard to get those fittings apart.

I replaced my fuel pump and the lines to and from the filter anyway, but I refused to take no for an answer from an inanimate object and broke the old lines loose from the filter anyway, just to show them who's boss.

Bryan

Lemon Yellow 87 n/a

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm going to let it sit in wd-40 for a bit then I'm twist the ***** F-ing **** out of it. Ah, my back is SORE...

Dave

Have you tried to heat the fitting with a torch?


JK... If you had, you wouldn't be here to read this ,
But I bet that would do it!!!

d richard

Its been a couple of months since I changed mine so my memory is a bit fuzzy but I think I cut the lines on both sides with an old pair of wire cutters. I ordered the rubber line, the metal line , the bolt and the check valve while I was at it.
I used this chance to drain all the fuel from the tank (little bits of stuff not so pretty) and made sure there was no water or "crap" in the tank. I think I also took a bath despite clamping off the rubber line with vise grips.

eworkley

Try using some PB Blaster. It's by far the bset penetrating lube around. Usually a good parts jobber or industrial supply will carry it. Good Luck

Lemon Yellow 87 n/a

Thanks for the help guys, I soaked the nut in plenty of WD-40 and I have left it for about 4.5 hours. I'll take another crack at it soon.
PS, The heat treatment probably would have worked. Too bad for the fact the it would blow me and my car up.... I was even too freaked out to have my light too close.

Mark944na86

Make sure you take on board Jim's advice about really making sure you've got the wrenches around the right parts of the fittings and you're trying to turn things in the right direction. I recall having great difficulty loosening the nut on the inlet side, until I realized I was turning the wrong direction. Needless to say, figuring this out simpflied matters enormously.

Examine the new filter carefully in good light (i.e., not while under the car) and take note of what goes where and which way the threads turn. I found it counter-intuitive, so I'm sure at least some others will too.

And remember when putting the new one on, not to overtighten. These are compression fittings, and are designed to seal with only moderate tightening.

Good luck.

-Mark 86 944 NA

newoldguy

I agree with eworkley---you've got to try PB Blaster on this stuff. It works great. A little on my o2 sensor and it came right out. It should be easy to find---might have even got mine at NAPA.