mxracer

I combed thru the maintenance records I have for my car (4K to 49K) again and noticed that there is no record of a fuel filter replacement.

So today I had some time and replaced it.

Having more time on my hands I decided to dissect the old filter to see how bad it was inside. It was as I expected, dirty.

The residual fuel that was in the filter was BLACK, not discolored but black. The filter was obviously doing it's job but wow. (fuel caught when changing the filter was clean)

Here's a quick pic of it all laid out on the bench for anyone who might be interested in "what's in a 996 fuel filter".

Parts are in order from left to right with the filter element below. Also notice the nicely colored fluid in the white cap. That's what could have been flowing thru to the engine if the filter failed.

Kevinmacd

It was black because it eashed the filter

rmc1148

Changed mine twice even though few miles driven because of time and I'm ****. My f350 plugged at40k and wouldn't start so it is something that should be taken seriously. Side note- was going to change the filter in my wife's 2011 rav4 and no filter is listed and is considered life time and or dealer only replacement= I say bs.

Macster

My 2002 Boxster does not have a serviceable fuel filter, it is part of the fuel pump, the housing actually as the fuel has to flow through a fine mesh in the plastic housing that holds the fuel pump, and the engine was just fine with this filtering. The pump lasted over 200K miles. The tech said the filter didn't look that bad and I got a chance to look the thing over -- still have it in a box at the office I think -- and while the mesh had collected some fine particulate matter there was plenty of remaining mesh area.

Here the engine is now with almost 295K miles and the injectors are original and the rest of the engine appears to be doing just fine with whatever filtering the new pump and its mesh housing provide.

rmc1148

Well maybe the Toy will be fine= its been no maintenance other than normal things and a great car.

Carlo_Carrera

What does "eashed" mean? Did you mean washed?