Fuel Filter on 2006 GU 3,0

[steve4377]

Doc,

The standard fuel filter works fine. It already has a water separator in it, in fact it is alarmed to your ‘check engine’ light on the dash. According to the Nissan Dealer I spoke with in Innisfail FNQ, if the check engine light comes on and it’s steady, it’s a water in the fuel issue, if it’s flashing, it’s some other problem with the engine. You can see the little float in the bottom of the housing when you change the fuel filter. There is a little tap on the bottom of the filter housing to let out any water (as water is denser than diesel), so it will sink to the bottom, however in practice it is rare that you would actually pick up any water from your tank, and if you did I surmise that your engine would stop as water in such significant quantities would flood the filter and go on to the cylinders where it would of course – not burn!
I change my engine oil, oil filter, air filter and fuel filter every 10k. I buy a set of all three on ebay for about $60 with postage (normally Sakura brand – but it varies). I also add Diesel Nulon to the oil as I believe it works well and is a great anti-Nads feature.
I had an issue with algae in the fuel. This blocks the filter and thus the flow of fuel to the engine. This algae lives in the fuel between the fuel and any water in the tank – cunning stuff. On occasion it can multiply rapidly. It then caused the car to lose power and appear to be in limp home mode, but it was merely starving for fuel.
Changing the fuel filter immediately fixed the problem but the RACQ man cut open the old filter to show me, and it looks like it’s full of jelly!!!
When I asked him about damage to the injectors he stated that the filters do their job and that’s it, no other problems occur. I then treated the fuel with a treatment to kill the bugs and changed the filter again 1000k later, that filter also had solids in it – but not jelly, but solids that I assume were sucked up from the tank including small pieces of solid matter after being released by the jelly!!! Never a problem since.
Moral of the story, treat your fuel once a year, it’s cheap insurance. Also I would never leave a filter in for 100k but that’s just my personal view- remember the filter mediums are basically treated paper, they will break down over a long time.
Lastly, if going ‘cross the desert, maybe carry a spare filter just in case.
As a techo matter, note that every time I change my fuel filter - I prime the new one with the pumper on top, but the engine doesn’t start. A mate gave me this little tip. Use a narrow nose pliers to crimp off the fuel return line (on my ZD30) it’s the little 50mm rubber hose at the top of the motor on the opposite side to the fuel filter just above and behind the turbo charger. Then have someone crank the engine, this forces trapped air through the injectors into the motor and then allows the engine to start easily. Let go of the hose as soon as the engine starts, so pressure does not build up in the system.
Good Luck Doc…