I am at 14,000 miles and will be changing the filters out at 15,000 with my next oil change. I am thinking about having the dealer change the fuel filters.

My question is the fuel filter change is specified with miles. Why?

An F550 at 30,000lbs getting 8.5mpg is burning TWICE the fuel I am at 17mpg. I have run over 800 gallons through my truck, the equivalent would be 1600+ gallons in the (theoretical) F550 here. That is a big difference.

Is there any data that says what the filters life should be by gallons and not miles?

Also, when I get the filters changed I am wanting to at least see the filters, if not the housings. If I change them myself this will be easier than at the dealer, but we'll see. After one of the videos on here a while back with the crew changing out the 2005 or so frame rail filter I'd be curious what mine looks like. I would hope to not find much sediment in there but anything is possible.

 

Hi Steve,

I think that simple logic agrees with your idea that it should be gallons rather than miles. But I think that it's much harder to track and plan for gallons, and therefore I'm willing to bet that the maintenance recommendations are based on miles because that's easier to track and plan around. Therefore one could assume that for everyone but those towing constantly the 15,000 mile interval is a very conservative number, but certainly necessary to ensure proper filtration because there's no great way to track gallons unless you use a dedicated trip screen.

 

I bet both trucks run a pretty similar amount through the filter, just the F550 sends less back to the tank.

 

Good points and I agree that the issue is something to think about. I also wonder about the hours vs. miles. My truck runs long distances at a high average speed resulting in lots of miles but not many hours as compared to a more traditional personally owned truck. So, a lot of you guys will have more engine hours with fewer miles.

It's not a big deal unless you figure the difference over 2 years. In 2 years my truck will have 100,000 miles and 5000 hours. A "normal" truck may have 5000 hours in 2 years but only 50,000 miles. That's a big difference and if I were to follow a maintenance schedule set on number of hours I might get 20,000 mile oil change intervals where somebody else's will be the average 7500 miles.

It's hard for me to get my point across, don't think I worded it right but it's a philosophy similar to what KC is asking about. And yes, I will burn around 500 gallons of diesel per month and go 15,000 miles before changing the filter. I tow a lot so my lifetime average MPG for my truck would be around 12 vs. the 16 or so of a free runner. So like he says, my filters will have much more fluid passing through them than most other owners.

 

I could turn on the electric fuel pump without starting the engine and you'd have thousands of gallons going through the filter...but they would be the same 26 gallons over and over again. The filters wouldn't keep cleaning the fuel, as there would be a point where the particles that were capable of being removed would be gone. Without putting in new fuel there would be no additional contaminants, and therefore the filter life would be nearly infinite, or at least until the media decomposed.

So the total amount of fuel filtered isn't the amount of fuel that gets passed through the filters, but rather the amount of fuel that gets pumped into the tank. Each gallon of fuel pumped into the tank is a gallon that contains particulates that will be filtered by the fuel filters. They will be removed whether the fuel passes through once or a dozen times.

 

Is the amount of fuel burned not calculated by the trip meter? That is still the same amount of fuel put in to the tank, correct?

My trip B, by the way, has never been reset. It turned over at 10,000 miles (doesn't count the 10's place), but has kept up hours and fuel consumption.

I agree that tracking fuel burned is more difficult - but with the gizmos these new trucks have for calculating everything it is very easy to add fuel consumed to the "info" tab. I've got it in my trip B already, its just resettable and I have chosen not to reset it.

I agree that there is a difference between hours and miles too, ruschejj. Engine hours is the only data point used in determining machine maintenance schedules as there is no other accurate measurement. Now, farm machinery is able to track machine usage (not something the operator can see, read the ECU with a computer) and this also brings in gallons of fuel burned. The interesting thing is, just as with your "high average speed", you can see, on a tractor for example, the machine utilization based on hp output, ground speed, and engine RPM. I believe the next step in the machinery technology would be to expand to determining maintenance schedules based on the machinery usage rather than the age-old engine hour method. Perhaps this will carry over to the on-road market as well. Maybe the engine usage is already something dealers can see through their OBDII connections, we just haven't seen it.

 

Here was my factory DFCM filter @ 15,539 miles.
The filter collected a few globs of crud.

 

kper05 - any guess as to the amount of gallons run through it?

 

just ordered my first set of filters through parts guy Ed, they only list the one under the hood anyone know oart number for underside fuel filter and where to get a good price??? I know what the book says on intervals but I'm gonna change these once a year, I'll do about 7500 per year.

 

They're already getting there, Steve. I believe this is the point of the IOLM dictating the oil change intervals for the truck. Other manufacturers, such as Honda have taken this a step further. On my wife's '08 CR-V there was NO set maintenance schedule. Rather an explanation as to what the letters and numbers meant that were on the display when resetting the OLM. A was a basic service, B had a couple more things such as checking belts, and then there were numbers 1-5, each with a different task that was required at that specific interval. I remember 2 was change the rear differential fluid, which the car wanted at 15,000 miles! All of these were based on vehicle usage, and you would find no normal schedule or severe service schedule in the owner's guide. I believe Ford will get to this as the natural progression of technology increases. Of course many folks, like admittedly yourself at this point, won't trust the system and will go back to their old ways and intervals.

I do not believe that these are sold individually, but the part number you ordered through Parts Guy Ed's site should be the filter kit that includes both filters as well as the O-ring seal for the DFCM.

 

Approximately 994 gallons.

Edit: Forgot about dealer fill; 1,020 gallons?

 

This is correct, both filters come in one box. I know this because I open the box myself and hand the filters to the diesel tech when he gets the old ones out and wipes out the canister for the frame rail filter.

 

Ford had more frequent change intervals for fuel filters on the 6.0 (and I think 6.4 but don't recall for sure) vs. the Navistar recommendations for same engine with same filters.

Don't forget, they change the frequency for severe service too; doesn't mean anymore fuel is filtered. If operated in dusty environment but tank not filled in that environment should be no impact. Operating when greater than 100 degrees; I guess the fuel might be a little hotter; but it is getting cooled. Pulling a heavy load; isn't that what the truck is for.

Now days with ULSD and more chance of emulsified water I would prefer to go on the safe side with fuel filter replacement.

I suspect a lot of it has to do with convenience of making the maintenance schedule and connecting it with oil change or other service. I would think possibly the primary filter should be changed more freqently than the secondary but if you could purchase the filters that way then someone would probably never change the secondary or even the primary.

I do think hour meter would make more sense than miles and I don't think severe duty should require more frequent fuel filter change; then on the other hand if the truck could tell you when to change it (then events such as frequent very low fuel tank or water in fuel could initialize an early fuel filter change request).

Bob