The manual shows 15,000 miles for fuel filter changes. Is there any real benefit to changing them more frequently?

I've also heard that you don't have to change the oil until the screen tells you, and the manual shows 7500 miles as recommended. I do mine at 5k.

Especially with the fuel quality discussion appearing elsewhere, that makes me wonder about the fuel filters a bit. I am coming up on 10k and I'm thinking about getting them changed out. Whats the general consensus?

I guess I'd rather do maintenance a bit more often than not.

 

I changed my oil at 5K, and will probably change it again at 6500 more miles. I think that waiting until 7500 is a tad long.

As to the fuel filters . . . .I am anxious to see if I have water in my fuel. So I wll have my first fuel filters changed at 11000 miles.

The dealer wants $200 for a fuel filter change. There is a good video showing how to change the fuel filters, and I may do that. If I do it myself I can justify changing them more ofter.

ken

 

I am contemplating having a local dealer do the fuel filters. I know the process to doing it and I'm sure I can do that myself, but the other side is it gives me a reason to go to the dealer, ask questions, maybe have them do the re-flash for the transmission shifting, and ultimately build a relationship. If I ever have a failure down the road having a decent relationship with them would only benefit that circumstance.

 

Above is a quote from the maintenance chart for the 6.7. I am at 16,200 miles right now and have contemplated changing the fuel filter soon. I have also never seen the change oil warning as my first change was just over 5,000 miles and the second change at just over 12,000 miles. I have synthetic 5W40 in there now and will wait it out this time to see how far the truck lets me go before it tells me to change it. I know the oil is capable of far more miles than the truck will go before telling me to change it.

At this point I am just curious to see exactly how many miles before the warning. I have a theory that the so called monitoring system is just a timed idiot light. I bet it comes on at exactly 7500 miles and I bet the fuel filter light comes on at 22,500 miles exactly regardless of my driving conditions.

 

That is an interesting theory, Matt. I would be curious if any of the resident experts can chime in here but I am under the impression that there are sensors (don't you love hearing that word these days? ) to read the oil quality. I would imagine there's an upper limit on the miles though. Let us know what you find.

I would be interested in a side-by-side comparison between Motorcraft 5W40 and some of the alternatives (rotella or other sophisticated synthetics proclaiming extended wear/life). I've been a believer that the oil is to do more than just keep the parts lubricated and cooled in that it is also a filter/flushing agent for wear metals and soot. Especially in the newer post-DPF engines (6.4+) the flushing seems to be a more important aspect of oil. Therefore I think the more frequent changes are warranted - whether the oil has broken down at that point or not. Even synthetic is a flushing agent, it just is much higher quality and won't break down like conventional oil.

 

Nearly a year ago we got confirmation from Ford insiders that the oil life monitor does not have the ability to analyze the oil. Our oil life monitor simple analyzes how the truck is driven and makes it recommendation based on that. In other words the computer knows if you are working the truck hard, excessively idling or any number of other severe use triggers. According to Ford's maintenance chart there are 3 different mileage ranges in which the monitor may alert you based on your usage patterns.

I would say that based upon what mileage the computer tells you to change the oil you can ascertain whether or not your usage is severe duty and base your fuel filter interval on that. They do say 15,000 miles on the fuel filter for severe use and 22,500 for normal use.

 

Don't forget if you have the basic info center it only alerts about oil changes and not fuel filter change or coolant checks.

Each time I try to talk myself into waiting on the oil change monitor but I give in each time.
Changed the oil this evening with 5,714 miles on the oil.

I changed the fuel filters last oil change at 15,539.
22,500 on the fuel filters is too long for my comfort.

 

My intelligent oil life monitor is not a timed idiot light. Mine came on at 6000 miles.

 

I do what the truck says except the fuel filters get changed more often.

For convenience I get the fuel filters changed every other oil change. I don't do the service myself so it saves me an extra trip to the shop.

The oil life system is solid, not an idiot light.

 

I am 2300 miles so far and I plan to change my oil at every 5K and fuel filters at every 7.5K.......I will do these myself but that is just me.

 

This truck is still too new to me to be comfortable with any maintenance change interval feelings yet. On my last truck, F250 with the 6.0L, I had a good feel for when something needed changed early like the fuel filters.

On this new truck my oil change reminder came on at 7,200 miles. I used a good synthetic and a Ford oil filter (I bought a case of them on eBay and averaged about $12.50 per filter including shipping). I haven't changed the fuel filters yet, but plan on waiting until it is called for or a degrade in engine performance, whichever comes first.

I am considering putting an oil bypass filter on this engine. I had one on my 6.0 and it made a world of difference on the oil change samples (Blackwell).

 

but plan on waiting until it is called for or a degrade in engine performance, whichever comes first.

that's the first thing I learned(painfully) about the 6.0 if I can detect a degradation in performance damage is ALREADY done. with a hpfp replacement being in the 12k range I would not wait until I could feel performance loss

 

Fortunately I never had the same experience as you, I never had a time where the damage was already done. I think that statement also depends on whether you do the work yourself (which I do for non-warranty) or the dealership is advising you. I have experienced very good and honest service writers over the years and I have also seen some very unethical ones too.

I could tell when my acceleration and engine sound was changing. For me, that meant it was either time to clean the EGR valve (which I eventually removed the EGR system on the 6.0) or it was time to change the fuel filters before the scheduled interval.

I am a stickler for good routine and preventative maintenance on all my equipment. For me, I have not seen the value in changing fluids or filters too early because it feels good or is good insurance. I am sure if I would have had some of the catastrophic failures that others on this board have had, then I would be in that camp too.

 

I think you will find the HPFP on the 6.7 to react much differently to low fuel pressure than the HEUI system on a 6.0. With the tight tolerances in these pumps, lost fuel pressure will almost always equate to some level of damage to the pump. That damage may be minor and take many occurrences to realize the damage, but it is real.

I hate to break it to you but the plungers and barrels in 6.0 injectors are damaged by low fuel pressure also. It is never a good idea wait for a decrease in performance before you change the fuel filters. That notion is like waiting for the check oil light to come rather than use the dipstick to keep track of the oil level.

 

I absolutely 100% agree with you. I never said nor condone waiting for performance degradation to change filters. The comment I was making is that I usually wait for the Ford recommended interval or a change in the performance to change filters, whichever comes first. I can see how this statement could be interpreted differently than I intended it. If Ford says to change a filter at 5K miles then I do. If the engine is giving me some type of indication that there is a performance degradation that is associated to that filter and it only has 3K miles on it, then I change it at 3K. I hope this clears up what I was trying to convey.