On my '89 Clubwagon, 460 EFI, I'm wanting to replace the fuel filter. I found the filter on the drivers side frame rail, forward of the tranmission crossmember, inside a metal protective shroud. I notice that it has the "quick line" disconnect, for which I will need a tool. And although this filter looks like it's nearly new (shiny color, not covered in dirt), I will replace it anyhow as part of the general tune up.

My question - what happens if I don't relieve fuel pressure, other than dumping fuel all over the place? Will it be harder to start at first? Also, has anyone replaced these quick connects with the regular style band clamps with screw tighteners (old school)? Seems easier to use a standard screw driver than a special tool. I'm thinking the factory went to these quick style clamps to speed up assembly, not to speed up dissassembly.

 

You will get a lot of gas on yourself and it can be harder to get the connector to release if you don't relieve the pressure first.

The filters usually aren't very dirty on the outside at change time, so I wouldn't put too much stock in that as a sign of it's length of service.

If you have a fuel pressure gauge with a bleeder on it, that is a good method to use for bleeding the pressure and getting a fuel pressure check after the filter change.

It is no harder to crank, regardless of whether you bleed the pressure off first or bleed it into your arm pit. Just turn the key to "on" and wait a few seconds for the pump to quit running before you crank it.

I wouldn't alter the fittings. They are designed for the pressure that the system operates at and will hold better as pressure is applied. They are also in stainless braided line.

Get the tool made by KD that looks sort of like a pair of scissors instead of the round plastic type. NAPA has both types but the one the is cast aluminum, about 4" long and has two arms that swing on a rivit, much like a pair of scissors works WAY better than the other type.

First loosen the band clamp around the filter so that you can change it quickly once you have removed the old one. Now, remove the safety clips and pull the hoses outwardly as if you are trying to pull them off of the filter. This will give you a little room to insert the tool. Put the lips of the tool around the stem of the filter and then push it into the end of the hose coupler as far as it will go. Pull the hose off of the filter. Repeat for other end.

You will still have some flow of gas from the tank, so have a pan ready, but it won't blow out under pressure.

Make note of the flow markings and the shape of the old filter and install the new one in the same orientation. You can push the lines on the new one with your hand, no tool needed. replace the safety clips and tighten the band clamp.

Gene

 

Unfortunately, I don't have a fuel pressure gauge that can be used to relieve the pressure. Any other way to relieve the fuel pressure?

Where is the stainless braided line of which you speak? Mine is rubber line with some funky end piece on it, looks like a plastic sleeve?

And I noticed that the links I saw pertaining to this tool say for 1990 and up, nothing about 1989 and down?

 

You can get a pretty decent gauge with a bleeder and drain hose at Autozone at a fairly reasonable price.

The left (driver's side) fuel rail has a Schrader valve in it which is located about a foot or more forward from the rear of the engine. This is where you attach the fuel gauge, or if you don't have one, on a COLD engine, place several rags around the valve and bleed the pressure like letting air out of a tire. The longer you wait after the engine has run, the less pressure there will be. This is under the doghouse BTW.

On some GM cars you bleed the pressure for a filter change by removing the fuse for the fuel pump and then turn over the engine for a few seconds to lower the pressure. I'm not sure if that make set a code of your Ford or not, but it should clear before long if it does.

I guess they updated the fuel lines in '92. My van is a '94. I was surprised to see that your '89 had the quick release couplers and assumed that if it had them, they would be like mine. I would think that the actual production date would be more important than the model year for the addition of the new feature. If there is no visible connector like a hose clamp on the outside of the hose, it probably works the same way. Mine has the braided line on both sides of the filter. If I recall correctly the braided hose has a blue plastic sleeve over the coupler.

The connectors are actually a good system once you figure out how to separate them. If you cut them off, your hose will be too short to reach the filter and it's possible that the inside diameter of the hose could be larger than the nipple on the filter resulting in a leak or a connection that could come apart.

Gene

 

Hey Gene,

Thanks for the great info. In looking at the connectors on my fuel lines, what it looks like is what is I read as a "hairpin" style slip fit connector, that is what these look like. The rubber tubbing is pushed over a barbed end connector, and that connector has o rings inside of them, when the metal tubing is seated, the "hair pin" is put in through the connector. I'm looking at it of all places, a Chilton manual. I'll see if I can post a picture, but the way it looks, you remove the hairpin from the clip,grab the hose and pull it from the clip. Make sense? Look at this link, this is what I'm talking about..I think...

http://autorepair.about.com/cs/gener...bl325a_lib.htm

I have opted to job out the fuel filter replacement to my local mechanic, we'll see how that goes. They seem to know a bit about Ford vans as the tech already knew where the filter was at, that was at least somewhat encouraging.

I have a Datsun that bleeds out the pressure the same way as the GM's, I changed the fuel filter after bleeding the pressure off that way and it worked fine, I guess I won't know if it works on this system or not.

 

It is possible that yours works as described, but without looking at it, who knows.

When I buy a filter for my '94 it comes with two of the plastic hairpin devices, but they are not used in my application. Mine has two stainless steel safety latches, one on either end of the filter. They are made of a spring type of stainless and look sort of like a miniature version of those spring clamps that you can hang a broom or mop on the wall with. Each one of them has two of the spring clamp portions, connected together by a flat bar, so that it can clamp on either side of the connector of each hose. They are just a backup for the main connection though.

The main connector consist of a device that looks pretty much like the one pictured in your link. What you can't see looking at the actual device or in the picture is that there are three spring loaded fingers inside of the connector that grip on an enlarged ring on the filter's neck. You shove the neck of the filter into the connector, the spring loaded fingers ride over the enlarged portion and then snap down behind it as the filter is shoved home. It is sort of like a quick connector on an air line. You can push it in but you can't pull it back out.

In order to disconnect the line from the filter, the various tools available for this job slip into the fitting between the filter neck and the spring loaded fingers so that the fingers are no longer in contact with the ring on the filter neck but are instead on the back side of the tool.

If you buy the tool and a filter you can better understand how it works, assuming that your's works the same as mine.

Watch the guy do the job, if you choose to do it that way, and let me know how he did it. There are about three styles of tools to do this job (on my van) but I like the one that I described before the best. The others are circular and made of either aluminum or plastic and open on a spring loaded hinge (the aluminum one does, the plastic one just spreads apart) so that they will fit around the fuel line.

One word of caution. If you do it yourself work outside and have a water hose, turned on at the faucet but off at the nozzle by your side as a safety precaution.

Gene

 

Well, the filter came off easy enough, with the hair pin clips. You can remove the clips easy enough, by hand, then the filter simply pulls off, a little twist helps. The new filter uses the new hair pin clips, after a while, the clips lose their clamping force, so the new ones are in order. So, the filter swap went okay.

BUT...the filter isn't the problem. Dang it! Back to the original plan of the tune up.