The four hour fuel filter change

Scin · 3 January 2006

I changed my fuel filter today because it had been over six years since the last change. Little did I know what I was getting myself into. What should have been an easy 30 minute job took four hours! The Acura dealer that changed the filter last must have hit the bolts with an impact wrench at the max rating! It took a 24" breaker bar, several heavy duty clamps to hold everything in place and max effort on my part in order to get the bolts off. I rounded off the edges of one bolt with a wrench before switching to the socket and breaker bar. ERgh!

Has anyone else ran into fuel filter bolts way over torqued like this?

Larry Bastanza · 3 January 2006

They were most likely not overtorqued. The bolts use a pair of crush washers to seal the fuel system. These are ALWAYS very difficult to get off, as they should be to seal the system. I use an impact gun to remove them, takes 2 seconds. I reinstall by hand with a torque wrench as speced. Still a PITA to remove later

.

HTH,
LarryB

VBNSX · 3 January 2006

Have to agree with Larry...

As a matter of fact.. I changed mine last night... I "started" with a breaker bar setup and the lines started to twist.. so I just said f'it and used my impact driver.. (i was hesitant b/c it's an electrical impact driver) came off like it wasn't even on there.

Garage still smells like fuel..

x

Daria · 3 January 2006

Larry Bastanza said:
... I use an impact gun to remove them, takes 2 seconds...

I didn't use an impact gun ... or a 24" breaker bar. I did finally get it off ... with blood all over my knuckles

zahntech · 3 January 2006

thats one of those jobs you have someone else do...your garage smells like gas...your gonna have a hard time without an Impact wrench..its just not worth it to do yourself...IMO

If you own a 94-97 accord..don't even think about doing the fuel filter yourself....I wake up in cold sweats sometimes when I have Fuel filter nightmares bacause of this car.

Toyota P/U and 4runners are nice too....the lines in and out are flair fittings so you cannot use an impact wrench..then Toyota tightens down the fittings so tight that it flairs out the end of the nut inside the filter!...so then if fights you every turn of the wrench....oh and its dripping fuel on the floor and you while you fight it!!.....uh

.......JZ

Acura NsX Pilot · 4 January 2006

VBNSX said:
Have to agree with Larry...

As a matter of fact.. I changed mine last night... I "started" with a breaker bar setup and the lines started to twist.. so I just said f'it and used my impact driver.. (i was hesitant b/c it's an electrical impact driver) came off like it wasn't even on there.

Garage still smells like fuel..
x

Not for nothing but couldnt a spark from electric impact gun potentionally ignite the fumes from the gas and cause a fire or worse an explosion ?

Scin · 4 January 2006

Thanks for the info guys. I guess this is just a crappy job (I need air tools)! I'm going to attempt shocks and springs and transmission oil soon, hopefully these arent as bad... although I have heard stories about getting the rear shocks off.

VBNSX · 4 January 2006

Acura NsX Pilot said:
Not for nothing but couldnt a spark from electric impact gun potentionally ignite the fumes from the gas and cause a fire or worse an explosion ?

yup... more of a fire than an explosion.. when you release the pressure from the banjo bolt on the top of the filter most pressure is gone and as long as the area is wide open (garage open etc.) the fumes are negligible.

that's why i also had a fire extinguisher next to me, and I also wrapped the gun with my balaclava (fire resistant) in order to prevent sparks from flying out of the gun..

x

zahntech · 4 January 2006

Hum.. my electric Impact has a rubber cover over the body, no sparks alowed!!

I highly recomend it.. http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item...group_ID=19405&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

schuey1010 · 9 January 2006

Here was my last try in my DD. I am DONE with trying to replace fuel filters!

Notice the fuel filter where I tried to hold it with the really big pipe wrench. Never again....It took me only 2 hours, but I stripped both the bolts and bloodied both hands.

Hondatech · 10 January 2006

I did mine at work on Saturday. 17mm swivel socket and a 3/8" impact for the banjo bolts, 10mm swivel socket and a 1/4" air ratchet for the hold down band, quick and easy :tongue:

If you own a 94-97 accord..don't even think about doing the fuel filter yourself....I wake up in cold sweats sometimes when I have Fuel filter nightmares bacause of this car.

Did one of those today too. I feel your pain!

4AU4LIFE · 11 January 2006

The first time I changed mine I forgot to replace the crush washers

Went out that night with friends and kept smelling gas and couldn't figure out why. Raised the hatch and looked by filter and saw gas streaming down the side of it. YIKES !!!

zahntech · 11 January 2006

92NSX said:
The first time I changed mine I forgot to replace the crush washers
Went out that night with friends and kept smelling gas and couldn't figure out why. Raised the hatch and looked by filter and saw gas streaming down the side of it. YIKES !!!

Yeah that's real bad

:wink:

Scin · 11 January 2006

I lost a crush washer, had to order a new set and replace it... took 3 days to get here too, I was checking under the lid regularly!

DanO · 15 January 2006

Yea, this is a procedure best left for the pros; or the guys with a lot of tools or a lot of experience or both.

Have Fun!!

DanO

4AU4LIFE · 15 January 2006

DanO said:
Yea, this is a procedure best left for the pros; or the guys with a lot of tools or a lot of experience or both.

Have Fun!!

DanO

I have to disagree a little bit. Granted I did have a funny little story to tell about my first attempt at it, I would hesistant to do it or another one again in a heartbeat. By no means am I a pro or anything but I do really enjoy working on my own cars, even if I do mess them up, I learn from my mistakes. I do have a decent set of hand and air tools in my garage so I feel I can take on some tough tasks.
Now, if you are itimidated by the thought of even opening the engine compartment and putting yours hands in there for any reason, then yeah, take it to someone you trust to do the job.

peiserg · 15 January 2006

well i do leave all maintenance of my nsx in mark basch's hands, i'll mention my toyota 1975 landcruiser fuel filter takes about 37.3 seconds to swap out. it has rubber fuel line going in each end with a little spring crimper holding each side on.

zahntech · 16 January 2006

92NSX said:
I have to disagree a little bit. Granted I did have a funny little story to tell about my first attempt at it, I would hesistant to do it or another one again in a heartbeat. By no means am I a pro or anything but I do really enjoy working on my own cars, even if I do mess them up, I learn from my mistakes. I do have a decent set of hand and air tools in my garage so I feel I can take on some tough tasks.
Now, if you are itimidated by the thought of even opening the engine compartment and putting yours hands in there for any reason, then yeah, take it to someone you trust to do the job.

The Nasty Fuel smell giving me a headache would be enough reason to pay someone to do it for me...But In my line of work I don't have much choice:wink:

Tom239 · 16 January 2006

I changed my fuel filter a few days ago. One banjo bolt was
a pain to loosen but for some reason the other was easy.

I did it with hand tools. The hard part wasn't applying torque
to the bolt, it was holding the filter. I could get a breaker bar
on the bolt, but because of how the filter is located I couldn't
get as long a wrench on the filter itself.

I'm curious: how does a power tool make this job much easier?
Don't you have the same problem of how to hold the filter?

Scin · 16 January 2006

I think everyone has the same issue with hand tools. You can't get the damn filter to sit still while you torque it with your monster breaker bar, its very frustrating. Perhaps the impact wrench can hit hard and fast enough that this isn't as much of a problem? All I know is that I destroyed my banjo bolt and had to use two huge clamps to hold everything in place while I yanked on it. I then had to pay acura $50 for new bolts, highway robbery!

VBNSX · 16 January 2006

with a power tool (as mentioned above), the torque is instantaneous. The filter hardly even budges. Same logic with a car on a car lift and the people use air tools to loosen the lug nuts on the wheels, notice that the wheels don't spin as much.

x

Tom239 · 16 January 2006

VBNSX said:
with a power tool (as mentioned above), the torque is instantaneous. The filter hardly even budges. Same logic with a car on a car lift and the people use air tools to loosen the lug nuts on the wheels, notice that the wheels don't spin as much.

I understand that concept, but a wheel has a huge mass compared to a fuel filter. If it works in practice, that's great; no arguing with that. It's just counterintuitive to me that something as light as a fuel filter doesn't get spun around in the process.

zahntech · 16 January 2006

The hit from the Impact is so fast that the filter does not move...unless the banjo bolt is siezed on....then you are screwed:frown: ....in 16 years of fuel filter replacements this has only happend to me once:smile: :smile:

hold on..gotta find some wood!!

Tom239 · 16 January 2006

I'm sold. I will buy an impact wrench before doing this job again.

It also occurs to me that lubing the threads on the bolts wouldn't
be a bad idea.

Larry Bastanza · 16 January 2006

Lubing the threads on the bolts would be a bad idea. Do not lubricate any fuel fitting or banjo's. The reason the fittings are tight is the crush washers, the threads being tight is not the issue.

With an impact gun, the filter will never even rotate, because the fittings come off instantly.

Personally I would not even think of doing it any other way, especially in the NSX, which is a tough spot to get to. And if it is an earlier one with that useless fan in the way, it is even worse

.

HTH,
LarryB

The four hour fuel filter change

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