# Full Filter Change



## HondaTech2016 (Apr 20, 2017)

I'm late to posting this, but I recently changed all 4 filters in my 2017 sedan and wanted to share the experience. I used all oem parts, vehicle had 24,881 miles at time. 

Car was due for an oil change so oil filter was a gimme. 

Air filter wasnt honestly that bad, I haven't driven it in a whole lot of dusty conditions. I live in town so I dont travel any dirt/gravel roads so its expected. 

Cabin filter was nor bad either, manual calls for 22,500 mile interval and its conservative atleast for me. It was daunting at first but easy once you get into the disassembly. I do work on motorcycles for a living though, so I am very mechanically inclined. I'd say the most difficult part was putting the middle (under radio, around fuse box) piece back in place. It had a "J " shaped hook that didnt want to go back right and could easily be smashed. 

Fuel filter, I've posted my hardships with removing this in another thread. I finally got it off by removing the whole housing from the vehicle and using a 2 foot ratchet with the appropriate socket. Upon replacing I use some grease to lube the large housing o-ring to help maybe make it easier next time. I've never replaced a diesel filter before so I'm not sure if it would be considered bad looking or not. It was pretty black but with clean specs all around the outer filter material. The 2 inner materials were as clean as could be. I'd recommend letting a dealer or mechanic do yours unless you've got the patience and knowledge on how to remove the electrical connector and the 2 lines going into it. But hopefully yours wont be as bad as mine. 

All in all I'm happy with everything I started a new job in mid-July that has me driving 164 miles a day round trip. So I'm racking the miles up pretty quick. Going to UOA my next oil change to see if I can stretch my OCI out past the 6000 miles or so I did for the first 4 oil changes.


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## Barry Allen (Apr 18, 2018)

Why did you replace the fuel filter at 25,000 miles?


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## Barry Allen (Apr 18, 2018)

And why did you change the oil at 6,000 miles instead of when the computer display tells you it is time?


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## HondaTech2016 (Apr 20, 2017)

The owners manual suggest 30k mile fuel filter changes. I've seen Duramax trucks destroy pumps by following recommend fuel filter intervals. My GM at work changes the company trucks every other oil change. 

My new job has me driving 164 miles a day, so I'm piling on miles atm. I've changed my oil around 6k miles since new because I drove mainly city until recently. Now that I'm doing mostly highway I'm going to wait til 7k this time and send it to Blackstone to see how far i can stretch it next time.

I plan on keeping this car, my 1st new car ever, for a long while. So I want to do whatever I can to keep it going for years. At the rate I'm going I'll have over 60k miles this time next year.


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## Rivergoer (Mar 30, 2017)

HondaTech2016 said:


> The owners manual suggest 30k mile fuel filter changes. I've seen Duramax trucks destroy pumps by following recommend fuel filter intervals. My GM at work changes the company trucks every other oil change.
> 
> My new job has me driving 164 miles a day, so I'm piling on miles atm. I've changed my oil around 6k miles since new because I drove mainly city until recently. Now that I'm doing mostly highway I'm going to wait til 7k this time and send it to Blackstone to see how far i can stretch it next time.
> 
> I plan on keeping this car, my 1st new car ever, for a long while. So I want to do whatever I can to keep it going for years. At the rate I'm going I'll have ove 60k miles this time next year at the rate im going.


I like your thinking.

Shorter intervals might cost a little more in the long run but I look at it as cheap insurance.


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## johnmo (Mar 2, 2017)

I'll also be over 60k miles next year -- early next year. I plan to drive it 10 years and 300k miles.

I've been doing the oil changes when the OLM says it's due. I miss the 10k interval on the TDI, but since I'm having it done with dealers to keep a warranty happy, I just do it when it says it's due.

Still on the original fuel filter at 46k miles. IIRC, the TDI fuel filter was every 20k, so the longer Chevy interval is nice. Except for dealing with the housing, it sounds like it's easier than the TDI fuel filter because there was a priming process with the TDI. I used to do the TDI filter. Easy access and I just made sure the housing was full of fuel before I buttoned it back up and never had a problem.

The DIC says my fuel filter still has about 15% life left. I'm going to have it changed at the next oil change regardless. Going to have the transmission flushed too. That should all happen a little before 50k.


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## 6speedTi (May 18, 2018)

Does anyone that replaced a fuel filter on a 1.6 diesel recall what size socket the fuel filter bowl housing is?
Thanks.


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## HondaTech2016 (Apr 20, 2017)

6speedTi said:


> Does anyone that replaced a fuel filter on a 1.6 diesel recall what size socket the fuel filter bowl housing is?
> Thanks.


36mm


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## Barry Allen (Apr 18, 2018)

HondaTech2016 said:


> The owners manual suggest 30k mile fuel filter changes. I've seen Duramax trucks destroy pumps by following recommend fuel filter intervals. My GM at work changes the company trucks every other oil change.


Keep in mind that the fuel filter on these cars is the same size as the filter on Duramax-equipped pickup trucks. I don't know what the fuel filter change interval is on the pickups but for a filter large enough to service Duramax engines 30,000 miles seems like a reasonable interval that won't cause problems.


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## 6speedTi (May 18, 2018)

HondaTech2016 said:


> 36mm


Thanks


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## HondaTech2016 (Apr 20, 2017)

Barry Allen said:


> Keep in mind that the fuel filter on these cars is the same size as the filter on Duramax-equipped pickup trucks. I don't know what the fuel filter change interval is on the pickups but for a filter large enough to service Duramax engines 30,000 miles seems like a reasonable interval that won't cause problems.


That may be true but my General Manager ran into a guy from Bosch once at an expo and they discussed maintenance on our shop truck. This guy said the factory recommended interval is useless and he'd never follow it. He recommended every other oil change or 10k on the duramax. The newer L5P (same filter as our car) may differ from the LMM but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Plus I'm not really changing that much earlier then the manual states.


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## Barry Allen (Apr 18, 2018)

HondaTech2016 said:


> That may be true but my General Manager ran into a guy from Bosch once at an expo and they discussed maintenance on our shop truck. This guy said the factory recommended interval is useless and he'd never follow it. He recommended every other oil change or 10k on the duramax. The newer L5P (same filter as our car) may differ from the LMM but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Plus I'm not really changing that much earlier then the manual states.


What I'm saying is how many gallons of diesel are filtered through a Duramax in the 30,000 mile recommended interval? Correspondingly, how many gallons of diesel are filtered through the same filter on a Cruze in the 30,000 mile recommended interval?

If it's about 1/3 the volume of fuel being filtered, and you're changing Duramax filters at 10,000 miles, why not 30,000 miles for a Cruze?


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## 6speedTi (May 18, 2018)

Barry Allen said:


> What I'm saying is how many gallons of diesel are filtered through a Duramax in the 30,000 mile recommended interval? Correspondingly, how many gallons of diesel are filtered through the same filter on a Cruze in the 30,000 mile recommended interval?
> 
> If it's about 1/3 the volume of fuel being filtered, and you're changing Duramax filters at 10,000 miles, why not 30,000 miles for a Cruze?


You have a good point but it's probably a moisture factor. If you change the filter on a cruze to meet the same amount of fuel burned the filter will be in service longer and over time you might have accumulated water in the filter. That's my guess why. Water is a big issue with diesel and engine performance. You can always pull your filter and see what you find at different intervals. If it looks good at 10,000 and 20,000 and so on then follow GMs recommendation.


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## Barry Allen (Apr 18, 2018)

6speedTi said:


> you might have accumulated water in the filter


Drain the water at every oil change, then add some Power Service Clear-Diesel.


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## Diesel4Ever (May 30, 2018)

The more loaded up your engine air filter gets, the better it filters the air. The dirt and pollen particles on the filter media form an artificial matrix that increases efficiency. It’s best to load it up and let it get dirty than change it early. You can also use a filter minder to take the guess work out of the equation.

This 1.6 has a relatively large sump for its displacement. I think with oil analysis sampling you could easily go over 10k on Dexos 2 doing mostly freeway. If you were using a synthetic HDEO I could see you going 15k with a filter change and top off at 10k. However your warranty may be in Jeopardy by doing so, so keep that in mind.

And finally, the biggest cause of water ingress into diesel fuel in through condensation. If you had a mostly empty tank and parked it overnight where it was cooler than the dew point, the water vapor in the airspace above the fuel in the mostly empty diesel tank can condense into water drops overnight. Once you start driving the water droplets will get mixed with the fuel and end up in your fuel filter. Best practice is fill up during the day and to not leave an empty tank overnight.


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## IndyDiesel (May 24, 2015)

Diesel4Ever said:


> The more loaded up your engine air filter gets, the better it filters the air. The dirt and pollen particles on the filter media form an artificial matrix that increases efficiency. It’s best to load it up and let it get dirty than change it early. You can also use a filter minder to take the guess work out of the equation.
> 
> This 1.6 has a relatively large sump for its displacement. I think with oil analysis sampling you could easily go over 10k on Dexos 2 doing mostly freeway. If you were using a synthetic HDEO I could see you going 15k with a filter change and top off at 10k. However your warranty may be in Jeopardy by doing so, so keep that in mind.
> 
> And finally, the biggest cause of water ingress into diesel fuel in through condensation. If you had a mostly empty tank and parked it overnight where it was cooler than the dew point, the water vapor in the airspace above the fuel in the mostly empty diesel tank can condense into water drops overnight. Once you start driving the water droplets will get mixed with the fuel and end up in your fuel filter. Best practice is fill up during the day and to not leave an empty tank overnight.


I am not an automobile engine expert or engineer but your statement the more loaded or more dirt the better the efficiency. If this were true, why would one ever change the air filter? Can you share how this is so? It doesn’t work that way for a furnace filter or any other air filter I am aware of. Thanks


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## Barry Allen (Apr 18, 2018)

IndyDiesel said:


> I am not an automobile engine expert or engineer but your statement the more loaded or more dirt the better the efficiency. If this were true, why would one ever change the air filter? Can you share how this is so? It doesn’t work that way for a furnace filter or any other air filter I am aware of. Thanks


Filters of any kind are a compromise between flow rate and filtration efficiency. There is always a trade-off. If you want an air filter that can give you 99.999% HEPA efficiency you can get that, but you won't get a filter that can flow enough air to supply the smallest internal combustion engine unless the filter is the size of a 55 gallon drum (or maybe even larger than that).

There reaches a point that any given filter traps enough contaminants that they start to lock together and trap even more contaminants. But some time after that there also reaches a point that the air flow through the dirty filter begins to restrict the power/efficiency of the engine, or the air flow through a furnace in your example of a furnace filter.


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