Very dumb question. Could someone tell me the procedure for changing my fuel filter cartridge. I fiddled with it a little, but I'm not sure how to undo the filter assembly, and I'm skilled at breaking things that I fiddle with. Thought maybe the bottom canister unscrews from the top part? After replacing the filter and filling it with diesel, what do you do to reprime the system?

 

With the engine off, empty the canister using the valve on the left side of the canister. Make sure you put something under it to catch the diesel. Unhook the wire to the base of the canister. There is a nut in the middle of the filter cap; undo the nut, while supporting the base of the filter canister. The canister will drop free. Sometimes the filter will stay attached to the filter cap. If this happens, keep the canister under the filter (just to catch the dripping diesel) while you wiggle the filter free of the cap.

There may be some debris in the canister, so wipe it out. The instructions to replace the filter comes with the filter, so just follow them. Replace everything, making sure the valve is in the closed position and the nut on the top of the filter cap is torqued to 10 ft/lbs. Plug in the wiring harness. You can also fill the canister part way with fuel to help with the priming.

To prime, turn the key on, bump the engine, just for a second, until you hear the lift pump running. The lift pump will run for 20 seconds or so and then stop. Do this three of four times, then try to start the engine. It may take a few attempts to get it started, but she'll finally catch. If you are unable to get her started, you may have to crack a couple of injector lines.

Hope this helps!

 

Man that's great. Thanks a lot! How often should this be changed? 6 months, a year, 30,000 miles?

 

I change my fuel filter every other oil & filter change.

 

Here you go, pictures and all:
http://www.dodgeram.org/tech/dsl/fil...uel_filter.htm

Same here.

 

That's the process for the 2000 and above, the 98.5-99 are a little different. They don't have the same filter canister. The cap is attached to the engine and the canister drops down with the filter in it. Nice link though!

 

Oops. Well, someone searching in the future will use it.....

 

Hey, I changed the filter today while installing the pusher pump. Really easy. Thanks for the instructions. I left the cannister off while changing the fuel lines, that really helped a lot. Good call on the vulcan system PJ, it's great.

 

Thank you for the info on changing the fuel filter! I printed the referred to Genosgarage instructions. I am new to this forum and have never changed this filter but was going to within a couple of weeks....when bingo...I found your thread details. Dondi