I know this is random but I read a copy of 8-Lug magazine and they said you had to take out the fender liner on a Duramax to change the fuel filter unless you had "really skinny hands". Well I have never thought my hands to be skinny but not once, even as my stint as a lube tech at a Chevy dealership, have I, or heard of anyone else, removing anything but the water sensor plug to replace the fuel filter. Booo 8-Lug!

 

I read that too....I dont know the first thing about Duramaxes but that left me scratching my head.

 

I dont know, but to change my oil filter i take the passenger fender liner out and i sit between the tire and the frame of the truck. I makes it a whole lot easier to do than from underneath. Not to mention there is no way i could hold the ziplock bag on the filter, to catch the excess oil that falls, while i take it off from underneath.

Maybe it is just me but i dont like to clean up messes and i like to do things the easy way.

I do not know anything about dmaxes though.

 

Don't have to pull the fender liner out to change the filter, but you do have to putin/take out the filter by pulling back on the bottom of the liner to get the filter up in to place. Can thread and unthread it from the top.
They (GM) could've moved the AC lines a bit so the filter would be totally accessible from the top.

 

I've always found it to be the easiest to just pull off the fender liner to get to the filter. You would think they would make it a little more accesable.

I remember the first time changing the fuel filter on a Dmax, I had no idea that you had to open a valve to prime the system. I was under the impression it was like the Cummins. Turn the key forward and let the canister fill full of fuel. 15 minutes later it fired up.

Did any of you see the article in 8-Lug that the thread starter mentioned? I think they made a typo. "Under load, the exaust temperture can be as hot as 14,000 degrees fahrenheit".?

 

why wouldn't you just remove the air tube going to the turbo to get to the oil filter on a dodge? Heck of a lot easier than removing the fender liner...

 

I'm not sure why you wouldn't just pull the air tube either?

As for the Dmax fuel filter, I change the fuel filter on our 05 Dmax work truck all from the top.....never from the fender well? Strange.....maybe different years had different components in the way to prevent the filter from being changed from the top?

 

Are you saying that you pull off your air tube everytime you change your filter? Why not just use a filter wrench and drop it straight down.

 

i have small hands and can reach between the frame and liner to get the filter loose. then go under and lower it straight down without spilling. maybe you guys are just slobs! ha ha ahahahahahahaha

 

yeah I do, takes less than a minute and 2 hose clamps, easier than trying to reach up from under it, especially if it the first time for a filter.

 

On the 3rd gens I started out taking the air tube off but found it is much quicker and easier to wedge your hand from under the bottom of the truck. This was of course on a lift where you could stand under the truck so maybe not as easily done if the truck is on the ground. If you are careful enough you can bring the filter down without spilling any oil. We used to have a guy that would always bring his 05 Cummins up on Saturdays, he would bring the oil and filter and I would change it in exchange for breakfast and beer. He liked it because I could do it faster, cleaner, and of course cheaper than anyone he had taken it too.

 

I see what you mean. Mabe it is a little easier in my case due to my lift, I can nearly sit up under my truck. I just use a Lisle filter wrench and an extension on a ratchet and im done in a jiffy.

 

I just roll under my truck with a creeper and take the AC compresor wires off at the quick conect plug to get them out of the way then just reach up and take the filter loose. If it is to tite to remove buy hand then I use the strap wrench with a couple extentions. Only a couple times have I ever spilt much of anything and that was only a few drops. Never touched or even looked ata Dmax so I have no idea whats required to get at the fuel filter on them.

 

The 6.7's require you to remove the tire and fender lining to change the fuel filter.

Duramax might be the same way...

 

I always pull the fender liner; it literally takes 30 seconds, and makes it much easier to change the filter. Yes, its possible to change it from the top, but you may have to bend one of the AC lines just a little bit to squeeze it out.

Im not going to risk kinking a charged AC line, so spending the extra 30 seconds doesnt bother me.

Out of all of the three magazines (diesel power, 8 lug, diesel world), they are hardly more than bored-with-nothing-else-to-do reading for us hard core diesel guys, in my oppinion.

If I see one more show-boat lifted glossy chromed out mall-crawler with performance limited to a Superchips and BANKS exhaust from southern california, im going to go nuts. My favorite truck review by far was that little snipit of this one guy's 24valve that laid down like 850rwhp, and had a cracked windsheild, dented bumpers, tweaked tailgate, and mud all over the bed. THAT, to me is what 'diesel power' is all about. :rocking:

Its the little imperfections that give the trucks character and remind us that they are still trucks, not grocery getters...when I first got my truck I was sooo **** about every spec of sand that got on it, everytime someone slammed the door hard. I finally sold my "bling" rims and some other useless stuff and went back to the stock chevy polished aluminum rims with 265 Terra Grapplers (torsion bars lowered, back to the stock "rake", tailgate with some tweaks, dents in the rear bumper, one missing foglight) and like how the truck looks better than ever...Id rather have the attention drawn to my truck when I blow that porsche away at a stop light, than requiring everyone to wear sunglasses everytime they look at my truck. :laughing:

side note, I was reading Diesel World, and they had a cutway picture of the new LMM duramax (07+ emmision-ified version), showing all of the key emmissions components highlighted in different colors with labels in the drawings. Im sure most of you know how it has an added "throttle body" to close at idle and keep the EGT's higher for the DPF....it labeled it throttle body in the GM illustration, but Diesel World made themselves look plain stupid when they added their own caption that said "artists cutaway of the new LMM, showing many of the new emmissions componetns, although note how the artist has incorrectly labeled the MAF as a throttle body!"

duh!