Pictorial E36 Fuel Filter Maintainence DIY (Pictures)

[Delmarco]

[Delmarco]

[Delmarco]

[Delmarco]

[Delmarco]

[Delmarco]

[Delmarco]

Put your fuse back in and plug in your battery and start your car. It may take a few seconds to a minute for the fuel to kick back in so be patient and don't panic.

Good Luck.

FYI: Took me about 2 hours to do this only because it was my first time and all three bolts were rusty and took effort to get off.
Normally this DIy would take about 40 minutes to an hour.

[drz]

Very nice job man. Thanks for all the pictures.

Just one question: why is it necessary to stal the car out with the fuse removed at the beginning of the process?

[Delmarco]

Originally Posted by drz

Very nice job man. Thanks for all the pictures.

Just one question: why is it necessary to stal the car out with the fuse removed at the beginning of the process?

Yes. It is or when you get to removing the lines from the filter you will get fuel squirting out of the lines at both ends (since it is still under pressure) and you got fuel leaking out the filter...it would be a trillion times more messy and dangerous.

Pulling the fuse to stall was no biggie. Your car will be fine when you are done. I drove for a mile after the DIY just to be sure.


GENERAL FYI: This is for post 1994 E36. If you have a Pre 1994 E36 head over to the Pelican Parts DIY Section for your cars. Sorry for the typos. I did this right after spending 2 hours under my car on a 100 degree day with gasoline all over me.

[Delmarco]

one more picture

so I had the filter draining out for a few hours in the yard and what looks like black mud and sand came out the front end of the filter where the unfiltered gasoline goes in. It was alot of this inside and which is why the old filter was heavier than the new one.

I can't imagine what this was doing to my fuel pump and engine!!!