Club-S12 Username: Dan0myte
One of the best maintanence items you can do to a car to ensure smooth running and better gas mileage is to replace your fuel filter. A fuel filter sees a lot of gas flow through it on a day to day basis, gas which is usually filled with crud from the underground tanks at the gas station, as well as the junk that builds up at the bottom of your gas tank. It's job is to stop this stuff from plugging up your injectors and fuel pressure regulator.
It is reccomended by Nissan that the fuel filter be changed once a year to maintain excellent fuel flow, so set a date like the first day of June that you will remember to change your fuel filter on. It's a simple job and doesn't take long at all, so keep the fuel filter new and your engine will thank you for it.
Materials Needed:
- 1990 - 1996 300ZX Twin Turbo fuel filter
- Variety of screwdrivers
- Pliers
- Ratchet with 10mm Socket
- Black Sharpie marker
A 300ZX Twin Turbo fuel filter is reccomended here as it is a direct drop in replacement for the 200SX fuel filter, and it will potentially flow the most fuel out of any Nissan fuel filter. It's a good "why not" kind of mod.
- First thing to do is clear out anything that will get in your way. Both the coolant overflow tank and the winshield washer bottle just slide upwards and out of their brackets, so do that to give yourself some more elbow room. This is what it will look like when you get in there.
That large cylinder on the strut tower is the fuel filter. It has a fuel inlet on the bottom and a fuel outlet on the top. The hose underneath goes to your fuel pump and gas tank in the rear of the car, the hose on top goes to your fuel rail and injectors.
- Start off by releiving the pressure in your fuel system. Go inside your car and pop off the fuse cover (near the glove box). The 6th fuse down on the left should be the fuel pump fuse. Pull it out and set it somewhere safe. Then get in on the driver's side and start the car. It should start up briefly, then sputter and die. Your fuel system is now empty. If you skip this step, you will get a face full of gas when you pull those lines off!
- Next, go under the hood and disconnect the two fuel lines from the fuel filter. The hoses are held on by Phillips head clamps. Take your Phillips head screwdriver and loosen the clamps until they slide easily away from the filter. The hoses may be stuck on there, so take a small flathead screwdriver and use it to help loosen it from the fuel filter nipple, being careful not to rip or tear the rubber.
- Once the hoses are off, take the ratchet with the 10mm socket and unbolt the fuel filter bracket from the strut tower. There will be two bolts in there holding it on. The whole assembly should then just lift away. At this point, take your Phillips head screwdriver and undo the clamp on the fuel filter. The filter will slide upwards out of the bracket.
- Now we install the new one.
A good idea here is to take a black Sharpie marker and write on the side of the filter the day that you installed this new filter. If you ever take the car to a shop and they want to do a tune up, they can tell exactly when you changed the filter last. It will save you the hassle of them throwing out a perfectly good fuel filter by accident. Also, if you sell the car the next owner will know when to change the filter next. It's just a good idea all around, and for you neat freaks, the bracket hides the writing anyways so nobody ever sees it.
Slip the new filter downwards into the bracket, making sure the thicker ring is on the top. There should also be a marking on the side of the filter which marks the flow direction. Make sure that arrow is pointing UP. Tighten the bracket to hold it securely, then bolt it back to the strut tower.
- Lastly, reconnect the two fuel hoses and tighten the phillips head clamps again. Then go inside the car and put the fuel pump fuse back in. Your car should be ready to go! You should notice that the engine may run smoother now, as well as knock or ping less on acceleration. After a few weeks, you may notice a savings in fuel as well.
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