Justin95SE

iTrader: (1)

i have 102,000 miles and i bought the car at i think 76k. ASSUMING that the fuel filter was replaced at the dealership before i bought the car, is it still time to replace? what about MT fluid, same as the above. can i expect any performance gains from doing these above tasks?

Nealoc187

iTrader: (23)

i've never replaced the fuel filter on this car (or any car for that matter), nor changed the MT fluid. i'll be road racing in about a weeks time... im assuming these would be a good thing to do prior to the race?

i've realized i know ALOT more about modding cars than about routine maintenance.

vmok

look in the manual and see what the recommended service interval is for the fuel filter. some cars, like my ford truck, says in the manual that the fuel filter should be good for the life of the vehicle. only change if you have problems. i've never changed it and the truck has 134,000 miles on it...

however, there was a good writeup somewhere. someone wrote how they took the fuel filter apart to see how bad it was inside, and it was pretty dirty. my car has 131,000+ miles on it and I think it was changed at 70k by the previous owner. i'm planning on changing it again soon since the part is like $10 if you order from Courtesy Nissan and do it yourself. there's directions on www.maximadriver.com as well as many other sites on how to do this. it seems pretty straight forward...

same with the mt fluid, check the manual. however, I don't think the mt fluid goes bad... it may get contaminated, but as long as the fluid level is ok, you should fine. open the fill hole and stick your finger in. the fluid should come right to the top of the fill hole. you should check this cold as the fluid expands after you've drive the car for a while and the fluid heats up.

you may notice some performance gains from the fuel filter change, but probably not much from the fluid change except maybe smoother shifting and less transmission noise (whine, etc...)

-V

Daniel B. Martin

Replacing the fuel filter is not part of any scheduled maintenance procedure.
It is something like a headlight bulb: you replace it when you need to.

Replacing the fuel filter is something which may be done by the home mechanic.
It is somewhat more difficult to reach if your Maxima is equipped with ABS.
It does not require any special tools. It does require manual dexterity and patience.

See http://integra.vtec.net/geeser/mega...0k_service.html
and scroll down to Step 3, Fuel Filter.

Go to Steve Cutchen's excellent MaxFAQ page:
http://web2.airmail.net/scutchen/max_faq/
Click on SUBTOPICS below Maintenance.
Click on Changing the Fuel Filter

Performance gain? If your present filter is obstructed then a new one will produce a gain. You won't really know unless you
1) make a fuel pressure test, or
2) just go ahead and install a new filter.

brubenstein

More fuel is pumped up to the fuel rail then is used by the engine. Excess fuel is returned to the tank. If there is dirt anywhere in the sytem it keeps going round and round. You want to make sure you take out as much dirt as possible to avoid cloging the fuel pump filter in the tank, burning up the fuel pump (fuel pump failure is due to dirt in the gas) or cloging the injector filters. Not changin the fuel filter is a classic penny wise, dollar foolish deal.
Maintenance schedules are designed to get the car through its warranty period without major problems, not maximize the life of the car.

vmok

If you have mods such as a turbo or SC, then you'll want to do more preventive maintenance by replacing the filter more often.

A clogged fuel filter, if it's clogged enough, can cause the car to run lean, and cause detonation (pinging) and other problems. In a SC/Turbo car, the intake temperature of the pressurized air is hotter, thereby make the engine more likely to detonate. Running lean will also make the engine run hotter, as the detonation will tell the knock sensor to retard timing. In a car with SC and turbo, there is more air being forced into the engine. The MAF senses the additional air and adds more fuel. If the computer thinks it's adding more fuel, but the fuel filter is preventing this extra fuel from reaching the cylinders, the engine will run lean, thereby causing even more detonation.

The fuel filter is $10. It's cheap insurance if you're doing other service on your vehicle anyway. I haven't done it yet on my car, but am ordering the parts soon. I'm estimating around an hour or so to do this.

-V