I realize that most people who read my blog read it in a syndicated fashion, so I thought I'd let you guys know that I plugged my del.icio.us links into the sidebar here for everyone to view. I post lots of stuff ranging from crap I want to remind myself of, to cool examples of web 2.0 ideas-- The links are as diverse as my interests, so think of it as a glimpse into the inner Joe.
Lately I'd been having some trouble with the trusty old Maxima. At only 121,000 miles young, nothing serious (*knock on wood*) has cropped up yet, but I've been having trouble starting it on the first try. I usually have to let the car sit with the key in the ON position for a few seconds before I try to crank it. I also have noticed rather shitty gas mileage. This led me to believe that it was a problem with the fuel pump or filter. I realized that the fuel filter has a life of about 15k miles and I had last replaced it about 45k ago. Since it is relatively low hanging fruit (compared to the fuel pump), I decided to go for it.
Now the apartment complex I live in doesn't allow car repairs on site, but I'll be dammed if I take my car into a shop to do something as minor as a fuel filter swap. I mean I still shudder everytime i go in to the local jiffy lube for an oil change.
So I got a filter, read up in the manual and went to town in a remote corner of my complex's parking lot.
Two problems:
1: fuel filter hoses are tough to remove
2: the jackass at Boardman Nissan who last changed this filter stripped the screw holding the bottom of 2 clamps!
This thing is hard to reach already because its deep down in the engine bay, so boy was I pissed. I already had to remove a lot of peripheral parts to even access the filter (FSTB, and assorted vacuum hoses). It got dark so I had to put it all back together and try again a few days later. I was all ready to just cut the hose and use a new clamp but somehow the next time i tried it I actually got the clamp off. Then I realized that the filter was stuck on the hose. I spent 45 minutes pulling and twisting, at one point was even sitting inside the engine bay of my car to get a better angle on it. Finally with the aid of a screw driver and a lot of elbow grease I got the old filter off. Put the new filter in, buttoned everything up, and 4 hours of effort later, I'm good to go.
Moral of the story:
The job looked like it was going to take 5 minutes
People on the Internet said 15
After I tried the first hose, I thought 1 hour
Actual time required: 4 hours
Maybe next time I should just take it in.
P.S. I don't know why I just wrote a long post about replacing a fuel filter. It's not like I tried to make it into a tutorial with lots of pictures or anything. If you're still reading down here, thanks you actually care about what I have to say.
Lately I'd been having some trouble with the trusty old Maxima. At only 121,000 miles young, nothing serious (*knock on wood*) has cropped up yet, but I've been having trouble starting it on the first try. I usually have to let the car sit with the key in the ON position for a few seconds before I try to crank it. I also have noticed rather shitty gas mileage. This led me to believe that it was a problem with the fuel pump or filter. I realized that the fuel filter has a life of about 15k miles and I had last replaced it about 45k ago. Since it is relatively low hanging fruit (compared to the fuel pump), I decided to go for it.
Now the apartment complex I live in doesn't allow car repairs on site, but I'll be dammed if I take my car into a shop to do something as minor as a fuel filter swap. I mean I still shudder everytime i go in to the local jiffy lube for an oil change.
So I got a filter, read up in the manual and went to town in a remote corner of my complex's parking lot.
Two problems:
1: fuel filter hoses are tough to remove
2: the jackass at Boardman Nissan who last changed this filter stripped the screw holding the bottom of 2 clamps!
This thing is hard to reach already because its deep down in the engine bay, so boy was I pissed. I already had to remove a lot of peripheral parts to even access the filter (FSTB, and assorted vacuum hoses). It got dark so I had to put it all back together and try again a few days later. I was all ready to just cut the hose and use a new clamp but somehow the next time i tried it I actually got the clamp off. Then I realized that the filter was stuck on the hose. I spent 45 minutes pulling and twisting, at one point was even sitting inside the engine bay of my car to get a better angle on it. Finally with the aid of a screw driver and a lot of elbow grease I got the old filter off. Put the new filter in, buttoned everything up, and 4 hours of effort later, I'm good to go.
Moral of the story:
The job looked like it was going to take 5 minutes
People on the Internet said 15
After I tried the first hose, I thought 1 hour
Actual time required: 4 hours
Maybe next time I should just take it in.
P.S. I don't know why I just wrote a long post about replacing a fuel filter. It's not like I tried to make it into a tutorial with lots of pictures or anything. If you're still reading down here, thanks you actually care about what I have to say.