Recognizing and Resolving Clogged Diesel Fuel Filters

A clogged diesel fuel filter can wreak havoc on an engine. Learning to recognize the signs of a clogged diesel fuel filter and know when your fuel filter is bad is a game-changer. You will better know how to optimize your diesel engine’s performance and protect its lifespan. Here, we dive into the critical issue of clogged diesel fuel filters, outlining the telltale symptoms of a bad filter, and emphasizing the importance of regular maintenance for peak engine performance. We’ll guide you through recognizing and fixing fuel filter problems. Understanding the signs of a clogged diesel fuel filter and knowing when to stop and replace it will help ensure your diesel engine runs smoothly, extending its lifespan and enhancing its efficiency, ultimately saving you money in the long run.

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What Fuel Filters Do and How They Work

The role of a diesel fuel filter is to safeguard the engine components that interact with the fuel while removing contaminants such as dirt, rust, water, microbial growth, and air. The best fuel filters remove those contaminants; the smaller the particles removed, the better. AirDog® fuel filters remove contaminants down to 2 to 6 microns (varies by application) or 2 to 6 millionths of a meter, placing among them the industry’s best.

Ensuring your engine receives the highest quality fuel increases fuel efficiency, provides optimal engine performance, and generally extends the longevity of your fuel injectors and engine.

Of course, fuel filters are consumable parts that require periodic replacement. Fuel filters that do not get replaced on schedule or encounter particularly dirty fuel can become clogged, leading to performance and other engine problems. Therefore, it is critical to keep your filter from clogging and to replace it when the symptoms of a clogged fuel filter become apparent.

Symptoms of a Clogged Fuel Filter

A clogged fuel filter will restrict fuel flow to your engine, leading to noticeable symptoms as your engine gets starved of fuel. Here’s a quick review of common symptoms of a bad fuel filter.

• Difficulty starting. A diesel engine that does not receive adequate fuel can be hard to start.
• Engine misfiring. A clogged fuel filter can cause some cylinders to receive too little fuel to generate combustion, leading to engine misfiring.
• Rough idling. Your engine should idle smoothly. However, if the fuel pump, injectors, and cylinders do not receive adequate fuel, the fuel may not combust properly, leading to rough idling.
• Poor engine performance. Just as inadequate fuel causes rough idling, the engine can sputter or surge due to inconsistent access to the fuel. Symptoms such as sluggish throttle response and decreased power will be most noticeable when moving at high speed, on inclines, and carrying heavy loads. At the same time, the engine may feel shaky when driving at low speeds.
• Poor fuel economy. For the reasons noted previously, an engine that does not fully combust the fuel it receives will generate less power and consume more fuel to complete the same amount of work.
• Whining and unusual sounds. A clogged fuel filter can force the fuel pump motor to work harder, causing a whining or buzzing sound. Inadequate fuel reaching the injectors makes the engine sound like it is choking and ready to stall.

How the AirDog® System Alerts Drivers of Clogged Diesel Fuel Filters

While drivers generally notice one or more of the symptoms of a clogged fuel filter, the symptoms are not always caused by a clogged filter, so a driver may be unable to verify what’s causing the symptoms. However, you eliminate that problem when using AirDog®’s Low-Pressure Indicator Light, which comes standard with current AirDog® Heavy Duty fuel systems and is the only such system on the market.

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The system uses a pressure sensor connected to the fuel filter. The sensor connects by wire to a dash-mounted indicator light that illuminates when the fuel pressure falls below five psi. A properly operating AirDog® fuel filter experiences pressure above 20 psi. However, if the fuel filter becomes clogged and the pressure falls below five psi, the sensor completes the circuit, which lights the dashboard indicator to confirm that the performance problems are likely due to a clogged fuel filter. AirDog® recommends that drivers always carry a spare fuel filter. The AirDog® filter can be easily changed without special tools, allowing you to get the truck back on the road and operating at its typical performance level within minutes.

The Importance of Regular Diesel Fuel Filter Maintenance

We spoke earlier about the benefits of fuel filters and their ability to remove contaminants from the fuel sent to your engine. Effective fuel filters allow the engine to receive contaminant-free fuel for peak efficiency and power. They also keep contaminants from damaging the engine, which prolongs the engine’s life and your investment in it.

However, your fuel filter can only ensure your engine works correctly when the fuel filter itself functions appropriately. Fuel filters retain the contaminants they encounter, but they can reach the point where they begin clogging. Regular maintenance ensures that you replace your fuel filter before it clogs to the point that it affects your fuel economy, performance, and engine longevity while avoiding breakdowns.

You should check your fuel filter as often as you replace your oil filter, with the timing affected by the severity of your operating conditions and the quality of fuel used. Likewise, check your fuel filter more often when operating in winter conditions because of the effect of cold temperatures on diesel fuel.

Keeping Your Diesel Engine in Top Performance

Your diesel engine operates at its best with access to an uninterrupted flow of clean fuel. The quality of your fuel filtering system, including the fuel filter, directly affects your fuel quality, so correctly maintaining the filter and replacing it as needed is vital. Still, a bad tank of fuel while on the road can force a filter to work harder, potentially leading to clogging. An AirDog® fuel filtering system with a warning light indicator ensures you are alerted to a clogged filter. Taking a spare filter along for the ride ensures you always have the correct filter, allowing you to easily replace it and return to the road operating at peak performance and efficiency.

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I have always used oem/hengst/mann. Since ive been too lazy to stop by the vw dealership or order an oil filter online, I went to my local advanced auto parts and found a bosch filter made in germany and I was surprised at how good it looked. It looks like it has more pleats than the OEM. Ill change the oil tomorrow and compare them side by side. The best fuel filters are the 1-micron or 2-micron fuel filters.

Nicktane sells filter heads for either one.
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=

Lubrication Specialist (Greg Landuyt) sells a filter head for the Cat 2-micron filter.
http://lubricationspecialist.com/front/shop.aspx?catid=8&parentid=0&productid=26

I have the Lubrication Specialist system; it paid for itself long ago. I typically replace the Cat filters about every 60k miles but they can probably go 100k miles. If I did not already have an aftermarket fuel filter system, I think I'd go with the Nicktane system, but using the 2-micron filters because replacements are easy to find and cheap. The Nicktane system seems unlikely to have any problems with the thermostatic-T, which you can have with either an OE filter or the Lubrication Specialist system.

Also, there are no moving parts, so whichever you buy, you can use in your current TDI, and the next one, and the one after that, and then pass it along to your children and grandchildren. Define best! In my experience there are big differences between filters, but very little difference in the final results. Filter A may look flimsy, but that does not mean it is likely to fail or will filter poorly. Filter B may look great, but not not provide any meaningful difference in end results than A.

In real life very few stock cars don't have filter problems. My car with cheap filters is likely to last just as long as someone else's car with an expensive filter.

If you have modified your engine, then you may want to consider possible differences.

Any clues what micron filter rating has the OEM fuel filter?

This is a bit of a dated reply but the Mann PU936/2 has a rated filtration efficiency of >95% of particles in the range of 3-5µm with a flow rate of 125 liters per hour.

Mann provides a high quality product when you specify the OEM numbers. Had a bad Meyle fuel filter the other day. Didnt realize it until it was in the car and prefilled with fuel. The port that accepts the thermo T was all jagged and the channels were to long and narrow for the T to seat properly. Now I will be spending the extra couple bucks to get Mann or Hengst filters The best oil filter is not available for my 03 jetta, it is an amsoil/Donoldson filter, I believe they are called AeO filters. Years ago George Morrison tried to get a write in campaign going to get Amsoil to start making them for our cars, unfortunately this was not successful. They are said to be many times better than the Oe filter. I'll try to look up Georges old post on this later.
Found it, maybe we can try again to get Amsoil to make these for our cars. http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=&highlight=worlds+oil+filter

This is a bit of a dated reply but the Mann PU936/2 has a rated filtration efficiency of >95% of particles in the range of 3-5µm with a flow rate of 125 liters per hour.

Mann provides a high quality product when you specify the OEM numbers.

Better late than never! Glad I went with MANN last year.

Fram sucks. I've seen fram oil filter failure 2 times.

I've used Mann at 60,000/80/100 and will at 120k miles because they come with the filter packs, and used Fram at 10,000 mile intervals between.

The fram looks a bit better made IMHO, and I've never noticed any difference with performance. Also, my family has used fram filters on all of our cars for almost 25+ years, and never experienced a failure. Some filters are rated "nominal" and some are rated "absolute".

With an absolute rated filter, there is a distinct particle cut off at micron rating.
Nominal filters are always expressed in a wishy washy percentage removal of the target particle.

Cellulose filter media is cheap, and the cellulose media tends to "shed" downstream of the filter, so you could stop 95% of 10 micron particles only to get 20 micron pieces of cellulose downstream of the filter. Hot liquids (like oil) will dissolve the binding material over time, releasing previously trapped particles. Cellulose media can be white or a dark orange in color.

Look for filters made of impregnated fiberglass with a metallic screen backing for petroleum liquids. This media doesn't shed, and doesn't release trapped particles.

Fram sucks. I've seen fram oil filter failure 2 times.

Does that include cartridge filters? Fram doesn't make their own cartridge filters.

I currently use fram on my 2.0T, Fram CH.... made in Germany, looks like a Mann, but not priced like a Mann (I save about a buck or 2)

If you need to save a buck or two then you should really take a bus instead. Don't be cheap.

Excellent savings are available if you buy 6 or 12 filters at a time, from the online vendors who offer such discounts. For instance, www.fleetfilter.com sells the Wix oil filter for the ALH engine for $5.99 in bulk. NAPA sells that same filter for $9-10, I think, though I haven't actually priced them lately since I still have a good stockpile.

If you need to save a buck or two then you should really take a bus instead. Don't be cheap.

K&N inflates the price of the Mann filter... so it must be better than a Mann filter, right?

or... maybe I should try to find a cartridge filter for my 2.0T (and other TDI's) that uses steel end caps....

Excellent savings are available if you buy 6 or 12 filters at a time, from the online vendors who offer such discounts. For instance, www.fleetfilter.com sells the Wix oil filter for the ALH engine for $5.99 in bulk. NAPA sells that same filter for $9-10, I think, though I haven't actually priced them lately since I still have a good stockpile.

Some of the online dealerships on the 'tex offers discounts over MSRP as well.

Excellent savings are available if you buy 6 or 12 filters at a time, from the online vendors who offer such discounts. For instance, www.fleetfilter.com sells the Wix oil filter for the ALH engine for $5.99 in bulk. NAPA sells that same filter for $9-10, I think, though I haven't actually priced them lately since I still have a good stockpile.

Personally I wouldn't use this no-name filter in my personal car even if I got it/them free of charge. Just my 2 cents. I want to be sure so I usually buy well-known quality products.

K&N inflates the price of the Mann filter... so it must be better than a Mann filter, right?

or... maybe I should try to find a cartridge filter for my 2.0T (and other TDI's) that uses steel end caps....

What's your point? To defend FRAM? Come on, go and use your FRAM.

What's your point? To defend FRAM? Come on, go and use your FRAM.

1. No one says why steel end caps on the filters is better.
2. Since cartridge filters available do not utilize steel end caps, are they automatically inferior?
3. What's wrong with saving a buck or two for buying the same product?