On 28 Dec 2003 09:14:14 -0800, pnsunysb@yahoo.com (Pravin Nair) wrote:

>Hi there,
>
>I was reading about the additive change in New York to Ethanol in
>gasoline. One of the things that I read was that one should change the
>"fuel filter". This is basically so that all the rust and other
>particulate matter that the ethanol removes does not clog up the
>injectors. Atleast this is what I read.

Is this a recent change to the fuel formulation for New York? Other nearby
states (NJ, Conn.) have been using oxygenates in the fuel for several
years.

>How true is this? How necessary is this step? How much would it cost.

Where did you read it? It's the kinda reasoning that dealers would be
happy to feed you to get you to spend extra $$. OTOH it's not impossible
that the ethanol might pull some extra residue from the fuel tank but I
doubt that there'd be enough to cause problems. Your fuel system has to be
pretty clean anyway even without the ethanol and I don't think that there'd
be enough extra "dirt" to overwhelm the fuel filter.

>Also was wondering if this filter is diefferent from the oil filter
>that is replaced when you do an oil change. I have a feeling it is but
>just want to know from you guru's out there.

Yes it's a different filter - it's an in-line filter in the fuel line - and
on models where it is in the engine compartment, the change used to be
scheduled for 60K miles though even there, recent models dropped the
requirement. On some recent models, it's inside the fuel tank next to the
fuel pump and has no scheduled change and would be more expensive to
change.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??