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JELKES: There are worse things than chastity,
Mr. Shannon. Night of the Iguana |
D Vautier
1/2023
One of the often overlooked
items in servicing vehicles is the fuel filter. Manufactures suggest
anywhere from 40,000 to 150,000 between changes, I suppose because U.S.
gas is of pretty good quality. But after 140,000 miles, pressure to the
injectors gets low and the vehicle looses power or can just stop
working somewhere.
So my son needed to change the
fuel filter in his 2005 Dodge Dakota (140k miles), which should have
been an easy job (ahh...right) because the filter sits between the gas
tank and the engine. But not with Dodge. The
fuel filter is in the fuel pump! What! The fuel pump is in the fuel tank.
The fuel tank is under the truck bed. Those magnificently great idiots at
Dodge somehow in their infinite wisdom and foolishness had decided that the safest
place for a fuel filter would be in the most difficult place on the
truck to replace it.
There are two practical ways to change a fuel pump on a pickup truck. You can drop the tank with all it’s wires and hoses and clamps, or you can slide the truck bed back. I feel the second option is always better because it’s easier working down than up, and no special equipment is needed like jacks and hoists and nothing is falling in your face or on you.
The 2006 Dodge has 8 bed bolts
underneath (not 6) and the tail lights come out easily, but the bed
weighs a lot (seriously). It has I-beams across the bottom, a heavy tail gate and a
spare tire (65 lb) hanging from it that is just
about impossible to remove.
We easily removed the bed bolts and tail gate but struggled for a long time removing the spare tire. It takes two strong men to slide that bed back about 1 ½ feet to expose the fuel pump, but the pump is surprising easy to change out once it gets cleaned up. It has just an electrical socket and a fuel line. The return line is elsewhere on the tank. I needed to put some masking tape on some of the wiring for protection but otherwise no wires were damaged. We forgot to remove the full-up hose but it was ok. A nice job except for the immovable tire.