Fuel filter missing pipework

Hi everyone,
Serviced the disco today, all good...kind of other than snapping the fuel filter housing while trying to undo the fuel filter .

In the process of getting another one however on inspection I only have two fuel lines connected to the fuel filter, the two pipes on the left hand side of the filter housing feeds are missing items 9 and 7 on the attached schematic.
Car has been fine so far but would this be something to be concerned about?

Thanks

Fonzy86 said:

Hi everyone,
Serviced the disco today, all good...kind of other than snapping the fuel filter housing while trying to undo the fuel filter .

In the process of getting another one however on inspection I only have two fuel lines connected to the fuel filter, the two pipes on the left hand side of the filter housing feeds are missing items 9 and 7 on the attached schematic.
Car has been fine so far but would this be something to be concerned about?

Thanks

Click to expand...

This is fascinating!
So the car only has a flow and a return, nowt else, and is still running fine?
Wow! Just shows how much unnecessary sh!t there is on a modern car. I take it that the fuel is being filtered at some point, i.e. it comes out the tank, gets filtered, fucks off to the engine gets used, or not then returns to the tank!
What the hell was ever wrong with that in the first place?
So much BS in modern car design.
If it ain't bust don't fix it!

A flow and a return is what I would expect anyway.
Looking at getting a replacement housing and it seems the 300tdis only have flow and return, none of this added bull**** , can get a second hand housing for £40 so gonna go with that.

Here's hoping the two bolts securing it come loose easily instead of snapping like this one did

Somebody bodget the sh*t out of it... with that setup the fuel from the tank is not filtered at all ...dont compare with tdi which has the filter between the pump and engine

It could be being daft on this actually

When I took the photo it looks like they aren't there cause they have 90° elbows.

**** this **** for a game of soldiers I'm off to the pub......

Stanleysteamer said:

This is fascinating!
So the car only has a flow and a return, nowt else, and is still running fine?
Wow! Just shows how much unnecessary sh!t there is on a modern car. I take it that the fuel is being filtered at some point, i.e. it comes out the tank, gets filtered, fucks off to the engine gets used, or not then returns to the tank!
What the hell was ever wrong with that in the first place?
So much BS in modern car design.
If it ain't bust don't fix it!

Click to expand...

sierrafery said:

Somebody bodget the sh*t out of it... with that setup the fuel from the tank is not filtered at all ...dont compare with tdi which has the filter between the pump and engine

Click to expand...

it is filtered on the return, high pump is feeding itself which cant happen so it must have a pipe removed on bottom of pump

Fonzy86 said:

It could be being daft on this actually

When I took the photo it looks like they aren't there cause they have 90° elbows.

**** this **** for a game of soldiers I'm off to the pub......

Click to expand...

That's so filthy I can't see fu ck all!

jamesmartin said:

it is filtered on the return, high pump is feeding itself which cant happen so it must have a pipe removed on bottom of pump

Click to expand...

Well this is well-weird!
So the fuel is filtered twice?
Why would it need that?
Filtered from the pump I fully understsand, don't want sh!t and water in the fuel, obvs.
But filtered on the return? Why? If it is going to be filtered when the pump sucks it out of the tank, or pushes it out, depending on which way you look at it, it's going to get filtered anyway, isn't it?
Must be lunchtime wine befuddling my bonce!!!

Totally my fault lads.

Just went down to check and the fuel lines are there, it's my photo angle and the fact that there's crap everywhere that makes it hard to see .

My bad....

Fonzy86 said:

Totally my fault lads.

Just went down to check and the fuel lines are there, it's my photo angle and the fact that there's crap everywhere that makes it hard to see .

My bad....

Click to expand...

Glad that's sorted out then!!

Stanleysteamer said:

Glad that's sorted out then!!

Click to expand...

Yeah, heads up my arse today, the rotor filter housing I found out one of the threads is no more so I need to buy a new housing and fit it.
Then go round to the fuel filter and that snapped while undoing the filter so not a good day so far

Stanleysteamer said:

Well this is well-weird!
So the fuel is filtered twice?
Why would it need that?
Filtered from the pump I fully understsand, don't want sh!t and water in the fuel, obvs.
But filtered on the return? Why? If it is going to be filtered when the pump sucks it out of the tank, or pushes it out, depending on which way you look at it, it's going to get filtered anyway, isn't it?
Must be lunchtime wine befuddling my bonce!!!

Click to expand...

normally lp feeds filter then back to hp pump, return normally enters with the lp input and returns with to hp so filtered twice as such just to simplify the system

jamesmartin said:

normally lp feeds filter then back to hp pump, return normally enters with the lp input and returns with to hp so filtered twice as such just to simplify the system

Click to expand...

Makes sense, I expected to only have two pipes at the housing, but the way you explained makes perfect sense on how it works

jamesmartin said:

just to simplify the system

Click to expand...

I love this, it is so simple I had to read it twice to understand it and still not sure I do!
Weber carbs etc used to return petrol to the tank, to keep the fuel in the float bowl at the right temp so I understand, but they never messed about with filtering it twice. Nor does the 300tdi.
So, sorry mate, but still too befuddled to understand why a straight excess return fuel pipe from the injectors to the tank is so difficult!
Will have another look at this later to understand it!!!

Fonzy86 said:

Makes sense, I expected to only have two pipes at the housing, but the way you explained makes perfect sense on how it works

Click to expand...

Fonzy you is more awake than I am today!!!

Fonzy86 said:

Yeah, heads up my arse today, the rotor filter housing I found out one of the threads is no more so I need to buy a new housing and fit it.
Then go round to the fuel filter and that snapped while undoing the filter so not a good day so far

Click to expand...

Ouch, stop!!!
No you don't! Need to buy a new rotor filter housing I mean!
This happens a lot to many of us, just get a longer bolt and make sure it goes all the way through the housing then stick a washer and nut on the bottom, or the top if you prefer. Much easier and cheaper than getting a new filter housing every so often!!! Happened to me this spring, no sweat! Peeps think you can't get to the bottom of the housing, but you can!!!

Stanleysteamer said:

Fonzy you is more awake than I am today!!!

Click to expand...

Just think of it.
It gets filtered on the way to the injectors, and it gets filtered on return back from injectors all the way through filter and fuel pump.

Fonzy86 said:

Just think of it.
It gets filtered on the way to the injectors, and it gets filtered on return back from injectors all the way through filter and fuel pump.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I kinda get it, seems a bit weird to me.
I am more bothered about you and your rotor filter housing, see my other post!

Stanleysteamer said:

Ouch, stop!!!
No you don't! Need to buy a new rotor filter housing I mean!
This happens a lot to many of us, just get a longer bolt and make sure it goes all the way through the housing then stick a washer and nut on the bottom, or the top if you prefer. Much easier and cheaper than getting a new filter housing every so often!!! Happened to me this spring, no sweat! Peeps think you can't get to the bottom of the housing, but you can!!!

Click to expand...

I thought of that, however it's a bitch to get access to the bottom of the housing to get nuts in there.

I considered tapping both holes to M8 and use M8 bolts instead of M6.

How much of a ballache Job is it to replace the whole housing?

Fonzy86 said:

I thought of that, however it's a bitch to get access to the bottom of the housing to get nuts in there.

I considered tapping both holes to M8 and use M8 bolts instead of M6.

How much of a ballache Job is it to replace the whole housing?

Click to expand...

As to the ballache, no idea as I have already my solution. But drilling and tapping out may well be OK if there is enough meat in the housing and filter cover.
I have been doing stupid jobs on cars for so long that putting nuts on the ends of bolts blind, by touch, is second nature, if you give it a go you have nothing much to lose do you?
But i'd a thort either solution would work, just don't tweak the bugres up too tight and use grease or copaslip to ensure the threads don't "go" again!
Best of luck!