Pajero 4x4
Living With A Mitsubishi Pajero
Pajero Fuel Filter Change
This is one part of the servicing I’ve been putting off for a while. It just looked a little complicated to me and when you start playing about with fuel lines and things it worries a relative newbie with the spanners. Anyway, it had to be done and I was determined to do it myself, so here’s the write-up with some pictures.
As usual with the Pajero there are several theories on how often the fuel filter should be replaced. These include: Every 12 months, every 40000 miles, only when you think it might be causing a problem. At this point for me I don’t when the fuel filter was last changed (if ever) so I need to do it now for peace of mind. Then I can decide how often to do it in the future at a later point.
The first thing you have to do when performing a Pajero fuel filter change is to find the bloody thing! Here’s a photo of where the fuel filter is located on my 2.8 before I remove anything:
As will become obvious in this write-up you need much more access than is available at this point. You at least have to take off the intercooler (big silver/black thing to left) and those who have two batteries as I do often talk about removing the battery nearest to the filter as well. I managed just fine with only removing the intercooler. If you don’t know how to do this, have a look here first: Removing the Pajero Intercooler
Once the intercooler is out of the way we can see a much better view of the fuel filter which is arrowed below.
Right, now we can see the thing we need to remove the 2 fuel pipes. These are pretty obvious to see, coming off the front of the fuel filter unit. In theory you can do this with a screwdriver but I found it easier with a socket. Once removed there will be a little diesel leakage from the pipes but not much when I did mine. Note: you might wish to label these pipes before you remove them so you know which goes where when refitting.
Now it gets fiddly. Have a look down the back of the fuel filter housing and you should see the 2 bolts that hold it all in place. A socket extension was called for here - remove the 2 bolts.
Pull the whole fuel filter unit away from the bulkhead carefully and you’ll see that it is attached to 2 electrical clips. Undo these and try not to get diesel into them as I’m reliably informed this can damage the seals inside. You should now be able to take the whole fuel filter unit away from the vehicle, watching out for the diesel spilling out.
Ideally you have a vice available at this point. Otherwise you’ll have to improvise. Keep the unit upright and place the plastic water sensor (right at the bottom) very gently in the grips of the vice - just enough to get a hold of it (see photo below). Twist the filter and housing anti-clockwise to loosen, but not remove the plastic water sensor.
Now open up the jaws of the vice and grip it tightly around the body of the fuel filter itself (not the top housing). Twist the top housing anti-clockwise to remove the fuel filter. Drain any diesel from the fuel filter now. Then unscrew the plastic water sensor all the way out so it’s removed.
Here’s a photo of the whole thing taken apart. Left to right: New Mitsubishi fuel filter, old fuel filter, fuel filter housing. Bottom: Water sensor. Also notice on the water sensor the arrowed o-ring. In the box of the Mitsubishi fuel filter that I bought there was a new o-ring to go here which I obviously replaced. Not sure if this is the case on an after market fuel filter?
Let’s put it all back together!
Put the new o-ring onto the water sensor and then screw this into the new fuel filter. I couldn’t find out how tight this is supposed to be really, so I did it as tight as I could with my fingers and then gave it a final nip in the vice.
Now open up the vice and hold the fuel filter itself in place and screw on the filter housing. Again there’s no real test of how tight, it’s a guess really.
Right, now we’re ready to go back to the truck with it. Hold the unit roughly where it’s going to sit and put back the two cable clips you removed before taking it out. Then put back the 2 bolts at the back and tighten them up.
Now we need to put the fuel pipes back onto the front of the housing. Mine had these old clip things that I tried tightening but after a certain point they just seemed to spin. I really wasn’t confident about them so I replaced them with some small jubilee clips. My local motor factors had them labelled up specifically as fuel line clips.
At this point we’re almost done, but the fuel filter needs ‘bleeding’ to pull through the diesel and and fill the unit with fuel, therefore removing any air. The manual I followed showed a fuel filter housing with a different pump and air plug arrangement to mine, so I can only describe how mine looks and works. Yours might be different, but the principle’s the same.
I’ve shown a close up of the top of my filter housing below to show the relevant parts. Unscrew the white disc on the left which is the pump. Now undo the bleed screw (a few turns) which is the big nut in the centre. Work the pump until until fuel without bubbles comes out of the bleed screw. Now tighten the bleed screw and pump again until resistance is felt. Now tighten up the pumping disc.
Have a final check to make sure everything you took off is back in place securely, then put the intercooler back on. Now fire her up and off you go.
All in all a job that I needn’t have been worried about at all that could be done from start to finish in about half an hour with a little experience.
I’d love feedback on this post. What do you think about what I’ve written? Any tips on how to do it better/more efficiently. Anything you think I’m doing wrong? Please let me know in the comments box below.
Did this article help you? You may wish to make a small donation to help me run this site and create more great articles:
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
November 28th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Hi Lee
If you’re sure it’s a fuel problem and you’ve had the main fuel filter changed, have you also done the filter that’s near the fuel tank? Have a look in the comments above where someone describes how to do this.
Good luck.
August 10th, 2010 at 11:00 pm
Hi Tim are there anymore fuel filters beside the one in the tank and the main one you mention one near the tank i to am losing power at 2500 revs it just cuts out and then powers up again I have changed the main filter and going to do the one in the tank tomorrow any guidance as to any other filters would be helpful
August 11th, 2010 at 6:50 am
No John, just those two. Good luck.
December 2nd, 2009 at 10:53 pm
Tim
How do I replace the pump seals or rubber seals in the fuel lift pump and where would I get them from please ?
(I can remove the pump and mechanism and it has 3 or 4 rubber seals inside, one is push and one is a pull, they resemble the rubbers in a break wheel cylinder on drum brakes.) Would appreciate any info you can give me. Thanx
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:30 pm
I have just bought a Mitsubishi pajero 2.5TD 1993 model. I have driven it for a short period and it started switching off itself especially when I stop at traffic lights and put it in neutral. I also oberved that it was losing power when I change into gear four and the mechanic told me to buy the fuel housing unit which has a primer pump. when I look at this unit it has not got any provision for any electrical connection. The fuel filter together with the pump that are said to be defective are exactly same as the pictures you have shown.My question is what happens to the electrical connections that you mentioned that they should have contact with fuel because the housing unit with a primer pump has no eletric areas to connect electric cables?
December 11th, 2009 at 11:06 am
probably sounds like a silly question but why did you take the whole filter and priming pump assembly off when you dont need to because doing so creates air locks in fuel lines that can be averted by just unscrewing the filter from the priming pump whilst it still in the vehicle because i havent had any problems doing this and ive changed the filter about 4 times on my 2.5td pajero i know you said your new to being on the spanners but the best tip that i always go by is dont over complicate simple tasks
December 11th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Totally agree with you Allan and I’ve been told that before! Trouble is, when I tried to remove the filter only I couldn’t get enough force on it to unscrew it in the position it’s in. I’ve tried to do it that way every time I’ve done a new filter, but can never manage it, so I just end up taking the whole thing off.
December 19th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
The filter & water sensor can easily be removed & the intercooler & filter housing left in situ, having removed the fuel lines & bottom elec connector if it has one, get yourself an oil filter strap wrench (looks like a nylon belt with a 3/8 drive ‘buckle’ on it) put it round the filter & use a ratchet with a 12″ extension on it & it will simply unscrew, simply swap water sensor to new filter & reverse proceedure to fit it back on, you should manage the bleed pump ok.
December 30th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
I have a problem with my 2.8 the fuel stop solinoid on the pump lost a chip of rubber from the corner of the seal and the car continued to run when turned off at the key to stop it i would have to loosen 3 injector pipes then it lost power dramaticaly i found the stop solinoid and replaced it but still major power loss i found a filter of sorts in the solinoid valve above the stop one, and removed rubber traces from there but still no power is there another filter in the injector pump, and where is it, cheers craig.
December 30th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Thanks for sharing that Craig - might help someone.
December 30th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Hi tim you seem to know lots about these pajeros, i have not been able to find out on the net, about this injection pump, would you know where there is a likly area within the pump where the rubber bits could be caught up causing a fuel restriction, or if there is any internal diagrams of the injector pump layout on the net, many thanks craig.
January 7th, 2010 at 9:58 am
Hi Tim
Thanks for this very helpful manual. I haven’t ever done any repairs to cars o trucks but with this instructions and the credit crunch pushing I think it’s time to give it a go so this will be the first thing I’ve ever done. I’ll try to do it by next week and let you know how did it go.
January 7th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
tim your a star . i have my pajero 2 years and only changed the fuel filter once with your help . jeep kept cutting out , found black sludge in the filter , so i would say two years for a change i drive about 40k miles a year . you made everything so simple .
cheers
andy
January 10th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
I have been having some problems with my 2.8 paj recently it had about as much acceleration as a JCB digger. As a last resort to solve the problem I decided to change the fuel filter. No issues with the job but i noticed that the haynes manual had a different filter housing description to mine (mine was the same as your diagram). Until i found your site i was not aware as to what the white disc was on the side and therefore could not bleed the system correctly.
After reading your information I returned to my workshop bled it and my God what a difference. I would say you have saved me at least £15000 as I had decided to get rid of the paj for an X5.
Thanks a lot, your sight will be my first port of call now as the information was invaluable.
Gareth
January 11th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
Had my pajero about 18 months now no probs. Due to bad weather tried 4 wheel drive last week had light on dash saying wheel lock next to 4 wheel drive light. Car felt like wheels going in different directions couldn’t drive it. When put back in 2 wheel drive wheels stayed locked. Only returned to normal after much turning on and off. Never had problem before when used 4 wheel drive. Any ideas?
May 2nd, 2010 at 8:50 am
After using 4wd put select lever in 2h lights on dash will flash then reverse untill they go out this disengages 4wd as i was told when i first bought one 10 yrs ago
January 18th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
Tim
Thanks for the instructions. Easy to follow and I managed the job in about an hour. Would have taken alot longer without your help and saved me a few quid.
Thanks again for this brilliant guide.
Luke
January 19th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Glad it helped Luke
January 20th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
as i read the instructions first i wondered why he was doing it in such a difficult way, the easiest way is to remove the second battery and use a filter wrench to remove filter (after removing water sensor plug )then with filter out remove water sensor from bottom of filter and the rest has been well described
February 20th, 2010 at 11:06 pm
thanks a mill, brilliant article , just after suffering for last two hours trying to bleed filter, delighted to find this information, well done and thanks again..
March 30th, 2010 at 11:56 am
Great post!!!
Just an FYI to anyone that is working on a 1992, the priming pump in on the to of the manifold. Just above where the filter screws in. just push down on the top and the jump will do its job
March 30th, 2010 at 11:59 am
Thanks Ken, it’s a good point. There are at least 2 different types of filter housing that I know about.
June 27th, 2010 at 4:18 am
changed fuel filter (after removing inter cooler) would have been out side the realms and comfort zone of this kiwi with out your “Maintainence for Dummies” the photos were the clincher!
My old ex Japan 2.4 Montero (Pajero) is more frisky now .Many thanks.
Dale
June 27th, 2010 at 7:06 am
Glad it helped Dale
July 1st, 2010 at 10:03 pm
Hi there, i just bought a v74 2000 model and the problem is that after driving at times it just cut off itself.Than it drags on when i start but starts after some time and works again.Please help.
July 22nd, 2010 at 7:21 am
I have a problem on How to replace the pump seals or rubber seals in the fuel lift pump because it leaks and produce bubbles from fuel pump to enjection pump and where would I get them from please the 3 pcs rubber seals? im from philippines