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DIY 7th Gen Pre-Facelift Diesel Fuel Filter Change

apintofmild

apintofmild

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This covers the Bosch filter, Honda part number 16901-S6F-E02. The one with two tubes on top as fitted to the pre-facelift i-CDTi.
Facelift car owners with the Denso spin-on filter should take a look here: http://typeaccord.co.uk/forum/topic/911-fuel-filter-change-facelift-7th-gen/

I started this job with no small amount of trepidation. It has caused serious problems for a number of members! There is no doubt it’s tricky. The fact a Japanese car manufacturer would design a routine service part that is this awkward to replace beggars belief.

This is an account of what I did; I’m not suggesting it’s the right, only or best way. That said I’ll do it the same way next time, with the possible addition of removing the positive terminal from the battery (or even the battery entirely) to give a little more clearance when dealing with the air box*.

All in, it took me about four hours (!). That includes a good deal of head scratching, back tracking, note taking and photographing. I reckon I could do it in an hour or so next time.

The old filter I’m removing is a pattern part that came with the car (and is hopefully responsible for my occasional but annoying loss of power under hard acceleration) so it may look slightly different to yours.
 
Before starting work, check your tool kit. I wouldn’t even consider this job if I didn’t have all of the following:

* Nitrile gloves. It’s not that messy, but there’s not much room and were it not for their protection I think I’d need skin grafts on the backs of my hands.

* 1/4” drive ratchet, 10mm sockets (standard and deep), universal joint, 50mm extension, 70mm extension. There just isn’t room to manoeuvre ½” socketry.

* Telescopic inspection mirror and torch.

Begin by removing the four dome nuts and washers from the engine cover. Remove the cover and put to one side.

DomeNuts.jpg



You’re going to need to make some room to work in. I had hoped the lid would come off the airbox and give me the access to the fuel filter, but it doesn’t. Not with it in the car at any rate. When the lid is opened to just under 90 degrees the hinge will separate, and the top and bottom come apart, but when the box is in the car there isn’t the clearance to open it that wide.

Therefore the first job is to remove the entire air box.
 
Slacken off the jubilee clip on the rear duct a few turns and slip the duct from the air filter housing.

Jubilee.jpg



Locate the MAF sensor plug and remove it (press the squeezy bit in to the release the catch).

MAF.jpg



Next locate the three air box securing points. The two at the front are just bolts (10mm socket). The one at the left side had me puzzled for a while. Fear not, it’s just a locating pin in a grommet. Pull upward and the air box will come away. Notice my airbox cover bolts are pictured part way out. This isn’t necessary for the fuel filter change –I was changing the air filter too.

AirBoxBolts.jpg



Remove the front hose to the air box. A gentle prise with a broad screwdriver will help

PriseHose.jpg



With a bit of twisting and turning* the entire airbox ***embly can be withdrawn. I secured a rag over the open end of the post-filter intake hose with a rubber band. Had I not I’m CERTAIN something or other would have fallen inside!

AirBoxAssy.jpg
 
Using a 10mm socket remove the bolts and then the cover from the priming bulb

BulbCover.jpg



Similarly, remove the two bolts (10mm) that hold the priming bulb bracket and withdraw. Unclipping the bulb improves access to the right hand bolt (or use a ring spanner).

BulbBracket.jpg



Now unfortunately nothing you can see is going to help you remove the filter. All the visible bolts attach the filter holder to the car, and you want the bolt that attaches the filter to the filter holder. I spent literally half an hour with my mirror on a stick poking round trying to find the bolt in question. It’s hidden round the back.

This may or may not work for you: Stand at the passenger side headlight and locate the top left relay on the fuse panel. Use the corner nearest you as a reference point. Draw an imaginary line from that corner to the small gap between the tubular suspension brace and where the throttle cable enters the accelerator position sensor box. Bend your knees and rise up and down, whilst at the same time holding a torch in your left hand pointing toward the fuel filter (you will of course look like you’ve lost the plot). If you’re REALLY lucky you’ll catch a glimpse of the bolt you’re after.

HiddenBolt1.jpg



Seeing it won’t help you undo it of course, but it’s a start!

I managed to get another picture by threading the camera through all the pipes and wires into the engine bay. Imagine drilling a large hole through the passenger side wing into the engine bay so it breaks through just behind the suspension turret, then peering through the hole with a torch. This is what you’d see:

HiddenBolt2.jpg



Now you know what you’re aiming for.
 
Next, remove the two bolts (10mm socket) securing the throttle position sensor ***embly. Cut the cable tie round the back that supports the large wiring loom (not pictured) and the one round the front that holds the wiring from the sensor. Unplug the connector at the rear of the sensor.

ThrottleTrans.jpg



Lift the sensor ***embly away and lay on top of the engine (leaving the throttle cable attached)

RemoveThrottleTrans.jpg



Finally there’s a bit of room to work!
Using your ¼” drive ratchet, universal joint and ***orted extensions slacken the hidden bolt a few turns. I didn’t dare go more than this. If it comes all the way out I have no clue how you’d get it back in!

Undo the squeeze clips securing the fuel lines to the filter and slide them up the pipe where they’ll not get lost.

I was concerned there’d be fuel everywhere at this point, but there was only a few drops.

SlackenBoltAndTubes.jpg



The filter is now free to rotate and slide up and down, but it fouls (by some considerable margin) on the bulkhead at the top.

I’m not proud of the next bit, but needs must:

On the left hand side of the filter is another bolt (also 10mm socket). Undo and remove it, then using the filter as a handle bend (!) the bracket ***embly forward and down about half an inch. It’s pretty soft and compliant.

OtherBolt.jpg



Finally the old filter can be withdrawn!

Withdraw.jpg
 
Check the water drain valve on the bottom is nipped up, and drop the new filter into the holder. Bend the holder bracket back into position, checking the left hand bolt hole alignment with an inspection mirror. Once it’s back where it was, re-fit the bolt and tighten.

Align.jpg



Position the filter where you want it (tubes to the front, bleed bolt to the rear) and tighten the hidden bolt up. Reattach the fuel line that comes from the tank (the front one), leaving the one feeding the fuel heater (the rear pipe) off for the moment. Refit the squeeze clip.

Fill the filter with fuel by squeezing the priming bulb. Mine took 33 pumps. Have some rags handy as fuel squirts out the open tube on the filter quite enthusiastically! Once primed, fit the output fuel line and squeeze clip.

Refit the throttle position sensor, not forgetting to fit two new cable ties and to plug the connector back in.

Remove the rag from the air duct, and re-fit the air box. Keep an eye on the jubilee clip -it tends to rotate round screw to the bottom, where it can’t be accessed. I found it somewhat harder getting this ***embly back in than it came out*. Re-connect the MAF sensor plug.

Give the priming bulb (still hanging in space) a few more pumps until firm, and start the car. The owners manual suggests revving to 1500rpm for 30 seconds to purge any air. I got lucky; it fired first pull and no glow plug light or rough running.

If there are no leaks refit the priming bulb bracket and cover, then the engine cover.

Put the kettle on. You’ve earnt it!
 
I have this DIY as a PDF if anyone wants it (e.g. if my free-hosted pictures start going off line). Just drop me a PM.
 
Great write up Matt, not too dissimilar to the one I wrote on t'old forum
tongue.gif
 
Nice writeup mate, I changed mine recently and it was a real pain. I didn't take the cruise control switch off so thats a good tip.
 
Matt - top man!

That is easily the best fuel filter change write up yet, and deserves to be a sticky ;)
 
Thanks for great DIY
 
LOL I thought you two were the same person :lol:
 
Job now done, thanks for the guide.

Took about 2:30 total, this included hunting for the dropped universal joint in the engine bay and playing hunt the bolt under the car.
 
F6HAD said:
LOL I thought you two were the same person :lol:
Click to expand...

Afraid not, Faddy. T'other Matt's DIYs are like this: "I'd not done this before, but after 2 hours its all fixed with no problems and I even managed to take a million excellent photos to share with everyone else."

My DIY would be: "I'd not done this before but after 2 hours Mrs Matt came out to ask what all the swearing was about and why can she smell burning?"
 
Thanks for the guide i followed it through and thought it was brilliant no dramas took 90 mins and fired up straight away.
Just going to test it to see if my cutting out problem has gone fingers crossed ,thanks again.
Paul. :)
 
Just a update fitted fuel filter and tried it out put foot flat down and the old cutting out was there but only once tried it lots after that and no more cutting out dont know why it did it just the once but hey im a happy chappie.
Might just be me but it felt quicker too.Engine and gearbox oil next ;)
 
Matt, have a rep point on me. I used this guide yesterday to do the filter and it all went smoothly (took me 3hrs mind, but WILL be much quicker next time!)
 
UPDATE: Oct 2012

Having run the filter fitted above for 9 months / 12,500miles / 1170 litres of supermarket fuel (if you're wondering, that averages to 48mpg) I decided it was time for a new one. It was giving me no problems and no doubt it would have kept for a while longer, but I wanted to get it out the way whilst it was still sunny (and cold). If I'd left it another few weeks I'd have been doing it whilst raining (and cold) -a much less attractive option.

I'm pleased to say I've had not a single instance of warning light / hesitation / misfire whilst running this (genuine) filter :D

I followed my own instructions to the letter, with the notable exception of not even touching the air box. Whilst its removal undoubtedly gives more room to work, on balance I think the time and effort saved in leaving it in place outways the amount of useful extra space gained in writhing it out.

Bonnet open to bonnet closed just 50 minutes! This job really isn't nearly as difficult as it's made out to be.

If anyone is interested what's inside the mysterious metal can…

InsideFilter.jpg


Just remember it holds 500ml of fuel before you take a saw to it!
 
Nice write up, the photos are especially useful.
Did a full service this morning took about 2 hours and doing the fuel filter a slightly different way, that took less than 40 mins, without having to remove much.
After removing the engine cover, I removed the priming bulb cover 2 bolts, using 3/8 drive deep 10mm socket, then eased the priming bulb out of its clips. Next off was the priming bulb bracket, 2 bolts towards the top, into the bulkhead. Pull the priming pump piping forward.
The fuel pump bracket is in two parts, the bolts joining these are on the side nearest the centre of the car. These I undid using a short 10mm combination spanner.
Once these are removed, the filter and its clamp will tip forward and the pipes can be removed. The feed pipe to the engine can be unclipped from the clip at the back of the filter and at the side nearest the wing. Using the same 10mm combi spanner I was easily able to get at the bolt clamping the filter into the bracket. Once slackened the filter just slid out with plenty of clearance. Pop the new one in and tighten the clamp.
Put the engine feed pipe back into it’s plastic clips but don’t plug it onto the filter yet. Refitting the pump clamp bracket to the bulkhead bracket is straightforward, I found it easier to put the front bolt first and then tilt the filter ***embly to line up the back one.
I then fitted the inlet pipe to the filter, and it took about 30 squeezes to fill the filter.
Half put the engine feed pipe on and squeezed a few more times until diesel came out of the joint between the pipe and filter. Put the pipe on fully. Started up with no hesitation, ran at 1500rpm for 30 seconds and checked for leaks. Refited the primer bulb holding bracket then the primer bulb in its plastic clips and replaced the top cover.
Drove the car for 5 miles an all ok. Much smoother after full service.
Tools needed 10mm deep socket and ratchet, short 10mm combination spanner, pliers for pipe clamp clips.
Hope this helps those who are as terrified as I was before starting the job. Next time I could probaly do it in under 30 mins, now I know where all the bolts are.

Regards, Geoff
:D
 
Bloody 'ell. No wonder the Honda techies are accused of not bothering to change it. Can't be true.....can it?

I see it's a canister rather than a removable filter inside a casing. Very informative. Big thanks.

T
 
Just changed my filter this evening - like Geoff said above, no need to remove engine cover or air filter box. access can be gained just from removing the priming and its brakcet/cover etc. The bolt at the back holding the filter in is a little difficult, but don't let it put you off as a small amount of poking around with flexi joint/extender bars with your socket and it'l go on :)

I had one problem, the old filter has somewhat bonded to the bracket which made it imposible to remove. Because of this i had to remove the bracket with the filter still in it, wangle it out the gap (took a few goes but it came out eventually) then refitted.

The reason i changed it was i had hesitation when accelerating, both from standstill in 1st gear and toodling around 1-1,500 and putting your foot down...about a second of nothingness before accelerating. pleased to inform this has been totally rectified with the new filter. If anyone is interested upon removing the old filter it turned out to be a unipart one, not even the same shape/size! good luck to anyone carrying this out anytime soon :)
 
Daft question? Does the new filter come complete with a new canister or do we just get the actual filter interior without the casing?

I was going to put a mark on the existing canister as I still don't trust the dealers to do the job as they should and I am more wary than I used to be when fiddling with engines.

As an example, the car I have just bought for my wife from a main dealer is two years old with a full main dealer history. I pointed out the the two front tyres were borderline illegal and were clearly scrubbing, showing the tracking was out, yet they didn't seem to notice until I showed them.

Doesn't give one confidence that they will do as asked with a fuel filter.

Cheers
 
On pre-facelift (5 speed) diesels the entire canister (Bosch filter) is replaced as a unit. So it would be easy to see if the filter had been replaced, as it would look new and shiny.

Not sure about the later facelift models (Denso filter)... I believe these may be a replaceable cartridge? Hopefully someone can confirm this either way.
 
It's the right one then! Any idea when it was fitted?

If you do get it replaced, then make sure they use the same Bosch filter (part number ending in 442).
 
The filter has been on the car since I bought it ( 5 or 6 years ago). I don't do a big mileage but it has been serviced every year - twice by a Honda main agent and then by a more local Toyota main agent. I guess it has not been drained in that tiem either.
 
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