Last fall 500 miles from home a load of bad gas interrupted our trip. Took it to a dealer and had them change the fuel filter, which solved the problem - for about another 300 miles. When it died the second time I took the line off the fuel pump pressure side. The backwash must have dislodged some crud because after I put it together it ran OK. As a precaution, in Memphis I bought an in-line filter. Removed the rubber dish around the filler neck, cut the pressure line, and inserted the filter with hose clamps. My thought was that since I can't easily get at the original filter, having this one more accessible might catch crud before it got to the original filter. Whether because of this precaution or not, we got home without further problems and the car has run OK since.

I'm concerned because without that rubber dish, all the rain and wash water drips in right onto the access piece for the fuel pump. Seems like a good way to get water in the gas tank. So I want to put that back on which will involve removing the temporary filter. I'm sure the bad gas is long gone but dirt and crud can reappear at any time and I suspect the filter in the original location is compromised - it's still the one I had the dealer put on and the car did die once after it was changed.

So with that as background, has anybody relocated their fuel filter from way down under to someplace easier to get at? Any suggestions on how to handle the issue? Thanks!

 

The line you cut is factory clamped to the steel line, and almost impossible to change without removing the bumper. I would put a longer hose on the tank side so as to drop the fuel filter away from the opening. you might want to clamp it down so it doesn't vibrate. It is a very high pressure line (about 50psi max) so make sure its double clamped.You may want to rmove the fuel pump and scrub the inside of the tank It has a rubber bladder (liner) that cleans easily. One of the problems is if you get moisture in the tank, with the oxygenated fuel (ethanol) it will cause the fuel pump assembly to rust and scale.

 

Thanks Fred.

I replaced the fuel pump, strainer etc in 2009. I don't think it was rust from that as there was no rust on the old unit. And the car ran great until I gassed up in Ohio on that trip. A couple hundred miles later was when things started to go bad.

I'd rather not remove the bumper if I don't have to so maybe the answer is keep the new filter and lengthen the line.

 

I've thought about a relocation also. I think a pre-filter in another location is a great idea, as I have no desire to wrestle with that original one again. Could they have picked a more awkward location to install such an important fuel connection?

 

FI cars like the Corvette use much higher fuel pressures compared to earlier cars. Typical fuel pressure will be in the 35-45 psi range. Using a filter that is not designed for those pressures and especially a filter that uses some rubber hose and clamps can be dangerous. The pressure can blow the hoses off or even split the hose.

It seems funny, but the owner's manual does not show any service or maintenance schedule for the fuel filter. Getting some bad gas certainly justifies a filter replacement and having to do it again doesn't help when on a trip.

Given that the factory filter is "supposedly" not serviceable under routine maintenance, I would let it go as along as the car is running fine. Hopefully the new stock filter kept junk out of the injectors and they are not clogged to where engine performance is down.

 

I think we can assume that anyone doing this mod will use both a fuel filter and rubber fuel line designed for high-pressure FI systems. AFAIK, all motorcycles with 45-lb FI systems use rubber hoses. All of mine have, anyway.