Fiat Ducato Fuel Filter Failure

The second filter arrived today, so I now have a spare.
The filter tool also arrived, so I will repair the original at my leisure, then I will have two spares.
Oh the luxury.
From a faulty filter on Monday to being a three filter person by the weekend. :)
Life doesn't get much better, does it. :dance2:
 
Regarding spare parts. The filter is made by UFI not Fiat. If you buy parts from Fiat they will be more expensive because a Fiat box costs a lot more money than a UFI one. The contents will be identical.

You could pay equally as much for Citroen or Peugeot boxes along with a whole host of other makes using the same unit.
 
Techno said:
Regarding spare parts. The filter is made by UFI not Fiat. If you buy parts from Fiat they will be more expensive because a Fiat box costs a lot more money than a UFI one. The contents will be identical.

You could pay equally as much for Citroen or Peugeot boxes along with a whole host of other makes using the same unit.
Click to expand...

Mostly true Techno but using aftermarket filters and seals not made by UFI to the exact UFI / Fiat spec. will almost certainly result in failure.
 
Just thought I'd add my woes to this thread, I'm currently on a campsite in South Wales, cracking weather by the way :D. My Fiat based moho started weeing diesel all over the campsite. I've ended up buying an oem updated filter housing from Fiat £196, but comes with a 3 year warranty, nice man from the AA has fitted it for free using all the right tools, so no labour charges.
Could have bought cheaper from a motor factors, but decided to go with the Fiat part.
 
This site contains affiliate links for which MHF may be compensated.
Read through all this and now very well informed.
I am going to change the fuel filter on my 2008 X250.
It has the plastic fuel filter housing.
Ordered the correct tooling to remove and refit the lid on the housing.
I'm a retired automotive design and development engineer so I can appreciate the discussion here and agree with Techno that done correctly on the plastic housing it should be perfectly possible for the replacement to not leak.

Can you help me a little further, please.
I'm having some difficulty identifying the correct element to purchase.
Ignoring in my case the canister types presumably there is basically one type of element but supplied by a number of aftermarket suppliers.
These are probably all effectively the same.
I would like to buy a UFI one if I can.

Does anybody have a link please to one they have definitely fitted to the plastic housing fuel filter version?

(tried Ebay and Google etc. but not quite sure of the correct choice)

TIA
 
Techno @Techno has identified the correct part but don't be tempted by the cheaper alternatives or it will all end in tears :).
 
Thanks Techno and DD.
I'll get one.
Interestingly some of the elements I could find on a Google search gave the height as 105mm but could still be 'equivalents'.
 
Update.
(I know this issue runs and runs)
Bought the Autodoc filter @Techno recommended.
Fitted without a serious problem and no leaks.
Biggest issue for me was getting the quick release fuel pipes off.
I used the fixture and tightening tools recommended.
Now monitoring. ............
I did note when tightening the top to 30nm the cover stick/slips a lot as it nears the set torque. This would make tightening it without the tool and without a torque wrench very inconsistent. Perhaps this could be a symptom of the leak issue.
The housing is made of a filled resin. This obviously distorts if not done up evenly and correctly.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Update,
after say 7 months and maybe 2 thousand miles , guess what?.
Yes , it started leaking.
Filled up with fuel today and thought I could smell diesel.
Once I got home I could see drips underneath.
Started suspecting a corroded fuel tank etc. but soon traced it to the filter.

new one on order straight away.

I though I would re tighten the old one up to see if it would stop leaking, bearing in mind the leak was really quite substantial.

using the fixture and a wrench set at 30nm it moved only about , say 6mm or so at the largest diameter of the lid.

Put it back and , hey presto , no leaks.

This lead me to a theory (I am an ex automotive design and development manager) about the materials used.
The body and cap of the UFI filter housing are made of a filled resin. This is basically plastic filled with various fillers to make it less ductile and more rigid.

Many plastics suffer from 'creep' in that when a load is applied the matrial moves away from the load, or creeps over time.This must be I feel , the failure mode of the UFI filter housing. If you think about it a 6mm circumferential movement does not change the axial load and defelction much but it's enough to change a pretty substantial leak into no leak.

I'm going to fit the new filter and hope for the best.
keep the existing one as a spare.

The leak was bad enough for me to see my trail on the road and onto my drive.

just come back from a 500m tour of Hadrian's wall and the Lakes etc. and it was definately not leaking then.
 
Well. Fitted a new complete filter housing which looks fine so far.(thank you Ebay)
Of course I now have the old one as a spare but don’t trust it now.
Might buy yet another to keep in the MH.

Changed in minutes, struggled with the connector on the top of the unit a bit.
 

Join us or log in to post a reply.

To join in you must be a member of MotorhomeFun

Join MotorhomeFun

Join us, it quick and easy!

Join us

Log in

Already a member? Log in here.

Latest journal entries

Back
Top