Diesel pre-filter anyone?

[heyasam]

Hi All,

Apologies if this topic has already been addressed. My dad is about to start his grey nomad outback adventuring round 2, and I hope to follow in my multivan at some point, so made me wonder about diesel pre-filters on a T5.

Here's some online articles for interest:
Fuel Filters Explained - Without A Hitch | Without A Hitch
Guide to diesel fuel filtration - Unsealed 4X4 - Issue 064

Anyone fitted a diesel pre-filter to their T5? Which brand / where did you install it? Any other thoughts on the topic?

Cheers, Sam

[Transporter]

IMHO, they’re not needed in T5.

More on topic here Amarok secondary fuel filter

...and yes, you can have too much of filtration. The water trap as close too the fuel tank as possible, if you have to, but carrying a spare fuel filter with you and changing it every 20,000km is much better option.

[winchy]

Off topic a little but problem with that is.... you may have a brand new filter and after doing only 10 kms you refuel with a bad batch of watery diesel. It's going to get to the motor regardless. It happened to me down in South Australia 5 or 6 years ago in my old 4 cyl Amarok. It wouldn't start initially and then ran very roughly when it did finally crank over. Thankfully the 2.0lt Amarok had a drain bung and I could release the water before any damage was done. Not sure if the T5 has a drain bung (all good if it does) Below is a pic of said filter which I dissected after that trip. There's a nice water catchment volume there, but once you go past that, it's into the injectors she goes! My gripe with the V6 Amarok is they've done away with the drain bung. A fuel filter is something you don't want to be changing when you're out in woop woop when a simple process of draining a 100 ml or so as a preventive measure is so much easier. Just makes sense to me. VW Australia will not support the idea of additional filtration but will also not support warranty on fuel contamination. You just have to do the math. If you intend traveling to regions with questionable fuel quality, take some containers of good fuel with you or fit an additional filter or take the risk...
I ended up installing a 30 micron pre filter with a water trap and drain.

[Transporter]

I’ve dissected T5 fuel filter and the filter element is approximately as tall as the Amarok filter element, but the place for sediments and water is as tall as the element itself unlike in Amarok.

Replacing fuel filter every 20,000km and always using good additive when refueling helps a lot, if you’re unlucky and buy contaminated diesel.

You’ll be fine with the prefilter. However, if you buy a bad fuel somewhere, you will most likely need to replace both filters somewhere on the road, which means you have to now carry 2 fuel filters with you. What I mean is, your warranty shouldn’t be affected when you used 30microns prefilter with the water trap as long as it’s fitted correctly.

[Sunny43.5]

Quote "VW Australia will not support the idea of additional filtration but will also not support warranty on fuel contamination. You just have to do the math "Sounds like another problem from Europe where they dont seem to understand Australian conditions . You only have to look back at the T5 tranny with "sealed for life "No servicing at all by dealers for around 7 years and then finally the penny drops and they change their minds , to late for many like myself .

[Kiels3927]

You only have to look back at the T5 tranny with "sealed for life "No servicing at all by dealers for around 7 years and then finally the penny drops and they change their minds , to late for many like myself .

Me likewise.

[Sunny43.5]

Yes a bloody $45 filter a $15 Gasket and new fluid and it would have saved owners like us a $9000 repair bill , at least I got VW to cough up 50% of the repair bill as I had evidence to prove why ours failed .

[LogicprObe]

Those filters are too expensive to change every 20k.
Plus you need to hook up VCDS to prime the pump as well.