im changing my fuel filter today, and was wondering, how to go about it without getting petrol everywhere, and is there anything i need to know before doing it

First you need to depressurise the fuel system, so pull out the Fuel pump relay from under the coolant bottle and start the car, let it idle until it stalls, then crank it over on the starter motor for about 10 secs just to make sure the fuel pressure has been relieved.

Jack the car up at the rear passenger side. I have a trolley jack and just jack from the diff and put it up on stands. Or you could put it on ramps. Just make it secure, you will have your head, chest and arms under the car, I don't want to hear about you getting squished.

Under the car near the rear Passenger door is the Fuel filter, if the connections on your look crusty and corroded spray with CRC or WD40 or someting like that. Let it soak in for a bit.

Either get a couple of the correct size spanners one for the filter and one for the union perferably a good quality pipe spanner (13mm I think) but any good spanner will do, just make sure it's a good tight fit.

When I did the fuel filter in mine I cracked the thread by putting more pressure on turning the filter than I did the pipe union simply because the filter had the bigger spanner on it, plus the filter is cheaper to replace than a rounded off union fitting. Just crack the thread and loosen the union fitting, don't keep twisting the filter otherwise you may do horrible things to the pipe on the other side.What ever you do, don't stick your head directly under the filter when you loosen the connections because some fuel will come out and that stuff hurts when it gets in your eyes (in fact wear safety glasses since you will no doubt bump a spanner against some form of crap and get it in your eyes anyway.)

After both connections are undone slide filter out and tap it on the ground and marvel at how much black s**t comes out..

Replace with new filter and do up the connections again ( i give the threads a thin smear of copper greese to prevent any seizing next time around.

If you haven't already refit relay and coolant tank and prime the fuel system by turning the key on until you can't hear the fuel pump whirring away then crank the engine and listen to the motor purr.

Go drink beer.

when you say crank it over on the starter motor, just turn the key right? sorry for the dumb question

i wouldn't worry about all that, just undo it and take it out. not alot of petrol comes out anyhow

Just start the car up as you normally would. Let the engine turn over, if it starts it starts, if it just turns over, it means the fuel line is empty.

I would recommend depressurizing the line...when you crack the fuel line fuel can squirt fine mist everywhere...and it burns when it gets in your eye...trust me, I know.

Not much fuel should come out...maybe 100mL or so. If it continues to come out then try and block it up with a bolt or dowel.

thanks guys all done now, one last question, how often does it need to be changed?

Glad you got it all worked out.

Troy, I don't normally release the pressure in the system either, but as Chargd asked about not getting petrol everywhere, I gave him the workshop manual version and then some. Seemed somewhat safer that way for somebody who hasn't done it before or doesn't know what may happen..

I used to change it every year...however I have gotten lazy. I will change it next when the engine seems to struggle/starve itself of fuel with a surge after acceleration. In saying that, the more you run the petrol tank dry, the more chances of crud to be picked up by the pump and fed into the filter. So if you consistantly run the tank dry, I'd say change it every year or 2 years.