I am a tech a a toyota delaer in Maine, most guys dont sell fuel filters on any service or even when replaceing fuel/brake lines, personally whenever i try to sell fuel/brake lines I include a new fuel filter as well.

When I got the recall notice, my neighbor who is the shop foreman at Roseville Toyota told me to bring it in. He wanted to mess with the service writers. My truck is SAS and full-hydro steering.

My fuel filter on my 3.0 has never been changed, I got the back fitting loose but could not get the front one loose. The neighbor told me that thet were over torqued at the factory and the threads are distorted. He told me to get a new fuel line from the front to the engine. He also told me that the ones the owners insisted to be replaced did not need it and some of the vehicles had over 300,000 on them. He cut a few of them open to show the owner that it was not clogged.

I had mine changed back in '95. I attempted to do it myself, crawled under there w/a couple the my set of break line wrenches ad the filter. Quickly realized what had to be removed to get to it, and decided to call and see what it would cost to have someone change it for me. A local import only shop said they would do it for $85(and that included the oem filter), I said I would be in in the morning. It took the mech 4 hours to change it out, and he drenched himself in gasoline doing it. He had the same problem as you OOP's with them being over tightened. He said he fought with it trying not to strip them out, sprayed every type of penetrating oil, finally got the rear lose, and ended up having to cut the front line. With as bad as the rear fitting was torn up he had to cut that off as well, and make new ends and extensions. After he told me all of this I was ready for an ann argument due to the time it had taken and the price he quoted me, when I asked what the total cost was he said I quoted you $85(book rate labor and parts) and that is all he charged me. He said he chocked up the extra labor as a learning experience, to either never doing one again, or simply start by cutting the line and making extensions.

It is good to here they had them w/over 300k and were still clean, I have only clocked 60k since the the filter change, looks like I have many more years to come before it needs another change. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

I kept the stock V6 filter on the frame rail after I swapped in the diesel, for an extra level of protection. I have pulled it out and flushed it a couple times now (biodiesel has been cleaning out the tank I assume). The location makes it a pain, but it wasn't that hard. It's been a year since I last did it, but if I remember correctly if you have 14mm and 17mm flare nut wrenches and put some elbow grease into it the fittings will come loose eventually (granted, mine is a relatively rust-free CA truck). It took me a while of lying under there trying different ways to route my arms around the frame/crossmember/etc., but with a little patience I found good ways to torque on each side of the filter without too much trouble. Before you get under there, be sure to grab some large rags, like old t-shirts, and get them stuffed up there to soak up the fuel when it first spills out. I got drenched the first time I did it... but only the first time!