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Fuel Filter

2K views 30 replies 11 participants last post by  josey088 
#1 ·
Change your fuel filters guys
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#2 ·
I think the boot contributes to the color. Still, at at couple of bucks or so for filters, it can't hurt to replace them regularly.
 
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#5 ·
A couple bucks? Where do you buy yours from? First one cost me $50 in 2010. Second one cost me $75 in 2014. Third one cost me closer to $100 in 2018.

I've changed up the way I fuel my bikes. Have three 5 gallon containers, all have filtered nozzles from Tractor Supply. I also made a funnel with dual medical quality mesh filters. I pour the gas from the five gallon containers into a half gallon container, then pour it in the bike. Fuel gets filtered five times when I'm done.

I've always filled my bikes at home, as often as possible. I just added the filters to the equation. Typically, I would have had to change the filter last year. Nope, didn't have to. Filters in the funnel caught everything, and I mean a lot of everything.
 
#8 ·
A couple bucks? Where do you buy yours from? First one cost me $50 in 2010. Second one cost me $75 in 2014. Third one cost me closer to $100 in 2018.
Like Vytasb posted, ebay. I think back when I got mine they were 3 for about that price. They ship from China, but if you compare them to the stock filters you can't find any difference. I'm not sure that's not where Suzuki gets theirs from and just prices them like they were hand made.
 
#6 ·

Or any other related filter. They get good ratings and other users on here said they use them as well. I've been running one for a few thousand miles with no issues.
 
#9 ·
Similarly, I run a homemade s/s tube with a Donaldson 5um fuel filter inline. It has a small ball valve before the filter.
I fill the stainless tube to near the brim (roughly 5 liters), let gravity do the work through the filter, and close it off again.
Haven't had to change the filter yet but will soon.
 
#10 ·
A couple springs ago, I was noticing that when I was cruising at a steady speed, my bike would bog down and feel like it was misfiring. I tried everything including replacing the spark plugs and the eBay fuel filter with a brand new one eBay filter. The bogging down did not go away. A buddy suggested going back to the OEM filter and when I did, the bogging down disappeared. This is just my experience, yours may differ. When you cut them open, you can see a big difference in the filter material.
 
#13 ·
ok so some people say the filter doesn't get clogged up and others are saying they do.

Stalling | M109 Rider Forums (m109riders.com)

Now some people are saying the cheaper eBay filters are no good but I have read that others have used it with out issue

Im not confused at all!!!
I have been using the ebay filters for 3 or 4 years now in all of our customer bikes and have had NO issues. However, do I trust them like OEM? Absolutely not, as I believe OEM tends to be better on most things when it comes to the 109. With a OEM filter being so expensive, I can afford to swap the ebay filter out yearly for the next 30 years and still be ahead of the game. LOL I have about 20 of them in stock as we bought bulk from the seller for $2.20 a few years back. On my wife's bike, I have swapped it every year as part of her winter time maintenance. We average 8k miles per year and when I do it, it still is in great shape with nothing noticeable to be concerned with.
 
#18 · (Edited)
I don't think that's it, but who knows. I've cut a couple apart and the filter media inside doesn't look like it would slow flow at all, the cover over it looks to be more restrictive. I've taken used dirty ones and poured gasoline through the nozzle on the filter and it runs through with no resistance, but that is reverse the way they normally flow. Maybe that cover gets clogged enough that the filter collapses under suction?

Another oddity. You hear of the filter showing as a problem when the bike starts dying at idle, way more than they start bogging under power. That never made sense to me as the flow through them at idle has to be very low. I don't know if that shows it fails in two different ways or not.

And another oddity, Suzuki actually calls it a fuel strainer, not a filter. Everyone else calls something like that a filter, but maybe they don't intend on it to actually filter, just to strain out larger particles. It might be just semantics but I always found that odd too. And they aren't really consistent on that, the parts list calls it a fuel strainer, the service manual calls it a "fuel mesh filter".
 
#19 ·
Look at cages. They all have the strainer attached to the pump inside the tank. And an inline filter between the tank and the engine. The only one we change is the external filter.

My new to me 2021 Honda CBR600RR, the strainer isn't even changeable. Have to buy a whole new pump to change it. And yes, Virginia, they get plugged up on them too. Been reading about it on that particular forum. Some ingenious people have come up with ways to alter the pump to have a changeable filter.

I'm really hoping that by filtering the fuel before it goes in the tank, to bypass this need to alter it any. As I said above, I'm already past the point where the M109R would need a new filter. And it's chugging along just finem, thank you very much.

The mesh filter that is in the nozzle of my funnel, catches a lot of fine particles. Stuff that given time, would definitely cause the filter to become obstructed. I'll try and let some accumulate, and take a pic. It's kind of hard, because I am in the habit of back-flushing that funnel every time I use it.
 
#20 ·
To expand on cbxer's comment, the 109 actually has two filters. If you look at the parts diagram there is a filter inside the pump that is listed as "Fuel Filter (for high pressure)" and then the one we change, that is listed a "Fuel Mesh Filter (for low pressure)". I've never heard of anyone changing or cleaning the filter inside the pump, or even if it can be. Kind of sounds like the same design as you mentioned on your Honda. There are instructions in the service manual on how to disassemble the fuel pump, but no mention of the internal filter in that process.
 
#24 ·
My B-King, the pump has to be disassembled to get access to the filter. I did it without a manual or a diagram, it was that simple. But who knows on any other bikes And the B-King responded to a plugged filter the same as the Nine. Backfired, stumbled on throttle application, and stalled when coming down to a stop. A new filter fixes it right up. It's even smaller than the filter the Nine has. And hangs totally below the bottom of the fuel tank, in a can on the bottom of the pump. It's the lowest point in the entire fuel system.

When I took it into Suzuki in 2021 to diagnose what was wrong with it, a different problem that occurred a few months after I changed the filter. I told the mechanic I had already changed the fuel filter. He said "really, how did you do that?" LOL!!

The B-King is a PITA to do anything that is under the tank. Takes nearly an hour to get everything off the bike so you can take the tank off. Even worse getting it put back together properly.
 
#25 ·
Mine was dying when coming to a stop occasionally.. Once I replaced the filter with one of the Ebay ones, the issue was gone, so they worked for me. 2 for $10 or so is much better than 1 for $50+, even if you have to change it more often like bigpapa said
 
#27 ·
There is no schedule. If you experience loss of power under hard acceleration then it might be your fuel filter.
If you have no problems, relax, and enjoy the ride!
 
#28 ·
Mine has been fairly consistent with about every four years or around 10,000 miles. Even my B-King needed a filter change at just around 10,500. Having said that, I'm now at five years on the M109R, and I'm hoping my filtering the fuel going in will keep it going for a lot longer than this.
 
#30 ·
Mine has always let me know when it's bad. The only exception being the one time that the little sliver in the fuel cap got out-of-place. It was stumbling then as well. But, removing the fuel cap and putting it back on cleared it up, briefly. So that told me there was something wrong with the fuel tank vent, which is that little sliver of metal in the cap. Have no earthly idea how it got out-of-place, but it was.
 
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