Well.... Depends on who you talk to...
Toyota says that you treat the fuel filter like the timing belt.. IE: Change it every 60,000 miles (sorry, don't know what this is in kilometers).
I on the other hand as of about 6 - 8 years ago, have to do things differently....
Right around 6 - 8 years ago, up here in Washington State (in the US), all of the gas stations up here (at least in the greater Seattle area) switch to Oxygenated gasoline in the winter time. Supposed to burn better & does not pollute the air as much (although studies have now concluded that they really don't do SQUAT). One of the hazards of this stuff is that the oxygenated gas tends to stir up all of the "crud" that sit's at the bottom of your gasoline tank. Some of this stuff does make it's way past the pickup screen on the fuel pump, before it gets stopped by the fuel filter. So now this means that the fuel filter gets dirtier/more clogged up w/ crap much much sooner than normal. So now whenever I do a tune-up every 15K - 20K miles or so (I try to time this in the Springtime after we get off of the crappy gas), I've been told by several peeps (Toyota parts & my own regular mechanic) that the fuel filter needs to be changed out...
So for those of us in the US, it depends on where you live. Don't know if you guys in AUS have to go to oxygenated/blended gasoline in the cold winter months. If not, consider yourself lucky!!! Then that means you get to change it every 60K miles.
One of the symptoms of a clogged filter is that the motor has no getup & go... Very sluggish acceleration. If you don't think that the filter has not been changed in awhile, just change it anyway, as a preventive maintenance thing.
Toyota says that you treat the fuel filter like the timing belt.. IE: Change it every 60,000 miles (sorry, don't know what this is in kilometers).
I on the other hand as of about 6 - 8 years ago, have to do things differently....
Right around 6 - 8 years ago, up here in Washington State (in the US), all of the gas stations up here (at least in the greater Seattle area) switch to Oxygenated gasoline in the winter time. Supposed to burn better & does not pollute the air as much (although studies have now concluded that they really don't do SQUAT). One of the hazards of this stuff is that the oxygenated gas tends to stir up all of the "crud" that sit's at the bottom of your gasoline tank. Some of this stuff does make it's way past the pickup screen on the fuel pump, before it gets stopped by the fuel filter. So now this means that the fuel filter gets dirtier/more clogged up w/ crap much much sooner than normal. So now whenever I do a tune-up every 15K - 20K miles or so (I try to time this in the Springtime after we get off of the crappy gas), I've been told by several peeps (Toyota parts & my own regular mechanic) that the fuel filter needs to be changed out...
So for those of us in the US, it depends on where you live. Don't know if you guys in AUS have to go to oxygenated/blended gasoline in the cold winter months. If not, consider yourself lucky!!! Then that means you get to change it every 60K miles.
One of the symptoms of a clogged filter is that the motor has no getup & go... Very sluggish acceleration. If you don't think that the filter has not been changed in awhile, just change it anyway, as a preventive maintenance thing.
