Travelling north - do we need a second water filter?

[StevevO]

We have a Grand Jeep Cherokee WH 2017

We're planning to head up from Tasmania up through to NT for my LSL in June 2021 (was meant to be this year but virus stopped us in our tracks!).
Two things I am wondering - anyone know of any jeep or other clubs for newbies like us who might be doing the great trip north (well not complete newbies we have been round Oz before with the kids but not in 4wd)

Second thing I am wondering is should we bother fitting a watchdog and a second water filter ( my son blew his injectors and may have blown his motor from not having a second water filter on his Mazda BT50 - a week after buying it second hand- water got into the diesel apparently)

I guess any other advice you can think of for a big trip north?
Cheers and thanks any ideas!

[Turismo07]

It def a good idea!

Water (condesantion) can build up very easily in diesel being stored (far more likely than petrol). It needs to be treated and accordingly (by the fuel companies, and typically they use additives to prevent water and algae build up.

Picking up water/algae or dirt in diesel happens sometimes in suburban areas, but is far more likely to happen in rural and moreso remote areas.

Common rail diesel injectors are very high tech and the fuel system is very high pressure. The injectors are 2 micron and can have fuel flow through at up to 30000 psi. If water (cos its not lubricated like diesel is) passes through it cuts the injectors and fuel system open inside. Dirt in the fuel system can very easily block it all up too.

So as you can see its a very good idea to upgrade the fuel filter system.

What I recommend is adding a aftermarket secondary 2 micron fuel filter. Secondary because it fits in line between the stock fuel filter and the high pressure fuel pump. The OM642's stock fuel filter is 10 micron. So this way the fuel will go from the tank, through the stock fuel filter and get the majority of dirt removed from it and then pass through the secondary filter and get cleaned down to 2 mircon (same as the injector nozzles), and then into the high pressure fuel system.

Aftermarket fuel filters can be purchased in a universal kit that come with the housing and water trap as well. This is the kit I used on my JKU CRD https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/FM100-42...5.c10#viTabs_0. We travelled 18,000km around WA, SA, and NT doing many remote dirt tracks as possible and my wife and I just travelling spontaneously and travelling light with a swag. No issues with fuel.

Be careful when researching this topic and speaking to people, most of them will say you need a "pre-filter". This is not as affective and comes from a older Japanese diesel 4wd mentality. They can only get pre-filters installed because they don't have "lift pumps" in their fuel tank, so the fuel is sucked by vacuum up to the injection pump in the engine bay (remember all the "air in the fuel" issues that people used to have etc?), with these setups you couldn't fit a proper fuel filter as it was cause too much restriction and there wouldn't be enough vacuum to suck the fuel into the injection pump, so 30 micron pre-filters are fitted between the tank and the stock fuel filter (hence "pre" stock filter).

The OM642, like most US and Euro diesels, and now more Japanese/Thailand diesel are like this now too, they have lift pumps in the tank and supply good fuel pressure to the stock fuel filter and the high pressure injection pump in the engine bay. They can easily pump fuel through the 2 mircon secondary or 'post' filter. And on a side note, don't have issues with 'air in the system' and more as they self purge etc.

Although I have not yet fitted a secondary fuel system to my Jeep Commander CRD, I have looked into it and its actually very easy to do. Mount the new fuel filter head (housing) somewhere on the passenger side firewall, and tap into the outlet hose line on the stock fuel filter. Pretty easy. Shouldn't cost too much at all. It was a mission to setup on my JKU as no one had done it before at the time and it has fancy fuel line fittings that I needed to adapt standard fuel hose to using SpeedFlo fittings. The OM642 just uses normal fuel hose and clamps so too easy (albiet they are tiny inside diameters).

The aftermarket water trap will also provide piece of mind too that any water is actually being filtered out cos the stock fuel filter is pretty useless at that because it only has a "water in fuel sensor", doesn't really filter and trap it.

Here's a pic of my 2micron secondary filter mounted on my JKU CRD (not so easily accessed on the WH/XH unfortunately). I mounted it behind the front passenger tyre and can be easily accessed by removing the inner fender in 10 secs. Obviously not the same as on a WH/XH, but at least you can get the idea of what it looks like mounted up. When travelling remote, I would check it every couple of days for water in the water trap (bowl underneath) and drain it (tap on the bottom) if necessary (but I've never had to actually). And for servicing, I would change the 2 mircon filter the same time I would change the stock filter, every 10k kms.

[Clarky]

I have never bothered with a second filter but if it gives you piece of mind why not. I just carry a spare filter.

The factory filter has a water sensor in it. (I'm assuming you have a CRD).

[08crd]

I fitted a Raycor fuel filter with clear bowl and water alarm, before the main filter, the main reason I installed it, I did get a tank of crap fuel in an old LR Disco years ago in the outback.
The water trap in the rear wheel well of the LR, made it easy to just keep dumping the water, untill it was all gone.
So with the Commander, it was easy to mount the filter to the front suspension tower brace, didn't cost much and as usual I never needed it, but what price peace of mind.
I guess it depends how far off the beaten track you are going to go, you would have to be going pretty remote, to pick up bad fuel these days IMO.

[StevevO]

Thanks guys - I had one fitted by my local mechanic for $300 - did give us peace of mind travelling around Queensland.
Cheers
Steve