Anyone change the fuel filter?

[paul-g]

I have a '95 318ti. I want to change the fuel filter. I crawled under my car and unscrewed one of the screws holding the plastic shroud that goes over the fuel filter. I crawled under a little further to find the tail end of a screw sticking out of the other side of the plastic shroud. It seems the only way to get at this screw is to pull up the carpet in the driver floor area. Is this right? Has anyone changed the oil filter and run into this problem? Worse case I just rip the plastic shroud off, but it doesn't make sense that BMW would put a screw in this way. Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Paul

[1996 328ti]

This might help
http://www.unofficialbmw.com/e36/engine/e36_fuel_filter_replacement.html

[miko]

I changed my fuel filter a couple of months ago, but I have a '98 that may be different from yours. Mine had a metal shroud held on by a couple of screws that were easily reached from under the car. The only real "issue" in the procedure was that there wasn't enough space on the flexible fuel line to clamp it off completely. So I ended draining a fair amount of fuel into a bucket. Be sure to do this outside due to mess and fumes!

[1996 328ti]

It really helps to use a flexible nutdriver.

[m3rty98]

I did it a couple months ago when i installed my turbo. it so simple just need a jack, socket wrench and some vise grips so the fuel wont spill.

[Couverman98682]

You need to depresurize the fuel system before you change the filter. Open the gas cap pull the fuss for the fuel pump and turn the engine over a few cranks. :D

[Jeff Spooner]

Dude, check the date on post before posting. This one was from Jan.