Lexus Q&A

2001 Lexus GS300 Question: Where is the Fuel Filter and How to install a new one

Question

Visitor, 3.0L V6, Arabi, LA, December 13, 2010, 14:15

My wife got her mothers Lexus and it drove awesome when we first got it, but not it seems to get really bad gas mileage. Just got brand new tires, Balanced etc... I don't know much about cars, but i wanted to see if i could get a new fuel filter to see if it improves. I don't know where to look and how to take off the old one and put a new one back in.

1 Answer

Follow this Question Unfollow this Question

Answer #1

DaveJHM December 13, 2010, 21:49

Master

Fuel filters won't help your fuel economy. The GS300's fuel filter is on the fuel pump in the tank anyway, and is not considered regular maintenance.

Check the air filter. This is the biggest help you can affect.

Flag This

Like0
Reply

Visitor, December 14, 2010, 07:07

My wife admitted to me that she lets the Gas get down to just about Empty every time before she fills up. Heard people say doing that clogs up the fuel filter. I checked the Air filter and its clean.

Flag This
Reply

DaveJHM, December 14, 2010, 21:50

Master

Thank you for sharing that perspective. To clear things up, letting your fuel get down to empty could possibly clog the filter if you had setiment in the tank that was getting pumped. But hopefully your tank is fairly clear anyway. I can tell you from personal experience that i'd be in real trouble if letting the gas get down low was critically damaging! Happens about every week at our house...

But anyway, there are many factors that can contribute to fuel economy. The first thought I had since you had new tires put on - are they the identical size as the old tires? Different size tires will cause speedometer and odometer issues. Just a random thought.

Other than that, sluggish oxygen sensors, a mass air flow sensor that reads slightly off...those are things that can cause worse than usual fuel economy. But those things also cause check engine lights to come on usually.

Spark plugs that are fresh can give incremental improvements.

How many miles per gallon do you feel like you've lost?

Reply
Flag This