jpohl402

Went to the dealer this morning, since they had been bugging me to do the fuel filter recall - and learned some things. I proceeded with recall after instructing that I was going to watch every step of the way.

Beforehand, the tech had checked my car to determine what needed to be ordered. I understand they look to see if any gas is seeping or leaking around the filter - located underneath rear seat and insulation. 80% of the time, a new metal sleeve is installed in pump housing (where hose feeds) and a new clamp is secured. The other 20% of the time, a whole new filter is required.

My car just needed sleeve & clamp. Underneath the insulation, the plate that needs to be removed, shaped in an O and held in place by about 8 bolts has a putty mold around it to seal off from car's interior and the rest of the world. My car was full of gas - the mechanic opened gas cap, took off engine cover and had tube running from where the gas line feeds to injectors into a gas can on floor. That should have took most pressure off system, short of running the car out of gas. When he removed hose clamp from fuel filter it shot a couple of gasoline drops onto my rear seat center section backrest. Me and another gentlemen immediately cleaned, treated, and conditioned the entire backrest rear seat. Originally I could see white liquid marks on my black leather, but they appeared to disappear only after final conditioning by Mequires - hopefully they are truly gone and not just masked by the leather chemicals (I looked from multiple angles with a portable light.) Mechanic then proceeded to remove old metal sleeve and slip the new one in, plugging hose back on and sealing with new clamp. We thoroughly cleaned the area around fuel filter and hose, even though it is sealed from outside world by putty on O shaped cover. He told me the recall boils down to how messy or clean the tech is - especially if someone was required to replace the whole assembly, which is about 9-10 inches in depth and sits in a bowl-like structure full of fuel to ensure proper fuel delivery, it would be very easy to spill large amounts of fuel all over rear insulation, carpet, and leather, forever saturating.

In my case, if gasoline has no ill long-term effects on leather, then I'm good!
In your guys' case, I would be interested to know specifically what was replaced, as I was unaware there were two potential fixes. If you only had sleeve and clamp replaced, truthfully there should really be no problem (short of the leather conditioning smell someone had mentioned, like they tried to hide/cover up a slight spill.) But if you had the entire module replaced - what a messy job and I can understand the spill as I was told it was quite difficult, though still s***ty circumstances for a few individuals vehicles on this board. Sorry for the long post!

komp55

I had my car done yesterday, and it only required the sleeve replacement and new hose clamp. Invoice says they then ran a SDS test and cleared codes. No smell of gas before . . . and thankfully, or after.

jpohl402

^^ good for you ^^

What parts did you others have replaced?

Specifically the people with strong gas smell -
AMG Fan........over90..........AMG speed...........red60r..........YachtMaster (your thread commenting on pics in E/CLS recall thread does not apply- even if gas is spilled in housing, the plate is sealed off to the interior of the car. What got replaced in your service appointment?)............Brian S what did you do yourself - good thing you're mechanically inclined!........anyone else?

On that note, they told me my fuel filter should be replaced around 45k miles or so - is this correct? If thats the entire white-colored assembly in the pics, that seems like a nightmare I'd rather pass on!!

supre55

I had mine completed Monday, along with the SC pulley replacement, with no challenges... thankfully. Although, somehow my alarm siren now sounds like it is dying...

HighEndOne

Supre55... Where did you get the grille? I love that one on you car...

ATKM5

Sight, I smell a lot of gas after stop and go traffic... Will be taking it in next week for the recall.

PS: I kinda like the smell of Sunoco 94

supre55

Ebay

Yacht Master

I am happy to say upon my return after two weeks, the smell of gasoline has dissipated. I left my car with a gas smell right after the repair and was worried about it. I left it with the windows down and cover on in my garage. So relived that that leather smell is back. Now I hope it stays that way.

Can Drive 55

I was told that the fuel filter needs replacing during the 60K service. The SA said it costs about $800. Ridiculous, to say the least.