Heard some pretty scary stories about this one (the Haynes 307 manual says don't do it!) but it needed doing. Kicked off by trying to drain the crap out of the filter housing a couple of months ago. This is impossible as the filter housing is under a negative pressure (no lift pump on these) so opening the drain tap lets air in to the system as I found out to my cost. Once air is in it runs really rough, a good bleed takes a few goes. Anyway, I'm waffling now. This is what I did:
Press in the clips & pull off both pipes, detach electrical connector.
Put bungs on pipe ends (included in filter kit, I forgot this bit).
The spin off cap is really very tight. Got it loose with a borrowed chain wrench, looks like a pair of mole grips with a real chain attached, access is tight but it came off smoothly.
Removed old filter, nothing scary, just a brown filter. No water or crud in the bottom. Removed filter housing from car and wiped out. Cleaned the top half too.
Removed & cleaned the drain plug, check sealing washer, screwed it back up.
Pop in new filter (from F.A.P. on ebay). Luckilly I saved the old top seal intact as the new seal refused to sit in the groove, just a little too small. Screw it all together again.
Back to car, refit the inlet pipe. Pump the hand bulb whilst tipping the unit so that the exit pipe is uppermost to try & expel all air from the housing. When diesel pisses everywhere, reconnect outlet.
Bolt housing back to engine, reconnect elecrtical connector & anything else you removed. Tighten hard as you can by hand then nip up with chain wrench. Pump hand bulb till hard (you'll see air bubbles in the hoses if they're there).
Start car, watch little bubbles whizz around, let it idle and pump the hand pump a few times to shift any stubborn air. Rev to 3000 rpm for 30 secs, bit more air out, keep repeating till you're happy. Job done, driving like a good 'un.
Hope this saves a few bob for others, lots cheaper than a new housing!
