No pump needed on L5P, comes with in tank pump, stout one at that.

This VSE unit IMO is best since there is filtration AFTER the WIF sensor. Single filter L5P aftermarket units the WIF sensor is on the 'clean' side of the filter....if the water light comes on then it's too late. Stock filter has 2 sets of filter media in it, main one before the WIF and a secondary filter bit after the sensor.

Now, the durability if the stock filter....do a search of the troubles @blythkd1 had....pretty good reason to switch.

 

I just ordered this and it is sitting waiting to install this weekend. my truck just hit 36k miles so warranty is gone. time to do some preventive mods. the stock chevy Cruz 1.8l fuel filter is going buhbye.

I'll save the parts in case there is an issue.

 

sweet let me know how the fitment is thanks

 

I'll know this afternoon. seems straightforward drop in type install.

 

installing is not as easy as the instructions make out. the main issue is disconnecting the fuel lines and electrical connector. the first fuel line is the feed line from the tank and has a blue lock tab.

the blue tab is a two part lock with a piece that has a flat half moon pointing back down the line towards the fuel tank and a tab with thin ridges in it. you pull the tab away the push the tab towards the fuel head and that unlocks the half-moon portion. at that point you squeeze the half-moon and pull the fuel line free. this took me almost an hour of filling and saying a lot of four letter spicy words to figure out.

the fuel line that feeds the high pressure hp4 has a white lock tab with four legs. you just push legs away until the tab unlocks and then you can pull the line free.

fuel will dump out of both lines and there is fuel still in the filter head which of course will go everywhere. I used a giant piece of cardboard and drain pan I saved from the water heater I bought earlier in the year.

next hard part is the electrical connector it has a locking tab that is part of the plug and I had to use long channel locks to pull it free. the tab is part of the plug so it will come free with the harness.

the rest of the instructions are accurate.

I would recommend connecting the electric connector up before putting the bracket on the frame as the vse takes up more room than stock and there isn't much to start with. the fuel lines need to be put on with some authority while not disturbing the tabs in the unlocked positions. it's a little tricky took me three tries on the fuel tank side. two on the hp4 side.

putting the heating element in is done just as in the instructions. I used a small screw driver to pry the element body off the oem filter head and did it gently and evenly

installing filters is like any other filter.

truck is running good pressures normal.

 

Does it hang below the bedside like the FASS?

 

no it's about 2 inches above the frame rail. pretty much same as oem filter plus an inch or so. you cannot see the filters unless you are pretty much right under them which is why it's hard to take pics of them installed

 

Great pics and write up. Those line clips really are a bugger. No way they'll be flexible enough to work when these trucks get old.

 

yup and if you break the tank side clip your gonna have to drop the tank to replace the line. would suck bad it's why it took me so long as I didn't want to fk it up

 

One thing I forgot to mention is you need to disconnect both batteries before disconnecting any lines or disconnecting the electrical connection to the heater. Would suck if you managed to make a errant connection and the lift pump came on with the supply line disconnected...

 

So if you had to make a return trip to the dealer for warranty work it would be a REAL PITA to remove and put back to stock? Sounds like those whiz-bang connectors are real difficult. I wish they would not make tool-less connectors so hard to work with. Some electrical connectors are dang near impossible to get apart. It is if the engineers tried to make it difficult.

I had been considering this upgrade but will have to weigh the cost vs stock system failing and whether it would be covered by warranty. Over time the stock system may show some more issues?

Edit: Does the stock Filter Minder have an awareness of thus setup remaining filter life and if so how? If it uses pressure how would the change in media/filters affect this?

 

my truck just hit 36k miles so out of warranty. it's a moot point for me. gm would have to prove that the fuel being bad and going past the filter caused any issue. or your work caused an issue.

I wouldn't want to have to reverse it. but I'm saving the oem parts. from how little space there is getting it back out I think will be harder than getting them oem assembly out. but now that I know how the connectors work it might not be that bad. most of the difficulty was figuring out how they work without really seeing them and doing it mainly by feel.

the truck doesn't know you did anything as the vse uses the stock heater and water sensor. the only sensor in the stock Filter head is the water in fuel sensor.

as for the dic displaying fuel filter life being accurate I do not know. I change fuel filter every other oil change anyway and don't go by the dic info. both the donaldson filters are 39$ the oem acdelco tp1015 is 42$. so it really doesn't change anything filter cost wise.

the l5p lift pump is a demand pump and unlike a fass or similar setup it only pumps fuel as needed so I don't see how that would change much of anything. I ran the truck driving for about an hour last nite and fuel pressure and fuel rail pressure were normal ranges from low speed to mashing the pedal from a dead start to accelerating to 90mph. no issues.

what has worried me about the oem filter is the there is no real support for the element so the longer you run it the more likely you are to get a failure if you get really dirty diesel. since I travel a lot and get diesel all over the place I change the filters more often in case I do get some dirtier than normal diesel.

 

Deleted

 

I just did a 3200 mile road trip, ave. MPG was 10.1 one little stint I was 6.8, DIC was showing about 7.5. View attachment 1108013 View attachment 1108014

Umm, I'm confused, did that have something to do with installing the new filtering system or was this meant for one of the other threads talking about MPG's

 

Jonm..
Is the fuel system considered part of the powertrain warranty? My papers say I have a 5 yr 100k Powertrain coverage.
I agree, the stock setup is very iffy if bad fuel was introduced. There was a case of a gas station around here sending lots of water into cars gas tanks. All it takes is one bad load and problems could start. I suspect the worse case would be dirty fuel that restricts the flow as you said.

If I recall there is a sensor or something that can tell when the pressure is out of balance or something to determine fuel filter life. I wonder if it is partially plugged up there would be DIC warning or corresponding filter life reduction.

 

Jonm..
Is the fuel system considered part of the powertrain warranty? My papers say I have a 5 yr 100k Powertrain coverage.
I agree, the stock setup is very iffy if bad fuel was introduced. There was a case of a gas station around here sending lots of water into cars gas tanks. All it takes is one bad load and problems could start. I suspect the worse case would be dirty fuel that restricts the flow as you said.

If I recall there is a sensor or something that can tell when the pressure is out of balance or something to determine fuel filter life. I wonder if it is partially plugged up there would be DIC warning or corresponding filter life reduction.

I'm just not concerned about it if it voids it at this point. I can't replace it with the same truck and same options if a faulty filter grenades the engine. I really really really despise the new interior look on the 2023 snd 2024 trucks. especially that hideous screen. and with there being restrictions on what options are actually available I can't get a truck equal to mine. so I decided to just swap it out and what happens if something comes up it happens.

I'm not telling you to do what I did just explaining how I see it.

I do not know how it determines percent of filter life left.

I carry extra filters fuel and oil and when I travel I have 11qts of oil in the truck as well.

if I have any issues with this I'll let you know but I don't think I will.

the most likely thing to happen is one of the injector harness connectors frying itself like they like to do. I'm more concerned about that and keep a few in the truck along with tools to swap one out if I need to.

 

Powertrain or emissions would cover fuel system.

 

I saw a price of $650. That's a lot for 2 filters, in my opinion. Granted, there are some electronics to detect water in the filter but still seems like a lot of $$ to me. Very nice unit though.

 

@JonM21Ltz , I think the filter minder will work fine with your VSE. The truck runs the lift pump to maintain 60psi.....it will ramp the pump up to help try to overcome a gelled filter for example. It's a hunch but, it likely knows how much the filters are used up by how hard it has to run the lift pump in a given situation.

Since your VSE doesn't really alter anything electronic, I think your filter readings will work.

 

$650 seems pretty cheap to me, if you know what I mean. Yeah I'm sure at that price they're making plenty of profit for a dual filter head setup but it could be invaluable for your truck. It'll be a high priced option until some real competition shows up.

Good write-up on the install. Looks like a nice setup.

 

$650 seems pretty cheap to me, if you know what I mean. Yeah I'm sure at that price they're making plenty of profit for a dual filter head setup but it could be invaluable for your truck. It'll be a high priced option until some real competition shows up.

Good write-up on the install. Looks like a nice setup.

I'm going to setup data logging on the idash for the lift pump and see how it performs during next regen and try and watch it over the next few weeks.

 

Albeit they are larger separate dirt/water filters if you have a Gell event or think you've had a dirty fuel event change you filter asap. It's been discussed on here that that fuel pressure is normally around 60psi, but those that monitor that pressure have said to have seen 90+. The Donaldson filters have a Burst pressure of 90 psi just like the factory filter. Prolly never see enough dirt to cause an issue that extreme but a gelled event with attempted starts definitely could. Just a thought.

 

If the fuel is gelled the oem filter is going to fail I would imagine. The filter and filter head were intended to be used and designed for a 1.8l diesel. The l5p is probably stressing that setup pretty hard under good conditions so as soon as something goes a bit funky fuel wise it explodes. Which would account for the folks running the oem filters and nuking the engines when dirty fuel is encountered.

I'm no expert on this at all. But I'm not convinced about the quality of the oem filter after reading about other folks losing their fuel system due to the oem filter setup going tits up under dirty conditions. its concerning especially after finding out what the oem system was designed for.

Maybe I'm overthinking it too I dunno

 

Another thought that just occurred to me the factory filter is rated as a full flow filter with a differential pressure failure of 90psi+. If I'm thinking correctly you could have greater then 90psi of pressure on this filter without issue as long as the "differential" pressure is less then 90.

But the spin on filters are rated at 90psi burst pressure. Donaldson or cat doesn't mention differential pressure, does this mean that the Donaldson or Cat filter risks failure from 90psi+ pressure flowing through the filter.

It's late and I may be overthinking

 

Well for the Cruze and L5P, aren't they the same part number?

 

The original filter for the Cruze was superseded by a new part number in 2017 for the L5P 6.6 diesels, the new part number was to be used in the 6.6 and smaller engines, Have found no info indicating that you can take an older pre 2017 cruze filter and use it in the newer truck and wouldn't suggest it. Not saying it wouldn't fit, you just wont find the old part number listed as a usable part number for the 6.6.

Two more threads with some great info if you haven't seen them.

(5) fuel filter colapsed | Page 7 | Chevy and GMC Duramax Diesel Forum (duramaxforum.com)
(5) Fuel Filter Upgrade Kit | Page 4 | Chevy and GMC Duramax Diesel Forum (duramaxforum.com)

 

Oh, and there's at least 2 other people in that thread who reported holes. So it's not a one off fluke that happened to @blythkd1

 

I've followed that thread for a long time. I see a quality issue with one or more of those filters but I honestly don't think it is a design problem. I was quality manager for a automotive parts supplier (pretty far down the food chain) for 17 years and know very well what kinds of things got through. One or three failures in millions produced wouldn't even make a quality report for the automotive plants I have worked with. Hell, we were allowed 1% scrap with a particular supplier for a pump product... Always thought that was scary.

 

Stock filter isn't a problem....until it is. Then it's expensive AF.

I haven't rushed to complete my solution, but totally get the folks installing the VSE. I'd use it if I hadn't put in a bigger fuel tank and used up all the space.

 

Seems like there must be a reason for the VSE filter solution and it's doubtful they funded the R&D over 3 filter failures. If there are 3 that we know of on this little forum, how many have there been in total? That's just from my pea brain.

 

Seems like there must be a reason or the VSE filter solution and it's doubtful they funded the R&D over 3 filter failures. If there are 3 that we know of on this little forum, how many have there been in total?

I like the VSE filter and it almost certainly does a better job. Plus, it is a hell of a lot easier to change the filters since there is no plastic to strip or problems getting bad things in the cap. I agree there are probably more but how many Cat/Donaldson filter failures are there? : ) Not trying to turn this into an argument to not use the VSE or that the OEM filter is great. I was just wondering if there was some other reasons to not trust the OEM filter. If there were more reasons, I would consider switching a higher priority but I will probably wait for my warranty to run out.

 

You'll also find some good conversation in the above links on why the cat single filter setup is most likely a bad choice in my opinion and prolly others as well.

 

I installed the VSE setup on my 2018 last weekend. It is a super nice setup. Super easy install too, the hardest part for me was getting the electrical connector off.
I ordered up some replacement filters as well as I always carry spare. I opted for the DFB5814 instead of the P551313; exactly the same filter just with synthetic media and a little finer filtration.

This is the best aftermarket filter setup that has ever been offered for the Duramax platform. All the 'CAT' filter adapters both for the L5P and previous generations always left water separation on the table. Finally a company that makes a proper primary/secondary filter setup like any OTR truck or industrial engine uses.

Well worth the $600 price tag. Plus a factory TP1015 is $40.00 and P551313 is $15.00 and the P551329 is $13.00 for a total of $28.00. A $12.00 savings per change.

 

With the single filter setups you just use the Donaldson with water filtration. Ran one for two years, no issues. The VSE is nice. Also running the 5814 here.

 

The dic went from 100% to 99% after a little over 100 miles so the sensors that read fuel filter life are working. The p551313 and p551329(?) Are rated for 15k miles and the dic reading if accurate should hit zero about then.