2007 407 HDi 2.7 diesel filter change

[407]

I decided that it might be useful to see how good / bad the diesel filter was on the HDi.

Pic #1 is after the top was taken off plus drained Pic #2 - seems something was alive in the pits of the filter

The old genuine Peugeot filter had a 2018 date on it so not that old - suspect the past services only changed the filter and not the crap at the bottom

I tried to undo the bleed screw but gave up and it seems some screwed it to real tight (see pic #3 with circled bleed screw)

I bled it the easy way - used a pipe on the outlet pipe into a bottle and turned the ignition on to prime the pump until fuel ran out (pic #4).

What does worry me is that the fuel coming out had small particles in it, despite the new filter (pic #5) - I assume the filter works sucking diesel from the outside inside the filter

[myglaren]

The swarf is indicative of one of the fuel pumps failing.
Hard to say which one with the excess fuel being returned to the tank.

[Huskyxantia]

Could this be dirty diesel , because when we were all fighting to bet fuel during the fuel shortage how many garages were running dry ?

[407]

After letting the diesel settle in a glass bottle, I used a magnet but no reaction so not metallic.

Also a brown colour and not silver colour as you might expect.

I suspect its specks of diesel like the first photo of the canister but in speck form (maybe when I was scrapping around the canister)

The real question is why it is there at all if the filter is supposed to trap it ?

eg outlet is sourcing clean diesel from the middle hole of the filter (or it is the other way around eg inlet goes into the middle hole and outlet is after it passes the filter, which is where all the gunk above is ??)

I also looked at the old filter and there is a lot of crud on the outside fins, but pretty clean inside.

Maybe the date code is 18 March 2021 (which makes the person who serviced it last even more suspect)