Looking to change the fuel filter for a 2005 ES330, car has about 130,000 miles.

I couldn't find any DIY for this car, my understanding is that the fuel pump is located near the air filter (underneath the hood).

Any DIY info, or insight will be appreciated.

Thanks

 

The fuel pump is inside your fuel tank. It has a sock type filter screen that keeps the big stuff out. Then there is an additional paper filter inside the engine compartment that cleans the fuel even more. Correct me if I'm wrong, because I'm going off of my 1MZ-FE set up.

So what fuel filter are you looking to replace?

 

Its in the fuel tank, part of the fuel pump...looks like a little sock on the base of the fuel pump which sits in the tank via an access port under the rear seat bottom. It does not need to be replaced unless you are replacing the fuel pump, which you should only need to do in the unlikely event that it should fail or you put diesel/ethanol in the vehicle.

 

In your model year it is an in-tank unit only - 18$ on rockauto.

I didn't find any additional filters for my 01, other than the engine bay one. I don't think they were serviceable in our MY's, unless you were getting a brand new pump. I replaced mine 'just because'.

 

The fuel filter is under the rear seats. It is easy to clean/repair/replace, But it is a bit danger due you work with gas tank. You need a proper safety and know what you are doing. Refer to attach fuel pump assembly pdf file for 3MZ-FE.

If you want a better mpg, then your best bet is to replace the coolant temp sensor and change coolant.

 

Thanks for the fuel pump assembly drawing, that will come in handy if I ever want to change out the fuel filter. For now, I think I will start with cleaning the MAF.

I didn't know replacing the coolant and coolant temp sensor affected mileage, but I'll keep that in mind as another thing I can look into replacing.

Thanks

 

Just checked the MAF, and it was black on one side of the little bulb thing that is supposed to be red. Cleaned with CRC MAF cleaner. Hopefully this will help mileage.

 

If you're looking to regain some MPG, keep at it with maintenance. 100k ish is when the iridium spark plugs are to be changed, get those, along with air filter and such.

Don't be shy to run some injector cleaner once every few gas tanks. Another trick I've been told is to run a tank of premium once in a while...

I suggest Rockauto for heap parts, and if you can score some plugs from the same place as the fuel filter even better (same warehouse).