Has anyone else run into my situation, and did you have to go to Ford for the correct clips?? The filter I got is correct, but not the clips. The green one in the center is the correct ones, the otter ones are the ones provided with the filter. The second pic is the clip housing. The clip does is not visible on the top of the housing as most are?? I live in Canada, not sure if parts are different. Thanks in advance.

 

As far as I know, the Freestar uses the spring lock connectors on each side of the fuel filter, no clips required. With spring locks, the fuel line should just slide back onto the new filter ends and lock into place. How did you remove the fuel line in the picture?

 

Oops, wish I had know that. I had looked online and all it talked about was removing the clips, which I did..... Looks like I will know have to take it in. I found some FMSI repair lines (see pic), but you need a special too install. Thanks

 

Just curious, how did you fair with your fuel filter replacement?

 

I did have to take it in to install the lines in the previous pic. It ran better, but not great. I took it back in where they noticed the rods that attach to the IMRC Engine Air Intake Manifold Runner Control (see pic) had fallen off. The little white clips had deteriorated. Went to Ford and had to pay $50 for 4 of them... and had that fixed. Again better, but not great. I have continued to put premium gas and added an injector and a injector cleaner. Will see how that goes.

Will update later....

 

Nice...The IRMC clips from DORMAN (Part# 47099) are only a few dollars for a pack of 5. 5 is just the right number as I always seem to drop and lose one when doing these.

Not sure of how many miles on your vehicle, or when it was done last, but have you replaced your Plugs, Wires and Coil Pack recently? These will also affect mileage and driveability. I always ran the NGK Iridium plugs and genuine Packard wires on mine. I ran an Autozone Duralast coil pack with no issues.

 

Ended up replacing the ignition coil. Now she runs great. Should get good gas mileage now. LOL.

 

Nice. I've noticed that a failing/weak coil pack causes what feels like a slight transmission hick-up/engine miss under light loads. Especially going up hills. That was my symptom(s) at about 74,000 miles.