Have you heard about Flashlube products? After hearing quite a few stories about issues relating to poor fuel supplied to other 4WD’ers I decided to research what products were available to prevent me encountering those same problems.
Reading up on the net and in some of the magazines available I decided on the range of Flashlube products. I approached the company and they were happy to supply both the Flashlube fuel filter and the Catch Can Pro for me to review.
Flashlube Fuel Filter
Have you ever been caught out with bad fuel? Today’s high tech, high pressure diesel engines don’t like dirty or water contaminated fuel. If either gets into the system you can be left with an expensive repair, often involving many thousands of dollars.
If you travel the outback like us it is possible you might fill up from tanks that don’t get used as much as ones that do in the burbs.
This means it is possible for this fuel to become contaminated over time, leading to condensation and foreign materials, potentially to be exchanged during top ups. Contamination of a filter can lead to overheating of injectors which, ultimately, can lead to the expensive repairs mentioned above.
Even though my 2014 Prado has two filters, adding the Flashlube fuel filter, just gives me that piece of mind during my travels. The last thing I want is engine problems in a remote area.
The Flashlube fuel filter kit for my Prado was easy to fit. It came complete with all hardware including a mount that holds the OEM filter.
All you need is some suitable Loctite or equivalent to fit the hose fittings to the filter body using the instructions provided. If you don’t feel confident fitting the filter then try the retail outlet from where you bought it to see if they can fit or recommend someone to do the job.
Oh, and one other thing, Flashlube recommend using their Common Rail Diesel conditioner along with your new filter. If this new filter helps to protect my engine from bad fuel then I guess I won’t have any problems.
Only time will tell.
Flashlube Catch Can Pro
As an addition to our new fuel filter I decided to fit an oil fume filter that fits between the valve cover breather and the air intake hose that feeds the turbo on the Prado.
What does the Flashlube Catch Can Pro do? It filters out impurities like oil mist and condensation coming from the engine before feeding the cleaned air back into the intake.
Flashlube reckons this helps to maintain power and efficiency and reduces carbon build up in the inlet manifold. It also aids in keeping the intercooler clean and likely lessens corrosion of the turbo bearings.
So by keeping both my fuel and air intakes into my engine clean I’m hoping to get years of hassle free use without any costly visits to my mechanics.
I must say that during our recent travels in the remote Simpson Desert I drained a bit of muck out of the catch can, muck that would have ended up back in my motor. This was under quite demanding driving conditions and something that I wouldn’t expect all the time.
I reckon I’ve already seen the benefits of this device and I have no reason to doubt that I won’t see more in the future.
Based on what I’ve seen so far and the ease with which these two filters were fitted, I reckon you can’t go wrong with fitting Flashlube products to your vehicle.
