The line will be under pressure until you loosen one of the fittings, and then some gas will dribble out and spill on the ground. It'* really not enough to worry about, and I don't see the need to go through the hassle of 'relieving' the pressure on the line.
Once you remove the filter, the gas won't 'run' out of the line, because the fuel pump in the gas tank isn't running, and the fuel line comes out the top of the tank, not the bottom. The line might drip a little while the filter'* off, but like I said, it'* not enough to worry about.
It will make a mess on the ground, I always do mine on the curb or the bottom part of the driveway. Gas evaporates fairly quickly.
I guess you could have a pan handy to catch the gas if you wanted to.

hey thanks...ill probably try it next week sometime...ill let ya know how it went...one more question...would a bad fuel filter cause lack of power on turns or anything?

Maybe..if the filter is blocked or corroded, it may not be sending pressurized fuel to the injectors.

I can help. On my 93 SSE the fuel filter was along the rail but on the front of the car, inner chassis kind of behind the passenger wheel. On my 95 its on the rail right in front of the rear passenger tire. Yours is prob up front on an angle. I take off my fuel cap, then I let the car run and while its running I'll pull out the fuel pump fuse under the passenger side panel. The car will shut off in seconds. This releases pressure in the fuel system. Manufacturer recommends this method. Be sure not to have your mouth right under the filter when you disconnect. I had a few close calls. Almost drank some unleaded. Good luck! Let me know how u made out.

Hi, I changed the gas filter recently and didn't know how to. Let me tell you is dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. You did good by asking, cuz it might look easy to do. Well what I did was, I went underneath my 99ssei and found my gas filter in front of the right rear wheel, yes it looks like a soda can. But what I didn't do was to release the preasure of the fuel pump. So when i unscrewed the bolt gasoline drained, lucklly it did not hit my face or part of my body, untill I thought all my gas was going to drain out, so I went underneath the car again to tide the bolt, so I stop the drain. When I did that all the gasoline drip along my arm to the shoulder, to the back of my body. "No Problem" changed the new filter, and than the gasoline on my body started to burn like fire, I ran to the front yard begging my aunt for water, and soap to take the pain away. I tell you if you leave the gas fluid on your skin for more than 30 seconds it will eat your skin away...

I guess I learned from that, to always ask. I also learned that you have to leave the gas tank cap off, to release all the preasure so it doesn't drain that much of it. Or do the procedure with the fuse wich the is right way, and the only way that should be done. Or don't do it at all.

Thank you...

To answer your question about losing power on turns, I recently replaced the fuel pump in my 92SSE.

Everytime the tank got below 1/2 a tank of gas, any sharp turns or sudden braking would cause sudden loss of power. Sometimes the car would stall on braking hard.

The new fuel pump fixed it, bad news was that it isnt easy to change, its in the fuel tank. Dont go with a cheap one, get the OEM pump, it will last longer.

Andrew
92 SSE
97 SSEi