canceled in this way the exclusive fuel drainage into the cover 18 when unscrewing the cover 18 is reliably ensured the external sealing element 74 is designed in the form of a radial sealing element here in the form of an o ring the external sealing element 74 is arranged in an external sealing element groove 76 for heating the fuel in particular for filtering the diesel fuel a heating element 78 is provided in the fuel filter 10 the heating element 78 is arranged on the central column 40 the central column 40 is connected fixedly with the filter housing body 16 the first bayonet receptacle 54 and a second bayonet receptacle 84 are formed on the central column 40 fig4 shows the filter element 14 in an individual illustration the filter element 14 comprises the first end disk 50 and the second end disk 58 the filter medium 22 is arranged between the end disks 50 58 on the first end disk 50 the first bayonet protrusion 52 and a second bayonet protrusion 92 are formed the bayonet protrusions 52 92 project in relation to the filter element longitudinal axis 60 in radial direction completely past the filter medium 22 as well as partially past the first end disk 50 the bayonet protrusions 52 92 are designed with axial symmetry relative to the filter.