Volvo Racor's not really Racor's?

[r-rossow]

Have a pair of Volvo/Racor 900 filter units laying around (leftover from upgrading to Racor twin 1000 units on my mains). After the Generator fuel filter got all clogged up, I decided to insert one of the Volvo/Racor units into the fuel line. The install went well until I tried to insert a new Racor fuel filter element into the unit. The center hole in the fuel filter element seems to be smaller than the diameter of the center tube in the fuel filter holder.
Has anyone seen this before? Are Volvo Racor’s not really Racor’s? Have Racor changed the diameter of the center tube?

 

[C lectric]

Do the filters actually have the name Racor on them? It's possible Volvo had a version made for them and changed some specs so you then must go back to Volvo.
That is common practice in many areas of business.

 

[Shoalwaters]

I have four genuine Racors and the elements tend to be a firm push-fit onto the center tube of the all of them. I take it you are familiar with this degree of tightness and that your Racor elements really don't fit your Volvo/Racor 900 units?

 

[Ski in NC]

Racor changed the design of their filter housings to add a blocking feature when element was removed. Old elements do not fit the new housings. Not sure when this occurred, but I had a donated box of old elements and they did not fit in my housing, bought new around 2006.

Maybe that is what is going on.

 

[rwidman]

Racor changed the design of their filter housings ............

I would bet that's the problem, not that Volvo had Racor make special filters for them.

 

[r-rossow]

I have four genuine Racors and the elements tend to be a firm push-fit onto the center tube of the all of them. I take it you are familiar with this degree of tightness and that your Racor elements really don't fit your Volvo/Racor 900 units?

I know they are a tight fit, but not this tight! When I tried to extract the filter element, the cord broke when I tried to pull it out of the unit.

I called the Racor importer to my country to check. The person a spoke to had never heard of this kind problem before. There should be no problem with the Volvo labeled units. He also said the redesigned filter elements are supposed to fit both old and new units. He asked me to send him the offending filter element so he could check it.