Stuck at Dock-fuel filter problem?

On way home on 500 mile trip with new used boat. Engines ran fine for 2 hrs. Then they started slowing down little by little at different times. Limpd in at 900 rpm. They're racor 500 FG filters. Says to use element 2010 series. Never saw water in bowl. Will open up n see elements. Found 2 new on board that are 30 microns. The engines are Perkins Sabre M300TI TI. Secondary on engine is Perkins 35412 & just found on on board. Could anyone please link me up on what to do aftet swapping out Racor element to get rid of air etc. Thanks

make sure you turn off the fuel supply valve. remove the lid and filter will come out. just let he fuel drain back into the housing as you pull it. slide the new filter down slowly or it will splash out if the housing is full. as for priming. i doubt you will need to fill it. but if you need to. you could try and open the fuel supply valve. if your fuel level is higher than the filter it will gravity feed into the housing. other wise you can just pour fuel in the top.

As long as you haven't run the tak dry, there probably isn't any air in the system. Just change the filter elements and fill to the top with fresh diesel fuel (I used to keep a small gas can and mustard squirter onboard for that very task since vertical space above the filter bodies was limited.

If there is air, you will need to find the engine manual online somewhere to get the bleeding procedures

RB

Good help so far.

Sounds like new to you boat syndrome. I know these engines well, but not your setup or actions taken since purchase. Are you with both engines giving issues? If so, old bad fuel and sitting tanks.

Did you fill the Racor body with good clean fuel after swapping out? Do you have gravity or suction feed to the Racors from your fuel tanks? As I remember these engines had seen little use for a decade.

Did you change out filters before your trip? Did you change out the on engines too? If so you need to use your hand lift pump and be prepared to possibly bleed the engine Lots to go wrong and few details provided to help you out.

BTW, the 500s are too small a filter body IMHO. They will plug quickly on old bad fuel. Also, find a good local mechanic who can show you the ropes on filter changes.

Again though, old sitting fuel woes - Flywright can tell you how to clean the tanks, likely required if not done already.

sunchaser said:

BTW, the 500s are too small a filter body IMHO. They will plug quickly on old bad fuel. Also, find a good local mechanic who can show you the ropes on filter changes.

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Install a set of 900s when you get a chance.

Install vacuum gauges so you can see what's going on with the filters. Always the first project on a new to us boat.

Drain the bowl first. You don't want unfiltered fuel to pass by the filter. Then pull the old filter, clean the bowl, replace with new filter, open fuel line slowly to fill the bowl, put the top back on and go boating.

I think pulling out the old element without draining gives your secondary a gout of unfiltered fuel which will shorten it's life. Assuming you have a secondary and not just a Racor.

BTW, make sure you get a couple extra filters for the Racors as well as the on engine filter. You want to be sure you have spares because if it is a fuel issue, it may happen again.

Definitely fill the filter housing with fuel. Perkins do not like air. Coincidently, a couple of weeks ago I changed my 900 series Racors(with Cummins engines) and did NOT refill with fuel. It was somewhat of an experiment. Cummins are pretty air resistant since they are self priming. Perkins are not. Anyway, I was hoping for no issues in case I had to change one in the field. Not the case. The system got air in it and engine died. There was an upside to this scenario. I was changing the on engine secondary right after and they were bone dry when I unscrewed them....so no spilled fuel!

So make sure you fill filter housing(and/or secondary filter) with clean fuel to prevent air in the system.

Will do.

Usually when pulling the element on a racor....the fuel is quickly below the holes that the filtered fuel goes into...it's a very tiny chance of contaminating anything or overwhelming the secondaries in a decade or so.

But draining isn't a bad idea if you are pulling pretty well fouled filters frequently.

psneeld said:

.it's a very tiny chance of contaminating anything or overwhelming the secondaries in a decade or so.

.

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If you are careful when removing the old elements the fuel level will stay high enough and you won't get any air in the system.
I do this regularly on my Lehman and they are extremely air sensitive.

jleonard said:

If you are careful when removing the old elements the fuel level will stay high enough and you won't get any air in the system.
I do this regularly on my Lehman and they are extremely air sensitive.

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Well dammit. I guess I wasn't careful enough. I likely won't try it again.

Are your filters gravity fed, Or are they above the fuel tank fuel level?

Generally if filters are located above the tanks there is an electric fuel pump in line with a hose installed to rid the system of air after filter changes. If the filters are gravity fed then make sure you bleed the air out of filter housing before you button them up. Do your filters have a valve both immediately before AND after the filter? If so make sure those are BOTH closed prior to opening up. And have a clean fresh gallon (or 4) jug of diesel on hand to 'top up' the filter housings after you change filters and drain the bowls. Take a few extra minutes when topping the filter off to wait for all air bubbles to work out and fill it to the brim. Then reseal.

Draining gets a good deal (or all, if you drain regularly) the gunk off the bottom of the bowl and delays having to clean the thing to see if something is really accumulating. I ended up never cleaning the bowl in seven years and a few thousand hours of run time (and a lot of gallons through the filter, given I had Detroits). One of the very nice add ons a PO did was a couple of Walbro electric priming pumps; made doing both Racors and secondary a breeze.

How often do you change filters on average?

Some folks after installing a filter set like a Raycor never bother to change the on engine filter.

Perhaps it is old and coming apart?

Janusz said:

How often do you change filters on average?

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Primary, when the vacuum gauge gets close to the red zone or about 300 hours, whichever came first, secondary at 300 hours or so, or when I changed the Racor if I felt like it. I used 30 micron primary, per the engine mfrs' spec, and a Detroit branded secondary which was about 7. there were fine mesh 2 micron screens at each injector which never needed cleaning, and two experienced DD mechanics I used couldn't recall having to do it on an engine. Since the Detroits have a very high return rate, a function of which is using fuel to cool the injector assembly, perhaps that just rinsed them clean. Or perhaps, there are very few contaminants that small. As a Racor gets dirty, it effectively becomes a finer filter of smaller contaminants.

Unless the engine mfr requires it for some reason, putting a 2 micron as a primary makes no sense to me.

I changed Racor primaries & they were clean & pink.

I'm going change out secondary in port engine today. We only have 1 & that had most oroblem.

I just got boat 2 days ago. The marina maintained all mechanical work. Im told it was all up to date. Who knows.

I cant locate these Perkins Sabre fuel filters Perkins Powerpart 35412 anywhere. There is 1 new on boat in box. Can't change other one.

The filters look like they are a bit lower than Raycor but when I drain bowl in can fuel stops flowing when Racor empty.
Above the Racor I found copper tubing with a shut off valve that looks like it separates the incoming fuel from Port & Stbd tank. It is closed meaning port tank, port engine etc.

To answer another question there is no valve after Racor to engine. I thought that it would. There is valve way before Racor on input side.

RickyB said:

I cant locate these Perkins Sabre fuel filters Perkins Powerpart 35412 anywhere. There is 1 new on boat in box. Can't change other one.

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Try Trans Atlantic Diesel or a Massey Ferguson farm equipment dealer.

I had Michigan Cat come out to Grand Haven, MI & he looked at old Racor that I just pulled, both of them, & he said they looked good. We took Michigan Cat guy for test run for 15 minuts & fine as wine. Brought him back, topped of fuel & took off. Then after about 45 mins of running the port engine started slowing down & stopped. Reatarted & run it slow to Muskegon. Pulled Racor primaries to look at & they were perfectly new looking. Can't seem to find any diesel mechanic to look at soon.

Found this via Google: See the Caterpillar equivalent at bottom.



FST-32178 FILTER-Fuel(Collar Lock)-5 Micron


Larger image< a href="http://www.inlinefilters.co.uk/index.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=14401" target="_blank"><img src="bmz_cache/0/010cf636d32194aad27f912be69c491b.image.203x200.jpg" alt="FST-32178 FILTER-Fuel(Collar Lock)-5 Micron" title=" FST-32178 FILTER-Fuel(Collar Lock)-5 Micron " width="203" height="200" /><br /><span class="imgLink">Larger image</span></a>

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION: SPECIFICATIONS:
FILTER-Fuel(Collar Lock)-5 Micron. Fuel/Water Separator, FM 100, Secondary, 5 Micron, 4.3in, Marine.

DIMENSIONS:
Height: 110mm
OD/Width Max: 83mm
OD/Width Min: 69mm
ID/Depth Max: 16mm

EQUIVALENTS:
Caterpillar 2053043, 2053043SABRE, In-Line Filters FST32178, FST-32178, Mann WK8116, Mercury Mercruiser 35807256, Perkins 35412, 35412SABRE, 35413, Quicksilver 035807256, Stanadyne 32065, 32178, 35242, 35244, VME 35312018F

Also found Wix 33546, this will be available at NAPA and Carquest autoparts stores.

May also have a restriction at tank pickup or a weak fuel lift pump.

Ski in NC said:

Also found Wix 33546, this will be available at NAPA and Carquest autoparts stores.

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^^^And, O'Reilly Auto Parts as well.
Found a Wix equivalent to the Baldwin oil filter there.