Fuel filter

[Rocco]

How important is the first fuel filter??
There are two others after that one.
I was thinking of bypassing it, good or bad?
And does anyone know of a reusable fine brass screen filter I can just replace it with?
I'm trying to make my own.

 

[CCATLETT1984]

Why bypass or put a screen in?

You can NEVER overfilter your fuel.

 

[garp]

the first filter is a water seperator. plus it helps catch the brids and elephants,aka all the big stuff in the fuel. Caterpillar used a reusable brass screen up until a few yrs ago, Now all engines/machines anre equipped with a Parker/Racor type water seperator. These new ones are not washable, but are throw aways. They do a tremendous job of stripping water and do have a sediment bowl. But as far as bypassing, BAD idea.

 

[Rocco]

I see if CAT has it thanks

 

[CCATLETT1984]

fyi, he didnt mean that CAT had a filter that will fit in the originals place, just was mentioning what they used on CAT engines. I would really like to know the reason for wanting to change the system. What is not working for you?

 

[oilcan]

When I did my first filter change after getting my truck, I noticed half the guts of the primary filter can were gone. There was a filter in it, but it was essentially bypassed. When I worked my way around to the secondaries I found a big pile of sludge in the first can that should've been caught by the primary. Luckily the last one looked normal. Bypassing is not a good idea.







This was on a truck that supposedly had all the fluids and filters changed before I picked it up...

 

[BEASTMASTER]

any of you guys running veg oil and how do you blend it ? my bud has a multifuel and would like to cut down the price of diesel. how much gas would you put in with the diesel?20% 10%

 

[oilcan]

There's plenty of info on that subject in the alternative fuels forum. Try the search function and you'll have enough reading material for quite some time.

 

[renovate7]

I installed one of the spin on filter adapters this weekend for the primary fuel filter. I was surprised at how small the filter was in the big metal can. It wasn't half as tall. It will be much easier to change the filter now. Also installed the oil filter adapters. The original oil filters filled their cans.

 

[dabtl]

The spin on primary filter comes in quite handy if you put an algaecide in the fuel tank. The accumulated crud fills the filter quite easily the first time. After that you can drain it with some intervals between to keep it open.

Changing out the original filter under those circumstances would have been really time consuming. So, put the algaecide in a clean the fuel system well.

 

[Jake0147]

The extra room in the primary fuel filter is there on purpose, for water and big chunks to settle out. I don't know with the exact filter you just installed, but typically the spin on filters have a similar "dead space" at the bottom for collecting water and sediment. The oil filters aren't designed to "sediment", there's a whole oil pan for that. If it makes you feel better, Your new oil filters do have a filter that fills the whole can just as well as the original oil filters filled the original filter cans.

 

[gimpyrobb]

Re: RE: Fuel filter

When I did my first filter change after getting my truck, I noticed half the guts of the primary filter can were gone. There was a filter in it, but it was essentially bypassed. When I worked my way around to the secondaries I found a big pile of sludge in the first can that should've been caught by the primary. Luckily the last one looked normal. Bypassing is not a good idea.







This was on a truck that supposedly had all the fluids and filters changed before I picked it up...

Yeah, I was and am not real happy about that. I guess the signs were there when we had to air up the tires. Hind sight is 20/20 though.