Need a little diesel help

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walterv

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Anyone of you guys at your convienence , I need to understand the rancor filters. What to look for, how to change the filter, what water looks like, etc.

Just getting into the belly of the boat at this point, spent 3 hours on Friday getting acclamated with crap. It is not that overwhelming now and feel I can get my arms around this. Just have a bunch of questions.

Thanks
Walter
 
Assuming you have Racor Turbine filters, to change them you shut the fuel supply off to the filter.

Unscrew the T handle at the top and remove top lid. Filter is in there with a little handle to pull it out.

If the filter looks black and dirty it is time to toss. Have a small plastic container to put the dripping filters in.

Put new filter it and top off with some spare diesel to the top. On mine, I can open the fuel line and the fuel comes it to top it off.

Put the lid back on and you should be good to go.

Racor filters are color coded on the top to designate what model it is. The color of the print is different for each grade of filter.

I use the Red 30 microns for primary filtration as the motors each have a finer filter on them.

Brown color is 2 micron.

Blue is 10 micron.

Again, assuming you have turbine filters, at the bottom is the glass bowl. You will see the water in there if it is present. I have drains at the bottoms of mine and I tap the drains the get whatever crap is at the bottom out of there whenever I change my filters. I drain after I pull the old filter.

I have gauges instead of T handles on the top of mine and it tells me when it is time to change.

Hope this helps.

Its really not a big deal to change them.
 
+1 That'd be the story.

But I run 2 microns in the racors, and 10 micron secondary spin on filters on the engines. If the racors foul and I'm SOL I can swap them out and any residual slime will be caught by the 10 micron secondary filters. We run about 110-150 hours a year at hull speed plus a little, and that eats a set of 2 microns annually but Detroits return large amounts of fuel back to the tanks in comparison to many 4 stroke diesels. Our filters are dark now, but we just had the bottom cleaned and painted. The engines spun up to full rpm and 20 knots in spite of the load and the filters being on the dirty side.
I look at it this way, if I polish the fuel a bit it's a good thing since we are docked for long periods of time. The only time the engines needed more fuel was when I ran a tank dry. Some say 2 microns will not flow the requisite fuel but I have not had this issue. YMMV.
 
What Robyn said.

Also...

You can download the manufacturer's instruction sheet for your main engine and genset models.

If you don't have them already, you can swap the low-tech drain nut with a drain that has a better knob and is easier to twist loose and then retighten, no tools required. (See Racor documentation for part numbers.)

If you hold a bright light behind the Racor bowl, clear, "not red" water will show up easily at the bottom of the bowl, as will any particulate sediment.

I've come to use (doubled) ziplog bags to catch any drainage (given small spaces underneath each unit). When the filter element actually needs changing, it's easy enough to lift it slightly and let that drip into the bowl for a bit... then cram it in the bag, too. (Dispose responsibly.)

Your engine manufacturer will specify what density to use for the Racor (or other fuel-water separator) elements. (Ours specifies 30 micron, and the secondary filter is a 10-micron spin-on). Some engines will simply not run if the filter element is too dense.

-Chris
 
Great advice Ill add that you should learn how to bleed your fuel system incase that is necessaey after a filter change. Low fuel vs full can make a difference in the need to bleed and some engines just seem to pass air better than others. Open the racer check the filter condition then restart your engines to see how they work. It wont take long to find out if they get air bound.
The light behind the filter bowl is a great test of fuel condition. Water will be obvious on the bottom and the fuel should be ruby red.
 
Walter

Like Jonathan, I replaced the T handles with gauges.  I also keep a 5gal   Jug of fuel in the ER top off the filters when changing them.  My cats come with hand primer pumps but I think I needed them once in 7 years.
DSC00687.jpg
 
quote:
Originally posted by pdecat

Great advice Ill add that you should learn how to bleed your fuel system incase that is necessaey after a filter change. Low fuel vs full can make a difference in the need to bleed and some engines just seem to pass air better than others. Open the racer check the filter condition then restart your engines to see how they work. It wont take long to find out if they get air bound.
The light behind the filter bowl is a great test of fuel condition. Water will be obvious on the bottom and the fuel should be ruby red.

Click to expand...


Agree: knowing how to bleed air from the fuel system is important.

FWIW, I've not usually found it necessary to bleed the system after Racor service (even after the less-frequent filter element replacements), only when changing the spin-on secondary fuel filters.

Even then, if I filled those secondary filters in advance as instructed in the service manual, the manual also says bleeding isn't necessary.

That would be introducing unfiltered fuel into the system though, and it only takes a few minutes to bleed, so I've preferred to crack open the bleed screw, use the manual pump to prime, seal it up, good to go (and that's also following our Cummins tech's recommendation). YMMV.

-Chris
 
FWIW - do NOT run 2 micron filters if your manufacturer calls for 30's. You will starve the engine of fuel. Fuel is constantly circulated back to the fuel tank while running and plays an important part in keep things cool.
 
If you add gauges get the type that record the highest vacuum level otherwise you have to look at them at full throttle.
 
Modern common rail engines that require extra clean fuel have electric fuel pumps making adding g extra fuel and bleeding unnecessary. Mechanical pump engines frequently wont suck fuel through a partially filled racor unless the filter siphons from a the tank. Some boats will do that only with full tanks, it depends on fuel level vs the racor. There are a variety of schemes to add pumps for priming but as Andy says carrying a few gallons of fuel is easy.
 
Bruce
I was going to ask about what you posted, I heard that
My motors are 2007 Volvo D9 500 HP with turbos

Andy
My racors are not as tall as yours, about half the height

The lettering on the filter is red, previous owner left me 4 spares

So question
Thinking my motor does not need to be primed by adding fuel, was told to just bump the key till filled, I need to check on that.
But with that said, I assume the gen set will need to be primed by adding fuel?

Thanks again all
Really appreciate your input

Walter
 
quote:
Originally posted by walterv

Bruce
I was going to ask about what you posted, I heard that
My motors are 2007 Volvo D9 500 HP with turbos

Andy
My racors are not as tall as yours, about half the height

The lettering on the filter is red, previous owner left me 4 spares

So question
Thinking my motor does not need to be primed by adding fuel, was told to just bump the key till filled, I need to check on that.
But with that said, I assume the gen set will need to be primed by adding fuel?

Thanks again all
Really appreciate your input

Walter

Click to expand...


Don't know about your Volvos, Walter, but our engines also have a smaller manual lift pump that's only for priming. I don't have to refill the Racors, and don't have to fill the spin-ons, as long as I'm willing to open the bleed screw pump the manual button for about 60 seconds. No need to use an external diesel supply, so far.

Bumping with the starter may work, too, but I haven't even had to do that...

Our Kohler genset (Yanmar engine) has an electric fuel pump, and bumping with the starter fills the Racors and spin-ons.

-Chris
 
And there in lies a huge difference. I think you are running the 900MAs which are indeed much smaller. The elements in these are about 5 inches tall. The 1000MAs house an element that is almost a foot tall. I have a 900MA on the 8KW generator and we have 1000MAs on the main engines, which are only 340HP. As I said, we rarely run them wide open. Again, as I said, YMMV.
Since we remain docked for extended periods, I use the main's to polish the fuel.

By the way, if you have more than one tank, run an engine on each tank all the time. Freedom has a 280 gallon main tank, and a 100 gallon aux tank but I run an engine on each tank all the time to keep the fuel moving around and cleaner.

I don't know if this was mentioned, but having spare filters on a diesel is probably (IMHO) a bit more important than it is on a gasser. We usually run with at least 3 sets of spares for the racors and a set of spin ons for the engines.
People will pay any price when they are stuck. Over in Bimini, a big sporty was totally screwed by goo in the tank but he was happy to have the two microns with the caveat he may have to run more slowly. And no, I did not rip him off but he was ripe and willing.

On an aside, watch out for over cranking. Not sure if the 4 strokes will run backwards, but I know our genny did once and 2 strokes are known for it.
 
Walter until you are confidant that you understand your fuel system be careful in setting up your tank selection. Pulling from one tank but returning to another can cause overflow. What bb suggests may not be possible on newer boats that are set up with individual systems and perhaps a cross over pump.
 
Walt, Call me ill come do it with u . I have ur genset. IT will prime itself. The motors will prime themselves by cycling the ignition.

Rob
 
quote:
Originally posted by pdecat

Walter until you are confidant that you understand your fuel system be careful in setting up your tank selection. Pulling from one tank but returning to another can cause overflow. What bb suggests may not be possible on newer boats that are set up with individual systems and perhaps a cross over pump.

Click to expand...


Indeed. And that is also the case on older boats. I met someone who did not set the return valve correctly. As a result he pumped a few hundred gallons over the side. His boat was an old 48 Hatteras LRC. What Bruce is talking about can happen to anyone. Old or new.
 
And when you're done don't forget to open the valves back up! A couple years ago I was at Montauk, changed the fuel filters late and forgot to turn the fuel valves back on. Next day started up to leave, had the engines idling at the dock a while and they both stalled. Luckily I had never untied the lines and it took me about 2 minutes to realize what happened... If I had left right away I may have stalled between the rock jetties... Don't think I'll ever do it again!

I run 2 microns on the Racors on the recommendation of a Detroit Diesel mechanic a while ago when I had my other boat. If you go on boatdiesel and places like passagemaker magazine there are sometimes endless discussions of the proper filter setup. I have the big Racors so they are overcapacity for my engines which probably helps avoid any issues with the 2 microns. Twice in the last couple years I got to the point where they were dirty enough they needed changing, the symptom was not starting instantly as usual and one time I noticed one engine running slightly rough at idle. At speed though they were fine, I guess as more fuel starts flowing it overcomes the restriction as long as it's not too bad. I'm changing them more frequently though to avoid a repeat now.
 
Thanks guys,
I will be down at the boat Friday and Saturday and will start to explore and digest all you said, will be back at you after that.

appreciate the guidance and info. Like the Gauge idea, also the petcock gig, need too look further , snap pictures so you all an cooment.

Rob,
Great, let me know when it is good for you an I will be there.

Thanks again
Walter
 
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