Replacing fuel filters

[DougSea]

Hey guys,

Anything I should be aware of when replacing the fuel filters on my Peninsular 300TA? I know there's some kind of priming bulb on the Racor filter housing, does pumping this until it firms up take care of both the primary and secondary filters? If not, is there a second priming pump somewhere?

Any advice is appreciated, Peninsular specific is even better.

Thanks!

Doug

[jcollins]

Doug,
I haven't done it yet, but the previous owner of mine, said to pump the bulb and little and start it up.
If there's anything else we should know I hope someone jumps in here.

Thanks,

[Mariner]

I can't speak for any specific boat or engine, but I know on my last boat, the high volume of the recirculating fuel system meant that priming was basically not needed. I simply turned the key and let it crank for a while. It was definitely hard starting, but once it worked all of the air out of the lines, it ran fine.

[Denis]

I changed my filters this past spring and followed the directions that came with the Peninsular manual. Fill the primary filter before you install it, then loosen the input fuel line to the secondary filter and then prime the pump until fuel comes out. I had to do that several times to get the engine to start and stay running. Changing the filters was easy but getting all the air out so the engine ran smoothly took a little time.
Denis

[jcollins]

Denis and Mariner,
Thanks for the replies. This board is something I'll check before starting any maintenance. <smile>

[DougSea]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

I'm headed out to the boat this afternoon to make sure I have the spares aboard and will give it a shot.

I had thought of pre-filling the primary, the suggestions on the secondary are something I'll have to try.

Doug

[DougSea]

Well the filter change is done. One word of advice...start with the primary and use the water drain to take pressure out of the system. Got ahead of myself and loosened the secondary first. I still smell like sprayed diesel fuel! I did remember to shut off the fuel supply from the tank before I started.

Once I finished the shower I pulled the secondary and then moved on to the primary. What looked like a drain with a knurled grip and a hose barb appears to be some kind of add on fitting. The drain is a plastic screw with a slot in the end. I pulled the other fitting out and it did nothing. I ended up unscrewing the entire inspection bowl to drain the primary.

I managed to get a small bucket under the primary and had very little (if any) fuel make it to the bilge. The filter was a MESS. Water and nasty blackened fuel. Yuk! I washed out the bowl with some hot water and detergent (it is, after all, the water separator bowl) and dried it out completely. Followed the instructions that came with the replacement element and lubed up the gasket with clean fuel that I'd brought along. Re-attached the seperator bowl. Filled the filter , waited for the fuel to soak in and then topped it off and screwed it back into place. Filled the secondary and then tipped it over a bucket at the same angle as it would be once I went to mount it. That way the fuel spilled into the bucket rather than the towel lined bilge.

Opened the fuel supply and hit the primer button a couple of times. It firmed up almost right away. Fired the engine and it started right up. It started to 'stumble' a little bit but I gave it some more throttle and she settled right down.

All in all a very easy job. Having done it once I figure I could finish a filter change in under 20 minutes, from start to all cleaned up.

Thanks again for the replies.

Doug

[jcollins]

Doug,
Thanks for the "blow-by-blow". Now I know what to expect.

[DougSea]

Doug,
Thanks for the "blow-by-blow". Now I know what to expect.

My pleasure sir! Thanks again for providing a place to share 'Albin' info!

I should mention that you'll want to make sure you have a couple of rags under each of the filters, both as you remove them and as you're working, you're going to get some residual drips out of the fuel lines. I also found that when I screwed the primary back on it forced a small bit of fuel out of the secondary fitting. Just keep those rags spread around until everything's buttoned back up and you should be fine.

Doug