Marine place to flush/filter my tank?, 1982 300D - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

300DPETE · #16 01-09-2006, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

in my experience will kill the fungus and allow it to pass through the filter. i would treat it again. maybe try another brand. i have not had to do more, personally. you have a bad case, obviously. also you could put a generic electric fuel pump on the fuel line and run it through a big truck filter for a few days or so too. maybe you can find a cleanable filter.

tom w

Could I use a fuel pump, and run the pick-up line into the hole where the sending unit is and put the pump end into the filler tank, creating a loop? Seems like it would work okay...I'd put an inline filter into the mix...

delucat2 · #17 01-09-2006, 03:16 PM

You have a bunch of probelms: you have a load of gunk in your tank. the filters on the car are completely inadequate to deal with the goop. you added fungicide which killed more fungus which is plugging the filters even faster. you added B20 which is dislodging even more crud in the tank. The prefilter only has a capacity of about 1 or 2 oz. , so you're not going to catch much in that thing. The best way to fix this situation is to go to a marine fuel polishing provider and pull the fuel pickup tube out of the top of the tank. The polisher will run a pickup tube down the fill neck into the bottom of the tank. Hell run the return line into th top of the tank and start the pump. The pump will suck the crud laden junk out of the tank and pass it through a particulate filter and a water seperator (FYI - without water you would have no fungus issue) then return it to the tank. The operator should be swishing the return line all over the tank to stir up all the gunk and get it to the intake hose at the bottom. This should go on for up to an hour to get most of the crud. When this is done, the system should be quite clean. There is going to be more junk that will come off the walls most of the time. You can either buy a bunch of prefilters, or bypass it and let the junk flow into the spin on filter. It can hold several ounces of muck vs. 1. You just have to keep changing it until the tank is clear. That or just go buy a WIX or Baldwin filter base with 1/2 npt ports and get 1/2 npt to 3/16 hose barb connectors with a big (twice the size of the spin on that is there) 10 micron diesel filter. This will catch all the junk your tank can make and is easy to change. Don't bother with the raycor bowl or turbine filters - they aren't that great.

300DPETE · #18 01-11-2006, 12:32 AM

Okay, now the screwing around with fitlers, additives, etc. is over.

I'm going to take the tank to a radiator shop, as I just found rust flecks in the fuel. I set up a generic fuel filter before the prefilter and it started to fill up with rust flecks.

Also, what's the cost of a new tank? (to weigh against the cost of having a radiator shop clean it out and coat the inside to treat the rust). I haven't seen one online...

Thanks,

Pete.

t walgamuth · #19 01-11-2006, 07:44 AM

i am surprised. i have never had any rust issues with a benz tank. yours must have sat with a lot of water in it for a long time. sorry. i dont know the answers to your quesions.

i have never had to have a benz tank cleaned or replaced one so i have no personal experience to draw on.

i have had tanks cleaned on old us cars. it worked just fine. i have never tried any coatings for the inside. they all give me the willies. i just imagine all that gunk working loose and causing more trouble.

probably if you take it to a shop and have it boiled and keep the water out of it you will be fine.

tom w

MTUpower · #20 01-11-2006, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by delucat2

You have a bunch of probelms: you have a load of gunk in your tank. the filters on the car are completely inadequate to deal with the goop. you added fungicide which killed more fungus which is plugging the filters even faster. you added B20 which is dislodging even more crud in the tank. The prefilter only has a capacity of about 1 or 2 oz. , so you're not going to catch much in that thing. The best way to fix this situation is to go to a marine fuel polishing provider and pull the fuel pickup tube out of the top of the tank. The polisher will run a pickup tube down the fill neck into the bottom of the tank. Hell run the return line into th top of the tank and start the pump. The pump will suck the crud laden junk out of the tank and pass it through a particulate filter and a water seperator (FYI - without water you would have no fungus issue) then return it to the tank. The operator should be swishing the return line all over the tank to stir up all the gunk and get it to the intake hose at the bottom. This should go on for up to an hour to get most of the crud. When this is done, the system should be quite clean. There is going to be more junk that will come off the walls most of the time. You can either buy a bunch of prefilters, or bypass it and let the junk flow into the spin on filter. It can hold several ounces of muck vs. 1. You just have to keep changing it until the tank is clear. That or just go buy a WIX or Baldwin filter base with 1/2 npt ports and get 1/2 npt to 3/16 hose barb connectors with a big (twice the size of the spin on that is there) 10 micron diesel filter. This will catch all the junk your tank can make and is easy to change. Don't bother with the raycor bowl or turbine filters - they aren't that great.

This is the best advice for you so far. However since boats are rarely able to drive to shops fuel polishing services are usually mobile. I disagree with the racors are no good- they make a great smaller filter/seperator that fits under the hood that'll solve alot of SVO/bad diesel filter problems, and changing filter is cake. The capacity is orders of mag. bigger than the spin on. Do a google or call around for a polishing service and use it.

300DPETE · #21 01-11-2006, 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

i am surprised. i have never had any rust issues with a benz tank. yours must have sat with a lot of water in it for a long time. sorry. i dont know the answers to your quesions.

i have never had to have a benz tank cleaned or replaced one so i have no personal experience to draw on.

i have had tanks cleaned on old us cars. it worked just fine. i have never tried any coatings for the inside. they all give me the willies. i just imagine all that gunk working loose and causing more trouble.

probably if you take it to a shop and have it boiled and keep the water out of it you will be fine.

tom w

I thought that the fungus or bacteria could sometimes create a byproduct of water...therefore sometimes rust occurs after an infection of the fuel...no?

delucat2 · #22 01-11-2006, 12:32 PM

MTU - Thanks, but what I meant was that since he can drive to the fuel polisher, it might save him a $200 travel charge from the mobile guy.

And as far as Raycors - a fleetguard FF5013 can hold many times what a turbine (widely loved and used - but frigging messy to change and clean out)
or Raycor spin on w/ bowl can hold.

By way of background I have a pair of 6CTA Cummins in a 42 Uniflite and
have been around the block with fuel filters with local mechanics many times. The large fleetguard (or baldwin or wix) hold may times what even a raycor 1000 can, and it is sooo much easier to change out. You need 4 feet of vertical space to mount a 1000 in order to get a pan under the drain and to get a fresh element into the top. A Spin on - 18 inches at most. I know that many builders still use them, but even a 1000 w/ a 2 micron element which may meet MTUs spects for filtration (I've seen several 60s here in commercial dive boats and they have all switched to Fleetguard spin on) still has a last chance spin on. Why bother with the turbine anyway? Most of the time you can't see into the bowl, so you have a WIF sensor anyway. The new filter media trap the water and wont pass it in a bad case of water in the tank - unlike a 1000 which will pass water if it is overloaded and bye bye common rail!

t walgamuth · #23 01-11-2006, 01:11 PM

grows if water is present. and rust too. so keep the water out and you will be fine on both counts. you could get water and fungus from a station with a bad tank. or if you get water in your tank from a leak or such you could get your own private crop. i suspect 90% of the time it is from an infected big tank.

tom w