Thanks. Now raise your glass/bottle ...... clink!

__________________


Experience : what you receive 3 seconds after you really needed it !!



86 300SDL 387,000? Motor committed suicide
81 300SD 214,000 "new" 132,000 motor
83 300SD 212,000 parts car
83 300SD 147,000

91 F700 5.9 cummins 5spd eaton 298,000
66 AMC rambler American 2dr auto 108,000
95 Chevy 3/4 ton auto 160,000
03 Toyota 4runner 180,000 wifes

We clean fuel tanks everyday - one example is a fiberglass tank where we pulled metal particals and spent welding rods out.

The metal in your filter may not be from your machine but from the source of your fuel supply.

Good Luck

Thats why I had started this thread more as a warning to others to watch were they fuel up. Just because the pump has a filter dosent mean its being changed. A false sense of security . I wonder how many are in bypass mode or even have a filter at all ?

I havent changed my filters on my service truck since the last post but with the raycor having the clear bowl you can monitor it better . Other than some minor trash and water no more metal found. I have been staying around the major citys and filling at the truck stops so this is probably why.

update on the filter cutter : summit has one for 30.00 much easier than building one unless time is on your side. Labor and material make it about even. live and learn I guess.

Welding rods !! What kind of fuel tanks are you cleaning out ??

__________________


Experience : what you receive 3 seconds after you really needed it !!



86 300SDL 387,000? Motor committed suicide
81 300SD 214,000 "new" 132,000 motor
83 300SD 212,000 parts car
83 300SD 147,000

91 F700 5.9 cummins 5spd eaton 298,000
66 AMC rambler American 2dr auto 108,000
95 Chevy 3/4 ton auto 160,000
03 Toyota 4runner 180,000 wifes

Gentlemen:

Although this is not directly applicable to this thread, this is how we do it in a very nasty enviroment when dealing with 1000's of gallons of fuel consumption per year per engine.

http://sbmar.com/Articles/MarineFuel-Filtration_Introduction.php


With the onset of the newer electronic CR diesels, that last thing you want to do is send any type of fuel to your engine that is not ready to be used, or just rely on the on-engines "last chance" filter to protect you.

Hopefully you may find something of value as to how good fuel filtration with a minimum of maintence can be put together, while offering a superior way of protecting your investment..

A Happy MBZ 230 Owner,

Tony

Attached Files

Multi-Stage Fuel Filtration.pdf (542.9 KB, 467 views)

Some Solutions
Lower Micron Fuel Filter Mod

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

wHunter you must be psychic !

We had both the Houston service truck go down and my San Antonio one go down last week.

Both had plugged filters . The Racor one I put on my truck showed water more metal shavings and a dark brown saw dust material. The Houston one was completely plugged with the saw dust crap ! You could scoop it out by hand. Plenty of water as well.

He fills in Houston and north Texas . I fill in San Antonio and south Texas.
The mechanic had 3 more trucks in the shop for bad fuel problems! He said it might be due to the winter to summer blend change over. Refineries getting rid of whatever trash they had left.

Diesel911 good write up ! Filter upgrade is high on the to - do list for the Mercedes. I have a Fleetguard 2 micron on my truck with a raycor 30 micron primary Cummins engine and only lost power. The Houston truck has the ford 6.0 with the OEM filters. His died out completly. After a thorough clean up Scanner shows 2 bad injectors on the 6.0. All 8 where just replaced 6 months ago.

Maybe the way this new fuel works is you change the parts out so often they never go out of specs ???

__________________


Experience : what you receive 3 seconds after you really needed it !!



86 300SDL 387,000? Motor committed suicide
81 300SD 214,000 "new" 132,000 motor
83 300SD 212,000 parts car
83 300SD 147,000

91 F700 5.9 cummins 5spd eaton 298,000
66 AMC rambler American 2dr auto 108,000
95 Chevy 3/4 ton auto 160,000
03 Toyota 4runner 180,000 wifes

There is another solution that I read about that I guess is common in the Marine Industry called "Fuel Polishing" (well that is what I remember it being called).

You have a seperate Fuel Pump and Filter or Filters that has the sole purpose of circulating Fuel from the Tank through the Filter/s and back to the Tank. It has nothing to do with the Fuel Supply System that feeds the Fuel Injection Pump.
At first this seems like an odd idea until you realize that you can decide how much Fuel you want to flow through the system and how much and how fine of a filtration you want.
Also since the Filters on the Polishing System are not part of your Fuel Supply System when they get plugged up it does not shut you down.

I am lucky. I my area the Fuel is pretty clean. When I cut that Wix big white NAPA Wix filter apart I found a little rust and some liquid water but not much of either.

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Well this time I took pictures first shows what type of primary filter set up I have on the truck and the other two are the findings.
This filter is changed every 12,000 miles. The sparkling particles amongst the dirt is the aluminum. The tank is a 50 gallon with a feed tube this filter is the first line of defense.

Attached Thumbnails

     

__________________


Experience : what you receive 3 seconds after you really needed it !!



86 300SDL 387,000? Motor committed suicide
81 300SD 214,000 "new" 132,000 motor
83 300SD 212,000 parts car
83 300SD 147,000

91 F700 5.9 cummins 5spd eaton 298,000
66 AMC rambler American 2dr auto 108,000
95 Chevy 3/4 ton auto 160,000
03 Toyota 4runner 180,000 wifes

This is a picture of the inside of a 5 gallon reserve container I keep for emergencies. Lots of aluminum in there!! I cleaned out the particles second picture is an up close of the shavings.

I'm starting to see why the fuel price is getting higher , has anyone priced what their giving for scrap #1 aluminum ?

Attached Thumbnails

   

__________________


Experience : what you receive 3 seconds after you really needed it !!



86 300SDL 387,000? Motor committed suicide
81 300SD 214,000 "new" 132,000 motor
83 300SD 212,000 parts car
83 300SD 147,000

91 F700 5.9 cummins 5spd eaton 298,000
66 AMC rambler American 2dr auto 108,000
95 Chevy 3/4 ton auto 160,000
03 Toyota 4runner 180,000 wifes

I'm in Europe, so some things are different, e.g. low sulphur diesel has been normal here for quite a while...

1. I can remember my father had a metal funnel with a "won't pass water" filter screen, he used to use it a lot, and ALWAYS used it on any fuel going into a boat, of course he came from an era where there were not standard fuel handling methods.
2. In my own experience, fuel contamination varies a LOT, I don't just mean country to country or season to season, I also don't mean winter vs summer fuel, I mean THE SAME FUEL, for example one local bunker / distribution centre was built on a flood plain, a neighbour was foreman on the build, he said they had a hell of a job because of the water table, ever since fuel from that site that was stored in below ground tanks has been "iffy", how iffy depends on how high the water table was...
3. IMHO we reached a high point in fuel handling "care" in the eighties, since then everyone has been cutting corners and saving money, especially fuel stations, here in the UK for example a fuel delivery pump can deliver up to between 10ml (1%) extra and 5ml (0.5%) less per indicated litre of fuel delivered, all the money goes on systems that will get that as close as possible to 4ml less, e.g. 996 cc of fuel per 1,000 cc indicated on the pump, any filtration that exists is solely there to protect that metering equipment.
4. Both boats and cars cross international borders here like yanks cross state lines, except an international border means different fuel regulations and practices, MB diesels can expect to fuel up all over the shop, even African fuel, so their standard fuel filtration is better than many brands, and notably better than many US makes.
5. Back when I worked in the private luxury yacht business this was especially notable, go into the engine room on a yank built yacht and you might see beautiful CATs or more commonly Detroits, and a piss poor fuel management system. Go below on a EU built boat and you'd see MTU's and most importantly a decent fuel filtration system AND an Alfa-laval.
6. Alfa-laval is basically a centrifuge, it doesn't just separate out water and other contaminants, it also settles out a hell of a lot or particulate matter, standard practice when bunkering (fuelling) was several separate bunkers and a day tank, say 1,2,3,4,5 & 6 bunkers plus day tank. Engines were fed from the day tank, day tank was fed from 1 & 2, bunkering filled 3 to 6, then the alfa-laval was connected (supply and return) to each newly filled bunker and run for several hours until it stopped producing ****, then move on to the next tank.
7. In addition you had tank > water trap > primary filter > secondary filter and this was always a double / redundant system so you could swap out filters while the engines were running.
8. One of the common problems / misconceptions was the fact that diesel contains living bugs, this was especially a problem for boats fitted with stainless (300 series) / inox fuel tanks, because the bugs used to eat at the welds, I've poked oxy acetylene nozzle cleaners several mm into these "boreholes" and they often lead outside the tank causing seepage / leaks... only adding a UV stage to the alfa-laval would kill these bugs.
9. One of the other common problems was water, either pumped in with the fuel (see #2) or as condensation inside the tank, we used to have a pink paste on a dipstick to test for this, again alfa laval was the cure, cheaper than changing Racor filters every day.
10. Getting back to MB, yeah, they have some of the best standard fuel systems going (US market products may be different in this as well, I do not know) but I shake my head in despair every time I hear someone who bought an old Benz just to run it on WVO etc, what the hell are they thinking? Like buying a Rolex to go hard rock mining... yeah, it'll handle it better than a Timex... that's not the point...
11. I run a 1990 W124 E300d, this has the straight six 3 litre non turbo 603.912 engine, a fantastic engine, I don't know if it was made / available in the states, totally non electronic / gizmo, City = 30.37 mpg, 90 kph / 56.25 mph = 45.56 mpg, 120 kph / 75 mph = 35.76 mpg (NB Imperial gallons) and will cruise at 120 mph.
12. I have always been anal about filters, both fuel and oil, Fiam (dunno if you get them there) you couldn't pay me to fit to a lawnmower, for the Merc I buy Mann OEM filters.
13. I do not run a common rail diesel engine, or an ECU controlled diesel engine, you could not pay me to run either.
14. When changing the fuel filter on a diesel engine I have always filled (primed) the filter with ATF.
15. When filling the tank on a diesel car I have always added an aerosol car cap/lid's worth of ATF every other fill up.
16. 200 miles before doing an (lube) oil filter change I have always added a litre of ATF to the lube oil (my current MB when I bought it had two noisy hydraulic tappets, no more) and let it clean the engine.
17. I have always done the (lube) oil change PROPERLY, e.g. drain the bloody sump, none of this suck it through the dipstick pipe rubbish.

Bottom line here, the standard MB equipment is quite good enough, if fuel in the US is as dirty / contaminated as it sounds fro this thread, then I would be buying a "won't pass water" filter funnel and stowing it in the boot/trunk, and every time I went to a filling station NOTHING would get into my fuel tank without first sticking the "won't pass water" filter funnel in the car filler tube... yes, it will slow down the fill, **** them if they can't be bothered to sell you decent fuel, and you will SEE the proof in the funnel every time, and so will anyone else who looks.

BTW pump diesel here is now UK£116.5 per litre, that's US$1.85 per litre, or US$6.99 per US Gallon.

I still wouldn't run WVO etc in my 20 year old Benz...

I thought about the funnel, Parker makes one. 100.00 for a funnel makes you hesitate though.
This truck does see plenty of fuel going through it similar to your marine use.
I use about 50 gallons a day.
The bugs eating the tank is a new one , however ford had a major problem with these tanks. The seams would rot out.
My tank was changed at 60,000 miles. Piles of tanks sitting behind the dealership.

I thought it could be coming from the truck tank but when I seen the same thing in my reserve jug that Idea went away.

As you said the Mercedes has a good filter system. The tank screen has a finer screen than the original primary filter that the racor replaced on this truck.
It was 114 mesh screen. The new racor one is a 30 micron water separator.
My Mercedes primary filter shows some trash but I just wonder how much is on the in tank screen. Kind of hard to clean as often as well.

Excellent cars with lots of thought going into the individual systems.
Gotta love it !!

__________________


Experience : what you receive 3 seconds after you really needed it !!



86 300SDL 387,000? Motor committed suicide
81 300SD 214,000 "new" 132,000 motor
83 300SD 212,000 parts car
83 300SD 147,000

91 F700 5.9 cummins 5spd eaton 298,000
66 AMC rambler American 2dr auto 108,000
95 Chevy 3/4 ton auto 160,000
03 Toyota 4runner 180,000 wifes

You'll hesitate until the first time you use it, and see the crap left on the filter.

I got banned from one filling station for using one, always suspected their fuel, so one day when I knew the pumps would be quiet I took the filter (short piece of pipe on the bottom to angle into the tank) and put 40 litres of (shell) diesel in the tank, took about 3 times as long as normal, the manager comes out and asks me WTF I am doing, I was at 40 litres and WAS going to finish filling the tank, so I stop, the funnel drains down in about 10 seconds, and there is a cup full of water in the bottom, I show this to the manager and tell him it is water, he says no it ain't, I ask him to get the pink dipstick paste that all fuel stations carry, he claims he doesn't know what I'm talking about, I offer to try to set fire to it, by this time three other customers have come over and looked in the funnel, and all have driven away without buying fuel.

So basically I pay up and am banned, fine, I was just proving a point to myself anyway and already intended not to go back, they were normally supplied from the depot I mentioned earlier with the water table problems.

Here one of these funnels in action

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvgJt0sLG2Y

and an animation of how an alfa laval works

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMbaBLpInrc&NR=1

S.24884 FUNNEL-FUEL FILTER 19 LPM
Part No.:
Description:FUNNEL-FUEL FILTER 19 LPM
http://v2.ni.sparex.com/ItemDetails/ItemDetails.aspx?ItemNumber=24884

Mr Funnel is a heavy duty, anti-static, fast flow filter. When the fuel is poured, water and debris will not pass through the filter. Suitable for use with, Diesel, Petrol, Heating Oil, Kerosene and 2-stroke mixed fuel. Min Qty:1Weight:0.4134kg
http://v2.ni.sparex.com/ItemDetails/ItemDetails.aspx?ItemNumber=24884