Fuel filters and contamination!

Gday Axle

I got involved in a couple of those threads, they got me a little worried. Not so much with the contamination issue, but the ammount of work the injection pumps have to do to suck the fuel all the way up fron the tanks. I haven't had a good look under the Patrol yet, but I plan to put an electric fuel pump near the tank, and a second fuel filter in the line. Not that I think the Nissan is inadequate, just a bit dear and a bit of a hasstle to change. I was hoping to fit a CAV type filter near the fuel tank if I can find/build enough protection for it, if not, under the bonnet it will go.

Reading your post, I got the impression the water trap worked better on the tank side of the pump. Is this the case?

Cheers Andrew

Hmmmmmmmmmmm very interesting. Ok so please can you chaps give me an answer to this one. The Jack has no visible means of telling if there is any water in the trap as it's in the bottom of the filter which is all pressed steel. I asked about fitting one of the CAV ones but was told that there is not enough room. I also use chemtech which is supposed to "eliminate water & other contaminants" How? turn them into gold dust which sits in the bottom of the tank? I wish...
Any ideas most welcome!

Water! Yeah ! Great gear in the radiator. Disaster in fuel. Jack Absolm always put a half cup of metho in each tank of gasoline when he filled up (no! he never drank the other half cup) as his journeys were typically through outback areas in a 4x2 and often filled from drums... I (like a dil) ( dil: a fool..a simpleton) recently put 20 litres of h2o into our Mitsubishi ute petrol tank from a black plastic Rheem™ jerry can (only ones to use in the hot areas..new ones have the new two cap system.Breathe better.Mine olde single cap ones have asthma.I wish they would crack or leak or just "die" so I can get the new ones..Likely! Now,where does this get us with diesel..Where are you Jack? His cars were gasoline I believe although he may have had diesel later..Ask Mal of the Leylands..Metho and gasoline mix perfectly..Metho and water do also..Water just exits the tank and frows thru the motor doing most likely,more good than harm (Wicked "Man Magazine" used to have adverts for a device that put water vapour into the intake air/fuel mix just prior to combustion..No! I never looked at the magazine photos ;-) You'd think I had a clue about I'm discussing.Fooled you! Oh yeah! Drifted! I drained the gasoline/water out thru the bung and put new fuel in with a full cup of metho..Injected Mitsubishi never missed a beat)!MPG:8!

You could always be extra careful and fill through a funnel with a chamois filter stretched across the inside. Petrol flows straight though, water does not, it sits on the top of the chamois as little droplets (or heaps if there was a lot of water in the fuel). I have used this method and it used to be standard for aircraft being fueled from drums. I have not tried it with diesel but I think it should work.

There is also a filter device available that contains a material that absorbs water and expands instantly blocking any liquid from passing through. This system is foolproof but even a small amount of water means you have to change the filter. All aircraft refueling carts (or tankers) that you see at airports have these type filters inline with the delivery hoses.

So axle, what crap did you hear!
You are right- did not sound very nice at all at the start of your post.

Basically you can never filter diesel too well- the tolerances in injection pumps and injectors are incredibly tight.
Yes- water is a disaster, but so is other crap if it gets to the pump. Microscopic filtration such as from a Frantz or one of the others available such as:Filter Technology...
http://www.filtertechnology.com.au/SiteFiles/filtertechnologycomau/12p-6-10%20fma.pdf

.....can double or triple the life of injectors and injection pumps on diesels.