[fune31]

Hello,

I changed my Primary and secondary fuel filters today. I have a Pacific Seacraft 31.

This was the first time that I have attempted it. Diesel mechanics have done it in the past. I do not want to rely on them going forward.

Two questions:

1. I can not get the Racor fuel separator to fill at all. I pumped the priming pumps hundreds of times and no fuel entered the unit. Any idea where I went wrong? The fuel line was open and the pump's vent was opened, too.

2. There is an electric fuel pump between the fuel separator and the engine. I thought this would pull fuel into the separator when I turned the ignition key to "On". Nothing happened when I did this. There is not a separate switch near the electric pump to turn it on. I am at a loss here on how to get it working.


Photos are attached

 

[contrarian]

Mine are smaller but I fill the filter reservoir with fuel before reattaching the reservoir. Usually don't have to bleed afterwards on my yanmar.

 

[contrarian]

Did you check voltage at the pump with ignition on? You said nothing happened. I would think you would be able to hear the pump if it was working. If it's wired to the solenoid, jump it and check voltage.

 

[celenoglu]

What side is the pumps vent, if ti is on the suction side the pump is probably pumping air instead of fuel. close the vent and try again.

 

[chef2sail]

I fill my racor manually before turning on the fuel pump

 

[Minnewaska]

I suppose it could be the vent. I find engines with electric fuel pumps will fill the engine mounted filter housings, but not added primary filters. As others have said, manually top it up, as best you can. I keep a 1 gallon container of diesel aboard for this purpose, but it doesn't take much.

The electric fuel pumps can be very quiet. You may not hear it running. Depending on how good you hear.

 

[JimsCAL]

That model Racor has a small manual priming pump built into it. I had a similar problem last fall. Changed the spinon filter element, but it wouldn't prime with the priming pump. So filled it manually. Ran the engine to warm it up in preparation for an oil change and winterizing the cooling system. Engine stopped after running for maybe 5 minutes or so. Racor was empty. Checked and there was no blockage in the fuel line to the tank. Decided it was just easier to just change the whole filter than try to figure out what was wrong, find parts, etc. Put a new one in this spring and the manual priming pump worked fine.

 

[fune31]

Thank you for all the replies. Very helpful.

I will go down to the boat today and give it another try.

I suspect the priming pump on top of the racor filter is shot, or, I have air entering from somewhere to prevent the pump from creating suction.

I'll also try filling the spin on filter with diesel and see if that solves the problem.