Bleeding diesel sytem - Sealine 240

P

petermills

Active Member
Joined
24 Nov 2006
Messages
53
Visit site
I've had to replace the fuel line between fuel tank and primary filter. The handbook says to bleed the primary filter by the bleed screw at the top of the housing but there is no bleed facility whatsoever. Any idea how to bleed this filter without there being a bleed screw???
All help appreciated!!
 
Bleeding

You do not say what engine, but you should be able to bleed the system using the engine lift pump, and opening the bleed screws on the pump, or cracking the pipe joints. What does your owners manual say about bleeding?
 
Diesel Bleeding

It's a Volvo ad31p. The manual talks about the filter having its own bleed facility - but there is'nt one!!
 
You won't be able to bleed the air out prior to the primary filter anyway, the primary filter will be higher than the diesel tank. To bleed the pipe you've fitted you'd have to have a bleed screw on the top of the primary filter AND pump the fuel from the tank and out of the bleed screw.

Try starting the engine with a bit of throttle. Keep the revs up and it'll most likely gurgle and cough a bit, and get over the bit of air you've let in.
 
PaulGooch said:
You won't be able to bleed the air out prior to the primary filter anyway, the primary filter will be higher than the diesel tank. To bleed the pipe you've fitted you'd have to have a bleed screw on the top of the primary filter AND pump the fuel from the tank and out of the bleed screw.

Try starting the engine with a bit of throttle. Keep the revs up and it'll most likely gurgle and cough a bit, and get over the bit of air you've let in.
Click to expand...

then when it stops, bleed the whole system!!
 
omega2 said:
bleed it by using the lift pump, because it will come to that anyway.
Click to expand...

You might be correct, it may start, run for a few seconds/a minute and cough to a halt. Priming it now with the hand pump will move the air further up the system, not totally dispel it. There's no way to bleed the air from the part of the fuel circuit that has been changed, only thing to do it bleed it through. Both filters and the injector pump are full of fuel so the engine will fire up as normal. If some revs are applied, it will invariably run like a sack of chisels for a minute and clear itself, without the need for any bleeding. It may cough and splutter and stop running, in which case a minute or so on the starter and it should fire up again, running at a few revs will have at least partially self bled it.

Worse case scenario, it croaks and won't start, in which case it'll need bleeding. Technically, it needs bleeding now anyway. He's in a better position than having just replaced both fuel filters, which usually requires nothing more than a hand prime and a minute or two on the starter on most modern diesels. He has absolutely nothing to lose by trying.
 
PaulGooch said:
You might be correct, it may start, run for a few seconds/a minute and cough to a halt. Priming it now with the hand pump will move the air further up the system, not totally dispel it. There's no way to bleed the air from the part of the fuel circuit that has been changed, only thing to do it bleed it through. Both filters and the injector pump are full of fuel so the engine will fire up as normal. If some revs are applied, it will invariably run like a sack of chisels for a minute and clear itself, without the need for any bleeding. It may cough and splutter and stop running, in which case a minute or so on the starter and it should fire up again, running at a few revs will have at least partially self bled it.

Worse case scenario, it croaks and won't start, in which case it'll need bleeding. Technically, it needs bleeding now anyway. He's in a better position than having just replaced both fuel filters, which usually requires nothing more than a hand prime and a minute or two on the starter on most modern diesels. He has absolutely nothing to lose by trying.
Click to expand...

I bow to your superior knowledge, but you would not get away with that on our prehistoric Fords.
 
Thanks to everyone for your input on my problem. The good news is that having read the posts I decided to disconnect the pipe at the filter input and connected a sucker pump to it. After a couple of pulls the pipe filled up with fuel and I then reconnected it to the filter.
Then, as recommended, I turned the key and after a few spluttering rotations the engine sprang to life. I ran it for nearly an hour without any problem - including some high revs.
Am I right in assuming that the problem is now fixed or should I still try to further bleed the system?
 
petermills said:
Thanks to everyone for your input on my problem. The good news is that having read the posts I decided to disconnect the pipe at the filter input and connected a sucker pump to it. After a couple of pulls the pipe filled up with fuel and I then reconnected it to the filter.
Then, as recommended, I turned the key and after a few spluttering rotations the engine sprang to life. I ran it for nearly an hour without any problem - including some high revs.
Am I right in assuming that the problem is now fixed or should I still try to further bleed the system?
Click to expand...

If the running was under load then you appear to have cracked it.
 
petermills said:
Thanks to everyone for your input on my problem. The good news is that having read the posts I decided to disconnect the pipe at the filter input and connected a sucker pump to it. After a couple of pulls the pipe filled up with fuel and I then reconnected it to the filter.
Then, as recommended, I turned the key and after a few spluttering rotations the engine sprang to life. I ran it for nearly an hour without any problem - including some high revs.
Am I right in assuming that the problem is now fixed or should I still try to further bleed the system?
Click to expand...

If it ran without spluttering after a couple of minutes, that sounds fine to me.

Nice idea with the sucker pump, would have saved a bit of spluttering.
 
omega2 said:
I bow to your superior knowledge, but you would not get away with that on our prehistoric Fords.
Click to expand...

I here what you're saying with the old Fords. Many of the old diesels can be a pain to bleed, changing diesel filters was never a job to look forward to. With some stubborn bleeders (pardon the pun) we used to put an in line electric pump in, as a temporary measure to get the blighters going.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top