Clogged Fuel Filter and no replacement - any tricks for the case of cases?
- Thread starter DangerousPirate
- Start date
vyv_cox
Well-known member
I was on a delivery trip on a friend's recently purchased boat. We arrived at Portpatrick on a Saturday night after a rough passage south. As we entered the harbour the engine stopped. It became clear that the filter was clogged with sludge. (Bug was unknown to us in those far-past days) There was a spare on board that I fitted but this clogged almost instantly. My friend tried to buy another in town with no success.
Ultimately I cut the top off the filter, removed the media and replaced it with similarly folded paper towel from a nearby public toilet. It worked fine and we were able to continue our voyage to Menai. The engine appeared undamaged and was still in service many years later.
Ultimately I cut the top off the filter, removed the media and replaced it with similarly folded paper towel from a nearby public toilet. It worked fine and we were able to continue our voyage to Menai. The engine appeared undamaged and was still in service many years later.
DangerousPirate
Active member
So it DOES work as a temporary solution! Of course it's not ideal or for anything longer than really necessary. Not saying that at all, but I am pretty sure this would work well enough to bring you to the next chandlery.
vyv_cox
Well-known member
I cannot answer the microns question but I guess there is not a huge difference between the correct media and a paper towel. From memory we sailed across to the Irish coast in quite testing conditions, especially overfalls off Belfast Lough, but motored much of the way back across to Anglesey.
Stemar
Well-known member
Not the same, but when the air filter on my VP2003 disintegrated, I made a new one from a tupperware bowl with suitable holes cut into it and a few of these
Green to the outside as a coarse filter, yellow to the inside as a fine filter. It looked the biz and worked fine - probably better than the original, especially once the original started feeding bit of rust to the engine
Green to the outside as a coarse filter, yellow to the inside as a fine filter. It looked the biz and worked fine - probably better than the original, especially once the original started feeding bit of rust to the engine
DangerousPirate
Active member
Am I the only one who wants to see a picture of the actual thing? haha.Not the same, but when the air filter on my VP2003 disintegrated, I made a new one from a tupperware bowl with suitable holes cut into it and a few of these
Green to the outside as a coarse filter, yellow to the inside as a fine filter. It looked the biz and worked fine - probably better than the original, especially once the original started feeding bit of rust to the engine
I mean, when in a pinch, you could do loads of things to filter diesel. Sponges would have been the last thing I'd think of though.
LittleSister
Well-known member
That’s an appealing system to avoid grief and hassle at the moment the filter blocks, but it doesn’t address the OP’s conundrum of what to do when you’ve blocked both your original and your spare filter. (In effect it just means for his scenario the spare, now also blocked, was already fitted).
That be proper ‘practical boat owner’ stuff! Respect.
LittleSister
Well-known member
Can you actually rip the old paper from the filter casing and replace it with a cut up tshirt or some socks just to make it back to the port? Is that a valid trick? How many microns is that roughly?
I don’t know how many microns, but it would, I’m sure, keep the the bulk of diesel bug gloop and general ‘bottom of the tank’ debris out of the secondary filter, which will deal with the stuff measured in microns.
As it will probably be letting through some stuff that would previously have been caught by the primary filter it will reduce the amounts of time before that clogs. ( You do carry spare secondary filters, too?
)If push comes to shove one could manage without any primary filter at all.
I recall reading or hearing a tale from an air hostess of on finding they had run out of coffee filters on a long flight she managed by using the cup of one of her bras she had in her own luggage!
So if you have female crew you have there yet another option!
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Stemar
Well-known member
Sorry, I've sold that boat now, so you'll have to use your imagination, but the container was black and vaguely conical air filter shaped, so it didn't look outrageous. The sponges worked as air filters because they're open cell foam and let the air through no problem, but I wouldn't use them for diesel, as I could well imagine them disintegrating and causing a total nightmare of blocked pumps and injectors.
DangerousPirate
Active member
Sounds not very hygienic :S
Could always use papertowels or a fine mesh :S Must have been different times haha
Does anyone know more about the "decontaminator"?
Buck Turgidson
Well-known member
Back in the 80's a mate and I hired a truck to move our stuff from St Mawgan to Kinloss on posting. About half way there the engine stopped and we found the filter completely blocked with sludge. We were on a tight schedule and didn't have a spare but we did have a load of petrol in a bike tank we were hauling. We flushed the filter and refitted it dozens of times.
We could get about 15 minutes per flush initially but then we realised the sludge was stringy. A wire coat hanger was adapted and we pulled a slowly degrading rag from the tank.
Next service station we found we bought a couple of big jerry cans and a gallon of petrol and syphoned the tank then flushed it with petrol by jumping the electric pump.
Eventually it looked clear so we put a splash of diesel back in and drove to the pump and filled up.
Ran like a dream all the way north.
We could get about 15 minutes per flush initially but then we realised the sludge was stringy. A wire coat hanger was adapted and we pulled a slowly degrading rag from the tank.
Next service station we found we bought a couple of big jerry cans and a gallon of petrol and syphoned the tank then flushed it with petrol by jumping the electric pump.
Eventually it looked clear so we put a splash of diesel back in and drove to the pump and filled up.
Ran like a dream all the way north.
Laminar Flow
Well-known member
I too have washed fuel filters in petrol, mid Pacific, after getting a dodgy batch of diesel in Central America. I removed the sealing ring and let the Petrol evaporate before reinstalling, leapfrogging with my spare. Worked fine.
DangerousPirate
Active member
Maybe that's a viable solution to keep in the back of the head, for when all else fails.