Dirty Fuel Filter

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David of Essex

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Just changed my primary fuel filter fitted on Volvo D4 for annual service and the filter is quite black in colour and the fuel in the bowl was dark as well. The engine has been running well and not showing any signs of fuel blockage.
Is this the Diesel fuel bug or dirty fuel and any advise as to what to do would be a great help.

David
 
Do not know from personal experience, but is does sound like the 'diesel bug' that makes your fuel look dark and blackens the filter. Lots of different cures but like I say I have no personal experience so cannot/would not make any suggestions, but worry not, there will be someone along soon with all the knowledge you need.

Mal
 
Sounds like the bug. Replace the filters and keep new ones on board. Dose with Startron, as I dont believe you can get Soltron these days. Best results are when useing loads of fuel, adding Soltron each time you refill. The Startron hopefully is the same.
 
I had the bug on my old Princess 33 about 20 years ago. Ended up changing the whole system - new tank/pipes/filters.

Seems a lot easier/cheaper to deal with these days with Soltron/Startron and fill up with fresh diesel.
 
After reading about the bug I have treated my tank every winter and have used Grotamar, Star Brite and Marine 16 at different times.

All found to be effective and never a sign of the bug.

PBO (April 2007) did a set of tests and strangely Soltron did not come out perticularly well.

Tom
 
David of Essex said:
Just changed my primary fuel filter fitted on Volvo D4 for annual service and the filter is quite black in colour and the fuel in the bowl was dark as well. The engine has been running well and not showing any signs of fuel blockage.
Is this the Diesel fuel bug or dirty fuel and any advise as to what to do would be a great help.

David
Click to expand...

Did it look like this?

IMGP0892.jpg


IMGP0893.jpg




DSC06539.jpg





Is then you got the bug! In this case the fuel was "polished" and cost around £1k.
 
Solitaire thankfully no, the filter was blackish and the fuel dark. Thanks for all replys. Do I treat or do I need to have the tank cleaned. Have downloaded a report from PBO of 2007 will have good read. Thanks again.
David
 
David of Essex said:
Do I treat or do I need to have the tank cleaned.
Click to expand...

Question! How often do you use your boat? Much of the problems of fuel bug are very often not detected as boats don't get used that much and the fuel does not circulate through the system and hence through the filters as much as when we for example do a long delivery trip. In the case shown, the boat had sat around for some time and to be honest unless we had done a long trip the problem may have taken a long time to surface, if at all. Boats are used for a couple of hours, the total fuel volume may not even go through the filtration system at all and then is left to settle. Run the boat again and all is fine.

Have you checked the secondary filter on the engine - is that looking clean?

Before rushing off and having the tank cleaned etc, put a treatment in and use the boat! Have spare filters on board and while you may have to change them a few times you should be OK. How old is the boat?
 
The fuel in the main filter was nice and clean, changed anyway. The boat has not been used for 2 months and I just serviced her when the problem was shown.
 
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I suspect that a number of actions are possible. One thing I have personally found useful is to open a way into the tank (either inspection plate ot where the fuel gauge fits) and with a bit of platics tube and a hand suction pump 'hoover' around the bottom of the tank and dispense the fuel into one (or more) of those 5Litre clear mineral water bottles from Tesco etc. That way you get to remove some of what is there and also to see what it is. You may find that you can remove a lot of muck this way. Even if you add some fuel treatment you havent actually got rid of any contaminants.
Depending on the state of the fuel that you extract, you might be able to filter it and return it to the tank.
If you can indeed get into the tank I would recommend this as a first pass .. not necessarily a definite cure, but at the very least understanding what you have to deal with.
 
markdj said:
If the filter is just black then it could just be dirt getting filtered as when you have the bug you know all about it and there will usually be a lot of water in the filter too.

SOLTRON is most definitely available as we just got a box of it for our customers.

www.soltron.co.uk

If you can't get it direct, give us a call.


Mark
www.boatdoctorni.com
Click to expand...

Mark did they have any problems getting it to you? only I believe they wont allow it on planes. I could do with some here in Spain
 
Oh damn just as I thought quote, from their website below re Soltron

_______________________________________________________________________

Due to COSHH regulations, we are only able to ship this item to the UK mainland by carrier at a cost of £8.95 per order.
 
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