Volvo 2003 fuel filter change

[Gwylan]

Anyone suggest how easy it is to do this?

Volvo 2003 on Westerly with quite good access. Want to change the fuel filter on the engine. The separator is clear and never shown water or crud.
Getting rid of airlock etc.....

I can change the oil and the impeller but " terrified" of messing with the fuel side. Mostly on the not broke why fiddle principle.

 

[Pete7]

Straight forward enough, just be aware that if your fuel tank is full it might continue to drip fuel when you take the old filter off. Disposable nappies are worth thinking about rather than a bilge full of diesel. Make sure the old filter flat rubber seal comes away with the old filter. Pre-fill the new filter with clean fuel before fitting helps with the bleeding which requires undoing the bolt on top of the filter housing and then tickling the fuel pump lever underneath the pump until you get fuel out.

Water pump impeller is straight forward with long nose pliers or two screwdrivers and a new paper gasket. Turn the seacock off before starting this and back on before you go to start it.

The anode also needs a check, we manage two years but worth doing. Located underneath the alternator. It will pour water everywhere and despite trying an assortment of bowls and funnels I have never really cracked this problem.

Do check the water alternator belt and replace if in doubt.

Gearbox should also be changed with engine oil.

Spray contacts on electrical box on top of the engine and check battery leads are in good condition and not touching the engine.

Pete

 

[pvb]

Be careful not to over-tighten the bleed bolt on the top of the filter housing. The housing is made of light alloy and it's possible to strip the threads, which then means fitting a new filter housing (don't ask how I know this!).

 

[kacecar]

Changing the filter will be quite straightforward I suspect.

I'll assume your VP2003 is the same as mine, with the engine fuel filter on the front of the engine, mounted vertically below a casting attached to the cylinder head and to which the various fuel lines are connected. (On my boat there's another filter between the separator and the engine filter - I presume you are asking about the engine filter.)

To change the filter one starts by simply unscrewing the old one. The filter is the "female" component, the male thread is part of (or fixed to) the casting you are unscrewing the filter from. The filter might take a bit of shifting initially - a filter wrench of some sort helps. Some fuel will come out as you remove the filter from its mounting. (I surround the filter with a plastic bag as soon as I've it to move a bit - then, as I screw it off any fuel that comes out goes into the bag rather than the bilge.) Remove the filter itself and the rubber square-sectioned sealing ring that sits between the filter and the casting.

The new filter will come with a new sealing ring. Press the new ring into the groove in the casting - this is usually easy to do. Then screw the new filter on, making sure that you don't cross the thread and that the rubber sealing ring is in the right place (it's possible to trap it and damage it if it comes out of its groove as you tighten up the new filter). You only need to do the new filter up hand tight - enough to ensure the sealing ring is under pressure (so sealing the joint) plus a little bit more for security. Do not put any sort of extra sealant in the joint - it is not necessary and, in extremis, could cause problems.

I believe the VP2003 self-bleeds so this next step, priming the system, might not be essential but I normally do it because a) I always have and b) I'm under the impression it saves a bit of cranking time. So, find the priming lever on the lift pump. The lift pump is also on the front of the engine, at bit lower than the filter and over to the right (looking from the front). Several different types of pump can be found on the VP2003 but they each have a sprung-loaded priming lever somewhere. You press this a few times to pump fresh fuel into the new filter. (Note: as you press the leaver you will probably feel two different levels of resistance. The first part of the stroke is easy and the last is harder - the harder bit is when you are shifting fuel instead of air. Sometimes that part of the stroke is very short - the last five or ten percent of the stroke. Don't worry - it's working.) Give it, say, ten pumps. No damage can be done by pumping either too much or too little.

Now start the engine the normal way. If there's any air left in the system the engine might not start straightaway but it should start pretty quickly. If your VP2003 self-bleeds as mine does then that should be job done. However, in the unlikely event that the engine doesn't start, or if it doesn't run well (and assuming it was running fine before you began this job) then you've only messed around with one joint so that will be the one giving trouble. Loosen the filter, check the rubber seal, and refit it all before trying the engine again. If it's still running rough you can try loosening the bleed screw at the top of the casting and give the pump a few more strokes to make sure there's just fuel and no air coming out, then retighten it (gently - its a small aluminium thread) and have another go at starting.

I hope that helps. Please excuse me if I've over explained - I used to attempt writing IT manuals and was taught to assume the reader had zero, or very little, knowledge of the subject.

 

[Gwylan]

Thanks to everyone for that. I am encouraged to give this a try. Have a higher expectation of what is what and the chances of me being successful.

This is what I've come to love about this place.

 

[Gwylan]

Thank you. Clear and at my level, if I stretch a bit.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Changing the filter will be quite straightforward I suspect. I'll assume your VP2003 is the same as mine, with the engine fuel filter on the front of the engine, mounted vertically below a casting attached to the cylinder head and to which the various fuel lines are connected. (On my boat there's another filter between the separator and the engine filter - I presume you are asking about the engine filter.) To change the filter one starts by simply unscrewing the old one. The filter is the "female" component, the male thread is part of (or fixed to) the casting you are unscrewing the filter from. The filter might take a bit of shifting initially - a filter wrench of some sort helps. Some fuel will come out as you remove the filter from its mounting. (I surround the filter with a plastic bag as soon as I've it to move a bit - then, as I screw it off any fuel that comes out goes into the bag rather than the bilge.) Remove the filter itself and the rubber square-sectioned sealing ring that sits between the filter and the casting. The new filter will come with a new sealing ring. Press the new ring into the groove in the casting - this is usually easy to do. Then screw the new filter on, making sure that you don't cross the thread and that the rubber sealing ring is in the right place (it's possible to trap it and damage it if it comes out of its groove as you tighten up the new filter). You only need to do the new filter up hand tight - enough to ensure the sealing ring is under pressure (so sealing the joint) plus a little bit more for security. Do not put any sort of extra sealant in the joint - it is not necessary and, in extremis, could cause problems. I believe the VP2003 self-bleeds so this next step, priming the system, might not be essential but I normally do it because a) I always have and b) I'm under the impression it saves a bit of cranking time. So, find the priming lever on the lift pump. The lift pump is also on the front of the engine, at bit lower than the filter and over to the right (looking from the front). Several different types of pump can be found on the VP2003 but they each have a sprung-loaded priming lever somewhere. You press this a few times to pump fresh fuel into the new filter. (Note: as you press the leaver you will probably feel two different levels of resistance. The first part of the stroke is easy and the last is harder - the harder bit is when you are shifting fuel instead of air. Sometimes that part of the stroke is very short - the last five or ten percent of the stroke. Don't worry - it's working.) Give it, say, ten pumps. No damage can be done by pumping either too much or too little. Now start the engine the normal way. If there's any air left in the system the engine might not start straightaway but it should start pretty quickly. If your VP2003 self-bleeds as mine does then that should be job done. However, in the unlikely event that the engine doesn't start, or if it doesn't run well (and assuming it was running fine before you began this job) then you've only messed around with one joint so that will be the one giving trouble. Loosen the filter, check the rubber seal, and refit it all before trying the engine again. If it's still running rough you can try loosening the bleed screw at the top of the casting and give the pump a few more strokes to make sure there's just fuel and no air coming out, then retighten it (gently - its a small aluminium thread) and have another go at starting. I hope that helps. Please excuse me if I've over explained - I used to attempt writing IT manuals and was taught to assume the reader had zero, or very little, knowledge of the subject.

All excellent advice; just one tiny quibble - the 2003 is not entirely self-bleeding; you need to bleed it to the filter itself. There is a bleed screw on top of the filter housing, and you need to loosen it and manually operate the fuel pump (there's a trigger shaped lever on it) until fuel comes out of it. It is worth rotating the flywheel to ensure you've got the maximum travel on the fuel pump lever; if you haven't it will take even longer to pump fuel through! The process is described in both the User's Manual and the Workshop Manual. This can take a while if the fuel line has drained! It is self-bleeding from that point on; there's no need to bleed it to the injectors.

 

[Sandy]

The VP 2000 range of engines are well thought out making doing stuff like changing oil and fuel filters easy. If only whoever put my VP2002 engine in had also brought the primary fuel filter to the front of the engine bay rather than tucked away under my bunk! That is now sorted.

 

[Gwylan]

Thanks to everyone for that. I am encouraged to give this a try. Have a higher expectation of what is what and the chances of me being successful.

This is what I've come to love about this place.

Thanks for all the advice.

Managed the job and everything is working well.

Now the supplementary question. The engine has more than 3500 hours since 1986.
Yes, it smokes a bit. Does not use vast amounts of oil. How much should I worry or be prepared to spend to get another 5 year out of it?

 

[RichardS]

Thanks for all the advice.

Managed the job and everything is working well.

Now the supplementary question. The engine has more than 3500 hours since 1986.
Yes, it smokes a bit. Does not use vast amounts of oil. How much should I worry or be prepared to spend to get another 5 year out of it?

If it's running well and not terminally corroded, then don't worry at all. 3500 hours is barely run in.

Richard

 

[pvb]

Now the supplementary question. The engine has more than 3500 hours since 1986.
Yes, it smokes a bit. Does not use vast amounts of oil. How much should I worry or be prepared to spend to get another 5 year out of it?

They tend to be smoky engines. As long as it isn't burning oil, don't worry.

 

[Stemar]

It doesn't have heater plugs, so is bound to smoke when cold - that's nothing to worry about.

I have one in my little Snapdragon and it doesn't get worked hard enough, so it starts smoking after a while. I then give it an Italian tuneup - full throttle for ten minutes. She bashes along at a full knot over hull speed, laying a wake and a smoke screen worthy of a destroyer on the Murmansk run, but the smoke soon clears and everything's fine again. Definitely worth a try.

 

[ditchcrawler]

When I do mine i leave the fuel on, unscrew the filter with an ice cream container underneath the filter to catch the fuel, then hold the new filter under the diesel stream until the new filter is full and then screw it on. This saves any pumping with the fuel pump and my engine then starts first time without bleeding. The engineer at French Marine told me this and it works for me.
i also have some kitchen towel handy to wipe the new filter.

 

[pvb]

When I do mine i leave the fuel on, unscrew the filter with an ice cream container underneath the filter to catch the fuel, then hold the new filter under the diesel stream until the new filter is full and then screw it on. This saves any pumping with the fuel pump and my engine then starts first time without bleeding. The engineer at French Marine told me this and it works for me.
i also have some kitchen towel handy to wipe the new filter.

That only works if the level in the fuel tank is higher than the filter.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

That only works if the level in the fuel tank is higher than the filter.

And the run of the fuel pipe isn't higher than the fuel level. It won't work for tanks with dip tubes, and my water separator filter is above the top of the tank, so I have to pump madly to get fuel back to the engine filter :-(

 

[Gwylan]

But if The end of the low pressure return is below the level in the tank you do get asyphon effect -I have learned.

The Italian tune up is worth a try.

What about diesel additives?