Fuel filters

[Rawze]

(02-28-2018 )Chamberpains Wrote:  So Rawze saying he had a 10 Micron filter and his tanks being squeaky clean made me look a little deeper in to going with a smaller micron filter in my Davco. I've always noticed the black line in the bottom of my tank. Which I've recently learned is probably Asphaltene and I want that crap out of my tank. So I'm thinking a smaller filter will catch this stuff. I have a 06 International with a CM870 with the 382 Davco. It's recommended that I go with a 50 micron filter. I was up front afraid to jump the filter to 10 microns for fear of the pumps not being able to pull the fuel thru the filter properly.

Rawze's truck I believe is a 2010 cm870 and should've came factory with the 10 micron fleetguard filter in it. Or at least that's what the fleetguard/davco filter sheet says. So of course he used it since day one.

Well, I finally said screw it, and threw a 10 micron filter in. The 1st thing I noticed is the Davco filled up almost all the way to the top. Which is what I feared. The fuel wasn't pulling thru the filter fast enough and the engine was stuttering. I left it sit for a moment and fired it off again. Same thing with the fuel level but the stuttering was going away. So I ran it awhile and the level didn't change but the engine began running fine. So I figure the filter needed to saturate fully to pull fuel thru it but it's too full to last very long before it's plugged and restricted again. So I cracked the cap on top of the Davco and bled some of the fuel back to the tanks to lower the fuel in it. It worked and stayed there. I'm now currently monitoring the fuel level and how fast this filter plugs, but after 2 days everything seems fine.
I'll post more if this changes and what the results are, of my black line in the bottom of the tank. If it went away or not.

Most situations when switching to a lower micron filter would dictate that they would clog up fast. This is because it is now filtering all the junk that has built up over the years in the tanks. It may take a few filter changes to get it all out and cleaned up.

In my own truck, when I install a new filter and run the truck for a bit, it usually sits about 1/3 up on the element with the engine off. The fuel level when engine is switched off slowly climbs and gets to the black line (where I then replace it) after about 15,000 - 18,000 miles typically. Sometimes it will not last for s$it and get clogged up in only about 8,000 miles. It always happens when we get some sh^it fuel somewhere with high bio-diesel content. We keep a spare on the truck just in case. It seems in the summer time it clogs up less. Sometimes it goes 25,000+ miles before it gets to the top in the summer depending on where we fuel.

I have also run 7 micron filters sometimes too. They do clog up faster and last about 10-12k miles instead of 15-18k miles.

We also regularly open the water drain valve (about every 3 or 4 fuel stops) at the bottom of the davco and bleed out any water and gunk until nice clean fuel comes out of it. I think too many people forget this valve is there and what it is for.


- Filters are cheap compared to the other problems crappy fuel cause. Most people that use 10-micron filters that I have met are glad they use them.