I have a pair of 1987 yamaha 150 2-strokes. Currently uses the big yamaha water seperators. I would like to switch to the racors with a clear bowl. Does anyone know which racors will fit the exsisting yamaha fuel filter mounts?
replacing yamaha fuel filters with racor/clear bowl?
- Thread starter lime4x4
- Start date
I have the room. I'm a little confused. Most places have them from 40 to 50 bucks. On amazon they have them for 17 bucks. If i order the b32013 does that include the clear bowl? they show pics of the filter with bowl
Are you running E10 fuel or Ethanol free? I'm thinking those drain-able filters are obsolete when E10 fuel is used exclusively.
lime4x4 said:
Yes, for $42 it includes the bowl....if you dont quite need it yet, ie you are in winter storage, Defender has a 10% off warehouse sale sometime in March/April
My understanding is that ethanol is essentially dry gas and E10 fuel can absorb about 0.5% water by volume:
http://www.cim-tek.com/pdfs/Treatise_on ... ration.pdf
For a 100 gallons of fuel, that's a 1/2 gallon of water. Thus small amounts of water will be absorbed by the fuel and safely passed through the motor being converted to steam. It will not show up in the filter. More than a gallon of water will result in phase separation and all the ethanol-water mix will separate from the gasoline and sit on the bottom of the tank. For this example, that would be ~10 gallons of the ethanol-water mix and the filter won't help with that either.
I have always run plastic-bowl Racor in my boats and noticed that as soon as I started using E10 fuel, I stopped getting water in the bowls.
http://www.cim-tek.com/pdfs/Treatise_on ... ration.pdf
For a 100 gallons of fuel, that's a 1/2 gallon of water. Thus small amounts of water will be absorbed by the fuel and safely passed through the motor being converted to steam. It will not show up in the filter. More than a gallon of water will result in phase separation and all the ethanol-water mix will separate from the gasoline and sit on the bottom of the tank. For this example, that would be ~10 gallons of the ethanol-water mix and the filter won't help with that either.
I have always run plastic-bowl Racor in my boats and noticed that as soon as I started using E10 fuel, I stopped getting water in the bowls.
The problem with phase separation is that ethanol is added to gas to improve the octane. It replaces the MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl something something). In other words, without the E, you'd have low octane fuel. So you end up either sucking extra water into the filter (since the fuel pickup is near the bottom of the tank and clogging it early) or you are running lower octane fuel into the engine. The use of something like Startron, though, will prevent phase separation or allow whatever water is in there (breaks it down) to pass through the filter and allow it to be burned without harm. At the same time, the octane is preserved.
I would recommend you keep using the Yamaha filters and run ethanol free high octane fuel. I don't like the racor filters as I use them on my other boat. I have had leakage problems with them around the bowl seal and the drain. Pure gas runs so much better in both of my boats and no moisture problems.
My theory is that if you are stuck with E10 fuel only, Racors aren't buying you anything. You will never see any water in the bowl. In fact, if you were to add a couple of tablespoons of water to the bowl in the morning before a long trip, and checked at the end of the day, the water would be gone. The ethanol will absorb it and it will be safely converted to steam during the combustion process.
The problem with E10, of course is phase separation which occurs when you get too much water in the tank. The filter isn't going to help there either as you will have multiple gallons of separated ethanol-water mix that you will need to pump out somehow. I had this happen with my Grady when it shipped up from NC with a 4-year-old straight gas and water mix in the main tank. When I drained it all out, I missed a little bit of the water somehow and my E-tecs threw a "water in gas" fault on my first test outing. I had only put 25 gallons of gas in the main tank so I pumped out a couple of gallons of the ethanol-water bottom layer and then added 25 gallons of 93 octane fuel (with 5-gallon cans) to boost the octane of the low-octane gas layer that remained and then drove to the fuel dock and added another 25 gallons of 89 octane fuel and had no further problems.
If I was running straight gas or a mix of straight gas and E10, I would install Racors with bowls. For pure E10, I'm sticking with my stock Evinrude filters by the tank (in addition to the small canister filters in the E-tecs). In addition to saving money, the stock filters are a lot easier to change.
The problem with E10, of course is phase separation which occurs when you get too much water in the tank. The filter isn't going to help there either as you will have multiple gallons of separated ethanol-water mix that you will need to pump out somehow. I had this happen with my Grady when it shipped up from NC with a 4-year-old straight gas and water mix in the main tank. When I drained it all out, I missed a little bit of the water somehow and my E-tecs threw a "water in gas" fault on my first test outing. I had only put 25 gallons of gas in the main tank so I pumped out a couple of gallons of the ethanol-water bottom layer and then added 25 gallons of 93 octane fuel (with 5-gallon cans) to boost the octane of the low-octane gas layer that remained and then drove to the fuel dock and added another 25 gallons of 89 octane fuel and had no further problems.
If I was running straight gas or a mix of straight gas and E10, I would install Racors with bowls. For pure E10, I'm sticking with my stock Evinrude filters by the tank (in addition to the small canister filters in the E-tecs). In addition to saving money, the stock filters are a lot easier to change.
onoahimahi said:
E10 can absorb about 1/2% water by volume/ For 100 gallons, that equates to about 2 quarts
onoahimahi
I still think you're correct in that even 2 quarts of water in 100 gal will overwhelm a Racor (or any filter for that matter). I switched to the large Yam 10 micron filter since it has somewhat more holding capacity than the Racors. Both filters are good but perhaps the larger filter will last longer. I put about 100 hrs a season on my engines and change hem every Spring after I run them for a while to capture any sediment that may have settled out over the winter. Even very small particles will settle when the tank is siting for 5 months over the winter.
I still think you're correct in that even 2 quarts of water in 100 gal will overwhelm a Racor (or any filter for that matter). I switched to the large Yam 10 micron filter since it has somewhat more holding capacity than the Racors. Both filters are good but perhaps the larger filter will last longer. I put about 100 hrs a season on my engines and change hem every Spring after I run them for a while to capture any sediment that may have settled out over the winter. Even very small particles will settle when the tank is siting for 5 months over the winter.
i like the Racor clear bowl idea as you can visually see if there's water and you can drain it too with out having to spin off the filter.
a charter operator i know has been having issues with water in his fuel and the clear bowl and drain have served him well.
i recently switched and other than the location of the filters and that they now sit even lower and are a PITA to drain, i like having the ability to see at a glance. i may move the filter location in the future.
I replaced the corroded alum heads with stainless Yamaha heads (nice, heavy and a bit expensive at about $60ea) and went with Sierra brand bowl and filters. The Sierra bowl is near exact as Racor/Parker and the filters can be interchanged with Racor/Parker filters, but why pay $$ more for Parker filters n bowl when the Sierras are much cheaper and do the job? I keep a couple spare filters onboard. I do need to add for this season a filter wrench/strap and a dedicated drain bowl/vessel with handle/loop to catch whats drained off. if i can find one with a screw lid even better! so far the Sierra stuff has worked well and i can recommend it.
a charter operator i know has been having issues with water in his fuel and the clear bowl and drain have served him well.
i recently switched and other than the location of the filters and that they now sit even lower and are a PITA to drain, i like having the ability to see at a glance. i may move the filter location in the future.
I replaced the corroded alum heads with stainless Yamaha heads (nice, heavy and a bit expensive at about $60ea) and went with Sierra brand bowl and filters. The Sierra bowl is near exact as Racor/Parker and the filters can be interchanged with Racor/Parker filters, but why pay $$ more for Parker filters n bowl when the Sierras are much cheaper and do the job? I keep a couple spare filters onboard. I do need to add for this season a filter wrench/strap and a dedicated drain bowl/vessel with handle/loop to catch whats drained off. if i can find one with a screw lid even better! so far the Sierra stuff has worked well and i can recommend it.
I have a 265 Express with twin F225s, CT is an E10 state but the changed occurred before I owned the boat. I run with both the racors with the bowl and the spin ons.
What I like about the bowls is I can drain a little gas when ever I want, just to take a peek, not so much a water concern anymore but to see if there is any other matter in the fuel, etc. I keep a spare pair of the spin on/off Yamaha filters on the boat just in case I need a quick fix (offshore) because they are easier to put on and off.
I see no difference in performance and change the filters frequently.
EPPE
What I like about the bowls is I can drain a little gas when ever I want, just to take a peek, not so much a water concern anymore but to see if there is any other matter in the fuel, etc. I keep a spare pair of the spin on/off Yamaha filters on the boat just in case I need a quick fix (offshore) because they are easier to put on and off.
I see no difference in performance and change the filters frequently.
EPPE
Doc Stressor
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The problem is that once that 100 gallons of E10 absorbs just over 2 quarts of water, you end up with 8+ gallons of phase separated water/ethanol and 83 octane gasoline. After that occurs, no filter of any kind will help very much. When the filter element becomes saturated, it will pass the water/ethanol phase into your engine, saturated the internal filters, cause you to run rough and eventually stall.
The clear bowl racors are useful if you are running straight gas. They let you see if you have some water in your fuel before the situation gets too bad. With E10, if you see water in the bowl, it's already too bad.
Yamaha went with a larger filter to increase filtration capacity. This was in response to E10 releasing varnish particles from the tank and fuel line surfaces. But after running E10 for a while, this problem mostly goes away.
The clear bowl racors are useful if you are running straight gas. They let you see if you have some water in your fuel before the situation gets too bad. With E10, if you see water in the bowl, it's already too bad.
Yamaha went with a larger filter to increase filtration capacity. This was in response to E10 releasing varnish particles from the tank and fuel line surfaces. But after running E10 for a while, this problem mostly goes away.
Interesting thread here where E10 fuel was causing the plastic bowls to warp and leak or even fall off
http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/020618.html
JimH at the E-tec site said:
"There are several first-hand reports of problems with RACOR fuel filters with clear plastic bowls having leaks given in that thread. There is also a report from a conversation with RACOR technical services which acknowledges the problem and gives very useful information about a change in the material used for the plastic bowl, as well as how to identify the newer bowls from their markings. The clear plastic bowl material was apparently changed in c.2011. If you have a RACOR fuel filter with a clear plastic inspection bowl at the bottom and it was installed prior to c.2011, you might consider being at a bit of risk for a leak if using ethanol-gasoline blended fuels."
http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/020618.html
JimH at the E-tec site said:
"There are several first-hand reports of problems with RACOR fuel filters with clear plastic bowls having leaks given in that thread. There is also a report from a conversation with RACOR technical services which acknowledges the problem and gives very useful information about a change in the material used for the plastic bowl, as well as how to identify the newer bowls from their markings. The clear plastic bowl material was apparently changed in c.2011. If you have a RACOR fuel filter with a clear plastic inspection bowl at the bottom and it was installed prior to c.2011, you might consider being at a bit of risk for a leak if using ethanol-gasoline blended fuels."
Try this link for locating Ethanol-free fuel -- Hope it helps.
http://pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=PA
http://pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=PA