Fuel Filter bowls

Wandering Sagebrush

Wandering Sagebrush

Free Range Human
Does anyone know an inexpensive source for the plastic bowels that attach to the Racor fuel filters? My worry box started filling up with concerns about breaking one, and now I am feeling the need to get a spare (I have plenty of the elements).

The element is only about $22 with a Honda name on it, but the element and bowel are over $60. That's a pretty expensive piece of plastic. I should probably head down to a NAPA and see what they can come up with, but thought one of the Brats would have a great idea.

Regards,

Steve
 
Steve,

If you want to cover all your bases with spares, and it's a great idea, the complete filter looks like a bargain at $39. See the site Spencer posted. Then you've got a spare for every component! Just my $0.02 worth.
 
I've been relocating my Honda (Racor) fuel filter to the motor well - some DA had installed it directly above the stbd battery under deck. I figured I'd go ahead and change the filter while I was at it - easy looking right ? After a couple of hours wrestling the thing around my shop trying to get the filter separated from the PLASTIC (under the deck ??) bowl I went to the destruction method and found the the plastic bowl COULD NOT be separated from the plastic threads on the filter. I suspect that the culprit may be the ethanol in the fuel. I'm going to replace my plastic bowl with the metal bowl - but if that was what caused the problem - what about the plastic in the filter can ?

I note from looking at some older threads that others have experienced problems removing their bowls - anyone else the COULD NOT remove it ?
 
The metal bowls are required for inboards only [for fire reasons], With opaque metal, you lose the ability to see the water collect if there is any . The plastic is the way to go and visible is good .Get a strap wrench and take the bowl off or loosen once in a while . They do seem to "self tighten".
You cant blame ethanol for everything! Remember,as a food group ,it can be your friend too .It can make people around you more interesting and your children more well behaved.
Marc
 
I'll drink to that Marc - just don't make me use it as a fuel. This filter/separator weren't tight, strap wrenches and a vise wouldn't budge it. When I did the destruction inspection the black plastic (ABS probably) was bonded to the clear bowl ( Styrene or K-resin probably). Not just stuck. The other alternative was that the fool the previous owner had change the filters used MEK ( whick would melt ABS & styrene, can't remember about K-Resin) to make it seal - with the gasket Recor used for sealing it SHOULD not have been a problem.
 
My boat came factory rigged with the all metal filter mounted in the splash well and it's hard to get apart also. It doesn't have a drain either. I want to replace mine with the plastic bowl for the reasons Marc points out.
 
Id still go plastic and a little silicone grease for O ring area on the new one and you should be fine. Cant explain the major melding of parts but maybe no one ever messed with it till now.
Marc
 
The plastic bowl used to stick onto the threads of the fuel filter element on Levity also. My guess was that the oil used as a lubricant on the plastic threads was somehow bonding the plastic threads of the bowl to the plastic threads of the element. Isn't plastic a petroleum product? Due to poor knowledge of chemistry my petroleum bonding theory may be nonsense, however, since using graphite as a lubricant the bowl and element are easily separated.
Regards,
Mike "Levity"
 
Does it have a bowl O-ring? Racor changed to a flurocarbon O ring for the bowl recently b/c of changes in additivies and ethanol. The new one is green and previous one is black

on edit
Part numbers using the new O ring
S3213
S3214
S3227
S3228 series
S3232
B32013
B32014
320R-RAC-01
490R-RAC-01
660R-RAC-01
 
They are a bear to get off. I could not do it after my first season but figured out a method that works every time.

I remove the filter and bowl from the metal housing (on my transom) using a regular filter wrench. I then place the metal bowl in a vice to hold it snug and use giant pipe wrench pliers to remove the actual filter element. (The handles on my pliers are about a foot long offering some crazy leverage). The pliers easily grab the entire filter element and you can twist it right off. The pliers look like this: http://www.acehardware.com/product/inde ... 5667203404


I use a good dose of motor oil around the gasket when I put the new filters on (just as you do with a regular car oil filter).

--Matt
 
I finally put mine in a pipe vise, then with a strap wrench on it, the inside plastic on the element was turning along with the bowl. So I cut it up and found that the pieces (sections) of the bowl were still bonded to the sections of the element.

When I was looking for the replacement bowl I found the following note on Torresen Marine site for the plastic bowl -
"The plastic bowl for this, and all primary fuel filter applications, is no longer U.S. Coast Guard approved. The USCG is now approving the Racor metal bowls only. The replacement for this plastic series is part number RK10109."

For metal bowl they say -
"THIS METAL BOWL IS THE U.S. COAST GUARD APPROVED APPLICATION. PLASTIC BOWLS ARE NO LONGER APPROVED."

I know I'm going to the metal bowl, I figure I can do like an aircraft and sample for water in the bowl.
 
Wandering Sagebrush":19jwefa6 said:
Does anyone know an inexpensive source for the plastic bowels that attach to the Racor fuel filters? My worry box started filling up with concerns about breaking one, and now I am feeling the need to get a spare (I have plenty of the elements).

The element is only about $22 with a Honda name on it, but the element and bowel are over $60. That's a pretty expensive piece of plastic. I should probably head down to a NAPA and see what they can come up with, but thought one of the Brats would have a great idea.

Regards,

Steve
Click to expand...


I wouldn’t worry too much; those bowels are most likely made out of some space age material that only bends when impacted with a sledge hammer.
I worry more that the filter will clog up or have some defect, for that reason I keep a couple extra filters; as a last resort an off the shelve in-line automotive filter to bypass the whole mess.

Jay
 
I have used both silicone and teflon grease for lubricants for the bowls. For removal, a strap wrench, or it that does not work, a Chain Vise Grip pliers work very well. The Vise Grip will be more likely to damage the filter.
 
I replaced the filter elements and bowls yesterday and sure enough the old ones were stuck together so's I cut the filters apart and managed to separate them from the bowls. It wasn't pretty. The threads weren't fused together, it seems that the filter threads expanded or the bowl shrunk slightly. Either way, the fit was just too tight to unscrew them.
The old bowls are there for backup duty, I don't plan on using them if I don't have to. I put a dab of grease on the new threads, dunno if it'll help.
 
There has been controversary about the use of plastic bowls in the cockpit areas of the 22's or 25's (etc) and in the lazarettes of the Tom Cat 255. Agree that the metal bowl or mounted exteriorly is better, but the chance of an explosion or spark with the plastic bowl in our boats is miminal. It is always a good idea to "sniff" the bilges before any source of ignition (such as starting the stove).

It is a good idea to remove the plastic bowls at least every 6 months--and I agree that silicone grease is the best material to use on the threads and "O" rings.

I don't carry a spare plastic bowl--never had one break, and I have used them for many tens of thousands of miles in diesel powered vessels.
 
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