Removal of racor fuel filter.

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starcrafttom

Active member
So I have often wondered why people have a hard time taking off the racor fuel filter. its a spin on and off filter and should come off if you greased the seal and threads before you install. If not a filter wrench is cheap and will get the job done. If you have a really bad one you can stick a screw driver thru it and turn it....or not....

I had to do all of the above and then after a short temper flare up I removed the whole filter housing and put it into a vice on the bench and drive a very large screw drive thru it and while holding both ends of the screw driver I used all 220 lbs of me to turn the filter. It took five tries to get it to start moving. Guess I will start to remove filter more often just to check it. I have the removable clear bowl on the bottom of mine and had been just draining and checking it when needed. This allowed me to keep the filter on for at least two years. I will not be leaving it on that long again.

After getting the unit apart I sanded ans wire brushed the mount and repainted it with some left over spray paint and then left it under a heat lamp all night. Nice metallic blue now.
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The problem that I (and some others) had was getting the clear bowl off the bottom of the filter. The filter came off the mount pretty easily. Getting the plastic bowl off the bottom required a hacksaw, dikes, and pliers.
 
Ha.... reading this thread and other comments by Boris, I don't know whether to remove the filter/bowl more often to try to stave off the sticking problem.... or just leave it on and plan to simply order a whole new unit every 2-3 years! :roll:
 
Yup, Tom, you're the lucky one. As ssobol says, it's not getting the filter off the mount, it's separating the filter from the sediment bowl. Racor uses a black plastic ring on the bottom of the filter element that screws into the clear sediment bowl. That ring sticks to the bowl and when you really put the torque to the filter (or bowl, your pick,) the metal can starts rotating/slipping on the black plastic.

I cut the filter off the black ring, take a Dremel to the black plastic till it's almost to the sediment bowl threads and pry it out. Lovely task.

Called Racor and some young dude told me they've fixed it, you've just got one of the old filters. The real message is: we don't care and it's not gonna change.

But thanks for letting me bitch and moan. I now feel better.

Boris
 
journey on" Called Racor and some young dude told me they've fixed it said:
As you probably remember, I found out from Racor that they had a new, improved O-ring, and they even sent me a few gratis. Thing is, I don't think that has anything to do with the filter/clear bowl interface, does it? I think instead the O-ring they sent me goes between the filter and the mount.

At least I could just order a new filter/plastic bowl every two years and not the mount too :smile

Now every time I look at that filter....I swear it is "pre-mocking" me!
Click to expand...
 
Hey gang. I just finished changing the filter element for a Racor 120Rac-01. The element part number S3240. Basically an easy project except, the plastic element bowl would not unscrew. I figured #1. Gotta be done. So if I end up destroying the bowl it can be replaced. #2. Have some fun and see why it won't unscrew.

I hacksawed through the old filter as close to the shoulder as I could. A close inspection showed I could now hacksaw just above the bowl lip. Once I had done this I used just a hacksaw blade and notched the threaded part of the filter element in two places. I used a flat blade screw driver to knock the notch out. The rest of the threaded plastic from the filter peeled out.

I used fine emery paper to clean up the "O" ring seat and any feathered plastic from the hacksaw. I then cleaned everything with mineral spirits and now had a useable and salvaged element bowl. Put everything together and checked for leaks. It worked.

Just thought I'd pass this along in case there are others out there where marine stores are not within easy distances. Be safe and boat safe. :lol:
 
I have tried graphite lock lubricant. We'll see what happens next time I take it off. The bowl costs about US$45 plus shipping.
 
We have had similar problems in the past. Now I use anti-seize on the threads and lips of both the metal filter and clear bowl. Just started that so I have no experience with how well it works. We also mark the installation date on the outside of the filter. We use either a small oil filter wrench or a strap wrench to remove them. When we had one stuck we used a small pipe wrench. It destroyed the filter but the bowl was not harmed.
 
It will certainly be interesting to hear the results of the various "let's hope the filter and bowl don't weld together" compounds that have been tried. I hope someone finds on that really works. $45 is a bit rich just to change the filter (i.e. buying a new filter and bowl each time).

And if you wouldn't mind posting the results before I need to change mine... :lol:
 
At some point, I think they changed the O-ring to a different material.

And Tom, that is a once a year change, at least on the East Coast! :lol:

Charlie
 
Charlie, I expect that the reason that I did not have a problem with the bowl was that I take it off three times a year to clean it out. I have not removed the filter its self in at least two years. I will just unscrew and re lube the filter when I clean the bowl.
 
starcrafttom":2p57e4h7 said:
Charlie, I expect that the reason that I did not have a problem with the bowl was that I take it off three times a year to clean it out. I have not removed the filter its self in at least two years. I will just unscrew and re lube the filter when I clean the bowl.
Click to expand...

I think much of the junk gets caught in the filter and only some (mostly water) ends up in the bowl.

Charlie
 
I have drilled a 1/8" hole through the side of the Racor filter about 1/16" above the edge of the metal base. (just above the fuel bowl) Push a small cotter key into the hole . The pin prevents the inner plastic ring from spinning inside the metal housing of the filter
 
Great suggestion. If I remember, I'll try it next yeat.

The thought of us drilling sawing, grinding, etc. on a gasoline filter makes me wonder about Racors product liability. And their answer was to develop a throwaway filter for twice the cost.

Boris
 
I found this thread really interesting, especially after I had easily removed the filter from the head but could not unscrew the plastic bowl. I saw a Youtube where the mechanic put the metal part in a vice and used a large wrench, commenting that sometimes the bowls are really tight. Not helpful as I have neither a vice nor a large wrench.

I took a scrap board and cut a 3 inch hole in it. I don't have a 3 inch hole saw so I scribed the circle and then used the small drill/hammer method. I then used a rasp to smooth things out (doesn't have to be perfect) and then an old keyhole saw to make some slots for the fins. I kept it all as a tight fit and when I had enough fin engagement simply used a strap wrench on the filter. The bowl came off reasonably easily.

If you have some of the tools that real woodworking people have on hand then this would be fast and simple.


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Went through the stuck bowl routine again this year.
I ended up immersing the element-bowl assembly in ice water then putting just the bowl in hot water and they separated easily. It worked well and much neater than the destructive method used last time.
Thinking about loosening it when the boat is not in use.
 
Chimo: I like your custom made "wrench"! Going to keep that plus Chester's freezing idea in my mental file. At the yard we used to put cutless bearings in the freezer to make them slip in easier, but I hadn't thought of it for the Racor.
 
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