Filter and Primer choices

[cuppatea Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close cuppatea]

Hi all Happy Easter,

I've been chasing an air leak and finally found my diesel side GU Patrol filter with built in diaphragm primer/bleeder sucks air like crazy, especially when pressing the primer.
On my SVO side I use a spin-on with Baldwin elements, works fine, no primer/bleeder.

Now what's the recommendations for a replacement? I'm wary of the CAV filters and the high chance of air leaks, especially as my system runs under vacuum.
Ultimately it appears I'm aiming for a simple spin on style filter type housing with affordable elements and some way to prime/bleed my lines. Are there any in-line primers that are good?

Also good to point out I have a facet pump to use for diagnosing air/bleed issues. If I permanently install this on the diesel side is it too much of a restriction to leave it there? I loop my return so that will take the pressure off the flow rate through it.

I've done some reading and thought it best to not resurrect ancient threads...

Cheers,
Cuppa

[Tony From West Oz Vice Chairperson of WARFA Find all posts View Profile Close Tony From West Oz]

Re: Filter and Primer choices

Cuppa,
The Facet pump should be fine to provide fuel flow on the diesel side. No good for the veggie side though.
Does the primer leak fuel out?

If so, replace it with whatever you are using on the veggie side, so you only have to keep one type of spare filter for the car.

Regards,
Tony.

[cuppatea Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close cuppatea]

Re: Filter and Primer choices

Hi Tony,
Ok I might try out the facet as a permanent primer.
I can't run the same filter for both fuels practically. The Veg side is very specifically designed for my filter heater and finding the same spin on housing will be a nightmare.
I'm off around town now to see what my options are...

... and the options are very few. Ryco CAV from the auto shops, CAV from truck parts, everyone else suggesting genuine. I managed to find a very simple filter head that suites generic spin on filters - $35 + $11 spin on. I'll use the facet as a primer when needed.

[Captaincademan Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Captaincademan]

Re: Filter and Primer choices

Hi Cuppatea,

I have a 100 series and went through a considerable amount of pain with almost exactly the same problem. I solved it using the stocko CAV filter arrangeemnt with the $6 filters and glass bowl. No primer pump in the head unit. I fitted a Walbro pusher pump that oeprates continuousely and is in the line right infront of the fuel selector solenoid valve, so it works for both tanks. that way my system is not in vaccum up near the filter, and I tell you what, I havent looked back. fantastic improvement to use of teh car with a noticeable boost in power to boot.

I am not sure about the fuel pump used in the GU, but i imagine its similar to the Bosch VE in the 1hz, and I understand that the pump is bench tested with 2psi positive supply pressure anyway.

I recently fitted a similar pusher pump to my fathers new 1hz (60k kms) and he reports similar improvements as well.

cheers,

Cade.

[cuppatea Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close cuppatea]

Re: Filter and Primer choices

Hi Captain, thanks for the info. I understand your setup, one of my original designs used 2 pumps to pump from both tanks and I would of dispensed with the solenoid by operating either pump in turn. After reading how good the VE was for sucking the life out of drums I changed my approach and figured looped return will take the pressure off the pump. Will the high temp fuel cook the VE? We shall see.

[timorcoco Donating Member Find all posts View Profile Close timorcoco]

Re: Filter and Primer choices

I had the same problem , primer pump diaphram on filter was rotted by BD , sucked air.
Unscrewed plunger cap ( what you place fingers on and push for hours to get prime after filter change on roadside , without spare fuel to pre-fill cannister ! )
Cut off plunger bit with thin-blade grinder , flush with steel dome cover of diaphram .Take care with the dust .
Epoxy-ed a suitable cap ( in my case a 5 cent coin ! )
No more air leaks , and filter head salvaged.
Had a Facet in-line for major prime after injector pump swap . Facet is now primer pump , remains in place and only powered up for that.

Fuel flow of un-powered Facet as good as same diameter hose ( i.e. no restriction ).
Facet or other electric fuel pump helps if there is certain problems with injector pump ( for me , was stuck advance mechanism ).

So the fix will cost all of 5 cents and some glue . . . .

[peter1 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close peter1]

Re: Filter and Primer choices

CAV's are fine for Veg or Bio, Just seal them up before you fit them ( except the bolt that holds the assembly together) and they don't have any issues

To say facets are no good for veg as a blanket statement is misleading and incorrect.
There are different facet pumps and the ones I have on my vehicle have proven to be more than up to the task.

[Tony From West Oz Vice Chairperson of WARFA Find all posts View Profile Close Tony From West Oz]

Re: Filter and Primer choices

Peter1,
My comment was based on my experience and my recollection of the reports of others on this forum. My memory is not 100 percent though.
If you have a Facet with good Veg performance on a particular vehicle, please start a thread to let us know what works for you.

Regards,
Tony

[cuppatea Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close cuppatea]

Re: Filter and Primer choices

Timorcoco, wow that's impressive. Hadn't thought of hacking the plunger off the filter head. I might give that a shot today. And thanks for the info on the facet, will be plumbing it in permanently if there is little/no restriction. It may well help me out of a bad situation one day. Thanks guys.

[tbird650 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close tbird650]

Re: Filter and Primer choices

Yes, those plunger diaphragms give a bit of trouble. Mine gave out some years ago so I fixed it as in the pic. All the steel part, rubber, etc was removed and an ally plug was tapped into place and I probably used Loctite 567 or similar to ensure perfect seal. The banjo was for a vacuum gauge. Also the banjo bolt can be removed for filling/priming purposes. The banjo itself was made from an old nut with a hosetail brazed into it. It needed to be this orientation because of very limited room under the engine cover. I've since upgraded and don't use this filter head anymore.

[cuppatea Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close cuppatea]

Re: Filter and Primer choices

Impressive. I was going to kneed up some metal putty I have here to force in/over the left over hole. So looking at the photo there, did you pry off the metal diaphragm casing to get to that nice flat aluminium top face?
Mine has a phillips head screw holding the plastic primer button on - I can't get the screw out or button off so was going to cut it off as Timorcoco had done.
If you pried or cut the metal casing off I might try that with mine too.
Cheers for the suggestions!

[tbird650 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close tbird650]

Re: Filter and Primer choices

It was a while ago but, the steel casing is crimped on and also holds the diaphragm. I may have carefully weakened the steel with a grinder before prying it off. The piece I fitted is about 40-50mm at a guess. I drilled and tapped the banjo bolt thread before pressing in. There are two valves under the piece which are well worth checking as these help engine starting because they prevent fuel from slowly migrating away from the IP after shutdown. Mine is a typical 2L,3L or 5L Toyota filter head. Hope this helps.

[cuppatea Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close cuppatea]

Re: Filter and Primer choices

Thanks tbird, I followed through and this is my fix:

[Johnnojack Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Johnnojack]

Re: Filter and Primer choices

Dragged up this old thread as I finally took a photo of my ex primer pumps. The clear one on the filter I use to remove any air from my looped system . The thin black tube is connected to a vacuum switch which is connected to the vacuum pump reservoir. By touching a button I can activate it and remove air instantly and see when it is gone as well. The aluminium plate on the left (water trap) is just to seal a failed primer pump.

[Johnnojack Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Johnnojack]

Re: Filter and Primer choices

Here's the reason you don't want to just seal the top of an old primer pump and go. At least this is the dirty side of the filter. You can also see the reason a lot of these pumps don't work very well. Could do with a clean, yes, but a bit hard to do without getting out the angle grinder.