Which diesel racors do I buy?

Kevin · Post by **Kevin** » Jan 14th, '07, 17:55

Was told that the racors I am using will work but I should go for the Racor 500 Turbine series. Looked them up and am seeing several different letter codes after the 500. The reason I am changing is because after running for greater than say 20 or 30 minutes, I will lose speed, but no black smoke. Tthe other day I went WOT and nothing happened, just kept chugging at my cruise speed. When I came off plane, both engines died. Drained the retro fit gas to diesel racors and she fired right up and made it home. They were 2 micron. Put in some 30 micron elements and gained almost a knot on the top end. So do I keep what I have or spend money I don't have on the fancy filters? Thanks in advance.

Whaler1777 · Post by **Whaler1777** » Jan 14th, '07, 18:16

Just bought a pair of the 900ma 30 mil racors for my 6bta 330hp cummins... This site sells all racors very reasonable...
http://www.marinefilters.com/

ScottD · Post by **ScottD** » Jan 14th, '07, 18:42

Tony Athens has a lot of good info. on diesel filtration, most of which is posted on Boat Diesel. As I recall he recommends straight filtration over racors, it's well worth the $25 to look through the site, second only to this one in my opinion.

ScottD

IRGuy · Post by **IRGuy** » Jan 14th, '07, 19:56

Kevin...

My B33 with 315 HP Cummins came with Racor 900s and secondary filters on the engine.. I have been advised to use 30 micron elements in the Racors and 2 micron elements on the engines.. When I bought the boat I found two 2 micron Racor elements in the previous (read "doofus" ) owner's drawer of spare parts.. and after talking with my diesel guy I threw them out. In my mind, the Racors are for water seperation and chunks of crud, the secondaries on the engine are the final filters. I know Tony Athers on the Boatdiesel forum is not a Racor advocate, but they are there and I will us them while I spend my money doing other things to bring my boat up to snuff.

STeveZ · Post by **STeveZ** » Jan 14th, '07, 22:18

B28 w/ Cummins 210's. I paid about $50 extra for the MA's (marine) only because I wanted to be covered from an insurance standpoint should the worst happen.

Before:

After:

I go 30 microns in the primary Racors and 10 microns for the spin-on secondaries (per the Cummins mechanic's instruction). I would still like to replace the bolts in the bottom of the bowls with valves so I can "bleed" them occasionaly.

Whaler1777 · Post by **Whaler1777** » Jan 14th, '07, 22:22

Old Dahl's

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Jan 15th, '07, 09:17

Kevin,
What engines are you running? With 6bta-300's I was told 900ma's. Thirty microns in the Racors and 2 microns on the engines.

IRGuy · Post by **IRGuy** » Jan 15th, '07, 09:42

Steve Z....

Are the valves for the Racor bowls common items, or do I have to get something special, and if so, from where? I also want to be able to drain off water and settled crud without having to remove the plugs.

Capt. Mike Holmes · Post by **Capt. Mike Holmes** » Jan 15th, '07, 09:45

Tony probably doesn't make any money off Racors.

500 series are fine for the Steyrs. I use 900's on my Cummins 6's. Didn't get the ones with the leak catcher bowls on the bottom, I usually "drain" mine with a pump. 30 micron elements work best for me in the Racors. Boat Useless in my area only stocks 2 micron Racor elements - have to find the 30's somewhere else, or order them. The "primary" filters on the engines can be 2 micron, because they are on the pressure side on the mechanical pump, and the Racors caught all the big stuff. 2 micron elements in the Racors will plug from the red dye in the fuel, eventually.

I have valves on both sides of the Racors, makes it nice for changing elements without fuel siphoning back to the tank. I would like to valve in a bypass line, so elements could be changed with the engine running, and also a recirculating line to let my electric pumps circulate fuel through the Algae-X units and the Racors, then back to the tank through the return lines while the boat sts at the dock without the engines running, but haven't gotten there yet.

STeveZ · Post by **STeveZ** » Jan 15th, '07, 10:08

Steve Z....

Are the valves for the Racor bowls common items, or do I have to get something special, and if so, from where? I also want to be able to drain off water and settled crud without having to remove the plugs.

They would definately be "aftermarket". UV has 'em (brass ball valves I think), he also removed the metal bowls (fire/heat shields) for easier access and inspection.

AFAIK the only difference between the 500MA's and the FG's (non-marine) is the addition of the metal shield and the use of a bolt in lieu of a plastic valve in the bottom of the bowl.

An AG w/ changed out valve is the way to go, if you're not worried about being covered by your insurance.

Kevin · Post by **Kevin** » Jan 15th, '07, 16:26

Mikey,
I have the Steyr 212 HP
After fourty hours of run time the fuel would not go through the 2 micron. That is my theory anyway. I thought maybe debris, but Perhaps the die? At any rate running much better with fuel getting to motor. Went to drain them today, the brass plug would not turn before the whole assembly started to spin off. I will deal with it tomorrow.

Eddy G · Post by **Eddy G** » Jan 16th, '07, 09:06

Kevin: I went with the 500 MA's and also found the best price at www.marinefilters.com. Paid around $150.00 each shipped to my door. The shield on the MA's is to protect the bowl from fire and being hit. Racor has the drain valves for about $35.00 each, but I got some stainless steel ball valves rated for fuel, oil and air for 10 bucks at my local hardware store. They are FPT on both ends. I removed the drain plug, installed a close nipple, threaded on the valve and put the plug in the open bottom end of the valve for safety. As for elements, the 500's come with 2 microns in them. Not sure about Steyr, but Yanmar recommends a 30 mic in the Racor and the engine has a 2 mic element.
Eddy G.

Kevin · Post by **Kevin** » Jan 16th, '07, 09:30

Thanks for all the help guys. I now understand the fuel system much better.
Oh yaeh, I was quoted over 500 for a pair of the 500MA from a place down here. Didn't sound right to me.

Bill Fuller · Post by **Bill Fuller** » Jan 16th, '07, 10:50

Kevin

You might want to cinsider the Raco 490 R2. This is the unit that Yanmar supplied when I purchased my engines back in 2000. It came with the Yanmar name on it. These filter are rated to flow 95 GPH which is considerably more than the 500MA. The turbine sreies are actually only rated as water seperaters not filtration. The 490R2 is rated as both water seperator and filtration.

I have been quite happy with the 490R2 and elements are available ar 2 microns, 10 microns and 30 microns. They do not have the metal cup at the bottom! They do have a drain at the bottom for easy draining. And the spin on element is easy to change with minimal mess. Another nice feature is that they have a built in pump. So you can assmble the new filter cartige dry and quickly and painlessly pump fuel ito the filter (air vent at the top). You can also use this pump to pump fuel through the entire system, very handy.

We all have assumed that you have an "on engine" filter which should be 2 microns. Is that true? you would probably want to go with the 30 micron in your primary filter. I have used both the 30 micron and 10 microns elements in my 490R2s. No trouble either way.

Have you asked Styer what they recommend?

I am not familiar with your motors, but the word is that the the new common rail type injector systems ar very sensitive to clean fuel. If your motors have such a system you may want to consider a third bulk, primary, seperator.

My filters are mounted on the aft engine bulkhead, between the motors as high up as possible.

Hope this helps.

Bill

scot · Post by **scot** » Jan 16th, '07, 12:35

ScottD,

Thumbs up on the boatdiesel.com site. Most excellent info, as stated 2nd only to this site.

ZeroCavity · Post by **ZeroCavity** » Jan 16th, '07, 15:23

I did the Tony Athen's way (boatdiesel.com)

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Jan 17th, '07, 09:09

Kevin,
Try:
http://marinefilters.com/
Better prices.

Whaler1777 · Post by **Whaler1777** » Jan 17th, '07, 18:07

The stainless bowl is to catch any overfill when changing filters...

Bruce · Post by **Bruce** » Jan 17th, '07, 19:47

The stainless bowl is to catch any overfill when changing filters...

Nope. For UL fire.

Kevin,
I don't know what you have now but just changing the element to 30 micron will do it.

Some of the common rail engines require 2 micron on the primary.
You don't have that type of engine.

2 micron filters on the primary will clog quit often with high return systems.

Fuel systems are simple, keep em that way.

STeveZ · Post by **STeveZ** » Jan 17th, '07, 20:23

The stainless bowl is to catch any overfill when changing filters...

That makes perfect sense, aside from the fact that its called a "heat deflector shield". Check it out:

http://www.maesco.com/products/racor/r_ ... tled6.html

And hey, there's that valve we've been talking about! Or is it?

Ironman · Post by **Ironman** » Jan 17th, '07, 20:33

[/img][IMG]http://i130.photobucket.com/albums
Got these used Racor 900s for $150 pair +shipping.
Wayne

Ironman · Post by **Ironman** » Jan 17th, '07, 20:36

Whaler1777 · Post by **Whaler1777** » Jan 17th, '07, 22:06

Well it works pretty good keeping the diesel out of the bilge...

Kevin · Post by **Kevin** » Jan 17th, '07, 22:18

30 micron did the trick. Now time for the 50 hour PM....ugghhh. With out all the help from the faithfull I would have done far more the hard way. Still may be upgrading the system though....no rush.

Kevin · Post by **Kevin** » Jan 17th, '07, 22:22

Oh yeah, I forgot!

It's a boat not the space shuttleIt's a boat not the space shuttle
It's a boat not the space shuttleIt's a boat not the space shuttle
It's a boat not the space shuttleIt's a boat not the space shuttle
It's a boat not the space shuttleIt's a boat not the space shuttleIt's a boat not the space shuttleIt's a boat not the space shuttle
It's a boat not the space shuttleIt's a boat not the space shuttle
It's a boat not the space shuttleIt's a boat not the space shuttle

keysdisease · Post by **keysdisease** » Jan 18th, '07, 12:03

Hello gentlemen,

I don't know if this has been covered but Racor has made a change in the elements for the 500. In order to work properly you need to aquire an insert from Racor, they will supply at no charge.

See this post from another list

http://www.passagemaker.com/discus/messages/3/2689.html

I found this out the hard way, just lucky when I lost an engine it was at a convenient place and not while going under a bridge.

Steve Moyer, new member and happy to be here :-D

Bruce · Post by **Bruce** » Jan 18th, '07, 16:24

A problem with 1996 and older Racor 500's due to the filter sitting lower in the housing on those units.

bertram31.com

Which diesel racors do I buy?

Which diesel racors do I buy?

Raycors

Racors

Change in Racor 500 element

Who is online