fuel filter failure
 

I was on my way home this morning and wife called me on my cell phone she was pissed, had a couple of gallons of fuel on the garage floor and the house reaked of fuel, It was leaking out of my fram canister fuel filter. Damn mess, today will order bulk head on off valve for fuel cell, and a differnt type fuel filter, Has this ever happened to anyone? Thank god had only a few gallons in there, 10 gallons on garage floor she would have really been pissed!!!! yes my lil garage is hooked on to house

If it's the kind with the external metal housing with the replaceable internal element, I've seen a few leak due to a pinched/slipped o-ring.

dont know why it leaked, or were it leaked but it is in the garbage, and I will be able to shut off fuel cell, wife dont like that fuel smell, so will buy a bulkhead shutoff valve, time for bed !!!!!!!! well my carb dont leak no more, one step forward two steps back

i will tell ya a good one to get Mark..its the in-line..System's one..its a stainless micro screen element that can be re-used when taken out and cleaned...i saw one for sale on RJ for $50.00....i am very pleased with mine.. plus they have a gph rating able to handle most HP fuel pumps..
just an idea for you....

i have seen many people make mistakes when it comes to fuel filters.
i have seen people put a filter in place that is not rated at what the fuel pump can deliver..this is a BIG NO-NO...but its very easy to do if your not thinkng or checking this..it will starve your engine for gas leaning it out and burning a piston or hurting performance at minimum ( if your luckey)

i have also seen a filter before the pump ( good and correct way to plumb) then another in line filter before you get to the carb..another bad idea..do not double filter a fuel system speacially with an under rated GPH filter VS fuel pump was used to do this...a guy locally had 2 frame canister fuel filters plumb like this on 355 blown motor..with #6 lines..i almost had a stroke when i saw this......it also had a holley black pump that free flowed 140 GPH and pre-set at 120 GPH

just for the record those canister Frame filters are rated 90 GPH...
what kind of fuel pump do you run ?...the free flow capaicity of a Holley blue is 110 GPH AND A PRESET OF 70 gph...which could over rate your fuel filter..which Would very well cause the gasket to blow..if the filter cannot keep up with the flow of the pump the pressure is gonna find its way out somewhere..

i would strongly recommend anyone to use a filter that has a very decent gap in GPH vs fuel pump GPH.....if its real close any pressure spikes could cause some problems with the filter.

i am not saying you overlooked this but it is a overlooked area by many.


Brian

What BJ says, in fact i'm pissed, i also saw the system 1 filters for sale and marked them to buy one, then went out of town and then thay were all gone, big lost for me, but snoozers are losers, and i snoozed on that ad.

Zip.

Oberg makes another good inline filter for oil and gas, simialr to the system 1 it has a fine mesh screen too, just unbolt the halfes and clean it out. very low resistance that will out flow any pump.

yes brian it was a fram canister type and yes I have a holley blue pump, the funny thing was, the pump hadnt been on for at least 36hrs. I ordered a inline from summit yesterday, 8an ends that filters 10 microns and it flows 150 gph $65. should work fine, also got a shut off valve and I have my filter at fuel cell before pump. Wife said after fuel spill , Man cant wait untill we build that shop in back yard, maybee I should hope for another leak :lol:

Just becareful not to forget the valve when its in the off position,running a pump dry is a good way to burn it up

as tom said !!!..i would not bother with a shut of valve..its too easy to forget to turn it ON.....with the right filter you will not have problems like you just had.

just because the pump hasn't been on in 36 hours doesn't mean it wasn't the cause of the fuel filter to fail...when the pump was running it was working the weak points of the filter with the pressure that the filter could not pass thru....there is still some what of a small amount of line pressure from the fuel cell at least to the pump...so all it did was finally let go...

but my opinion is stay away from a manual shut off...just too much to remember at the track etc.....


good luck Mark.

Brian

dont worry brian, got all my stuff today, I like simple, with all the fittings, and crap, I just put the new inline filter in and shortened up my line a little off the cell and she is done, if wife ask, yes honney I got a shut off, its on the shelf!!!!