Fuel filters

25 May 2005 Fuel filters

I ordered a dozen fuel filters, which were clones of the following previously recommended filter: Purolator F54618

One issue I wanted to confirm is whether or not these filters will pass water, assuming that it is possible to get some in the system. The only way to check this is of course to test it.

I also wanted to cut these filters open to see if the quality is decent, and to compare it to a genuine Purolator.

Here is the filter cut apart. Quality seems fine, and it is pretty well glued.

Here I’ve filled up the filter with water. No luck – it does not pass through the filter.

Here is the “genuine” purolator filter. I put some water in one end, and it came out the other. Now I’m going to cut it apart.

Here it is after I cut the body.

Now I’ve cut the filter.

The two filters side by side. The purolator on the left allows the water to flow through easily. The Taiwanese filter on the right has not let a drop through.

Update: 2005.05.26 – it seems once the Taiwanese fuel filters became fully saturated, they passed water at about the same rate as the “genuine” Purolator. Next steps are to test with the fuel pumps in action, and real gasoline, with a bit of water in it from time to time. I’ll be doing this outside, with lots of safety precautions.

The location of the fuel pumps, and fuel filters, is a real hassle on an RV8. We don’t have the center console area that they have on the 6, 7, 9, and 10. My current plan is to mount it all on the firewall, surrounded by a nice shroud, with forced cool air blown into the whole system.

I’m still looking for a better place to mount these, but I really don’t want to have any filters in the cockpit, since when I change them it will smell like fuel in there forever. Keeping that stinky stuff outside is one of my goals.

I feel the best solution would be to have a system just like the cars have – fuel pump in the fuel tank, with one of those “bag” filters as the pre-filter, then the 40 micron filter on the firewall. The major drawback of that design is that if a pump fails, you lose the remaining fuel in that wing.

My main concern in finding a 10 to 40 micron filter to be placed between the fuel pumps and the engine is to make sure any filter I use will pass water, in case some gets into the system. The Aeromotive 10 micron paper filters will not pass water, according to their tech guys. That was a pretty big disappointment. I plan to run more tests to make sure whatever filter I use will pass water.