What are symptoms of 'full' water separating fuel filter?

[tony_cliffy]

I have a water separating fuel filter on the line to my 2004 Johnson 115 HP 4-stroke. It is not the racor design with the bulb. I change it every season. But I'm wondering what the symptoms are if I happen to get excess water in my line and the fuel filter becomes 'clogged.' <br /><br />Does it reduce flow and starve the engine, and I'll notice rediced RPM's? Does it begin to pass the water and the engine will have problems?

 

[rickdb1boat]

Re: What are symptoms of 'full' water separating fuel filter?

I've never had it happen with mine, but I would assume if enough water was trapped in the filter, it would "overflow" and water would begin to enter the fuel system, causing poor performance and probably stalling. Seems to me it would take alot of water getting into the fuel system to fill one of the oil type filters up. So there would have to be a real problem somewhere to pick up that much water....

 

[JRJ]

Re: What are symptoms of 'full' water separating fuel filter?

When a filter becomes overloaded, it will pass on whatever it was filtering out. Your engine will run poorly and die.

 

[dajohnson53]

Re: What are symptoms of 'full' water separating fuel filter?

What JRJ said: due to inattentiveness and inexperience, I had one fill up and the motor just ran crappy and then died and couldn't be started - water in the gas gettting to the engine. By the way, this happened with the the type of filter with the drain-bowl. Lucky for me, it is just an old carb'd engine and there was no permanent damage. I've heard that more modern engines have more serious issues involved if water gets to the engine. I didn't have a spare filter element on hand so I just took it off, drained it empty, and the motor ran fine after I reinstalled. Now I not only drain the bowl routinely, but also carry a spare. With the other non-bowl type (which can also be Racor by the way), the best bet is to change it routinely - when in doubt change it. They're expensive, but not all that expensive.

 

[seahorse5]

Re: What are symptoms of 'full' water separating fuel filter?

Several years ago Trailer Boats magazine tested a bunch of spin on filters including the Racor type. <br /><br />In their tests, every filter passed water to the engine when it filled up, including the Racor. The Racor could be drained and re-used but the water soaked the filter element and added some restriction to the fuel flow. <br /><br />Bottom line is that filters help trap small amounts of water, but are not a protection from a large slug of water in the fuel.

 

[Salmonseeker]

Re: What are symptoms of 'full' water separating fuel filter?

Hey Tony, <br />check your post on Cracked welds on your Crestliner. I replied to it. I have a 2004 Crestliner with several cracked welds. I have some questions about your warranty work. Post back in the Crestliner forum. <br /><br />Thanks Jay.<br /><br />p.s. sorry for jumping in this forum.

 

[marinemech1]

Re: What are symptoms of 'full' water separating fuel filter?

2 or 4 stroke same effect: break out the paddles

 

[gss036]

Re: What are symptoms of 'full' water separating fuel filter?

Usually you will get the motor surging some before it completely fills up with water, especially if you run in a little chop and the gas/water gets to sloshing around trying to mix.<br />I used to collect quite a bit of water from condensation w/115 gal aluminum tank. Had old time mechanic tell me to leave the gas cap off and stuff a paper towel into the spout to keep bugs out, worked great for me ( very little water now) , but then again, I keep my boat stored in my pole barn out of the weather.