The filter that I have is this one. Napa Gold 3110 Fuel Filter:
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTk4WDI1Mg...MSg~~60_35.JPG
Also, it has a brass plug at the bottom of the housing. Should I be draining this regularly?
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The filter that I have is this one. Napa Gold 3110 Fuel Filter:
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTk4WDI1Mg...MSg~~60_35.JPG
Also, it has a brass plug at the bottom of the housing. Should I be draining this regularly?
I had a similar problem on a old I/O volvo penta dual carb set up. went through the ENTIRE fuel system 3 times... i had no fuel / water seperator on the boat, i ended up having water in the carb float bowls. i drained both carbs and she ran great for the next 3 years. I don't know if this is your prob, but since its easy enough to crack a few bolts loose on your Holley and drain it, i figured id throw it out there. Hope you get it fixed soon...
Water in the tank is a real pain. It hides in cracks and crevasses...filters...carb bowls...etc, just waiting for the perfect conditions to get sucked into the right place and choke you motor. Fuel pick-ups are usually near, but not at the bottom of the tank. Using the pump to remove the water is only getting what the pickup can reach. There is always more waiting to slosh into the pickup when waves shake your boat and stir it up.
Use an ample amount of fuel additive made to absorb water. It will gradually emulsify the water in your system and allow it to harmlessly pass through the motor. The alternative is to drain the tank and remove the sender plate to allow all residual fuel and water to evaporate. A real pain, so I'd go for the fuel additive first, and frequently.
That looks like a regular filter. I'd add this fuel/water seperator to your system. You can just cut your line and add one in-line. NAPA sells a kit that has both the filter and the mounting bracket thing. I can't find it on their website but believe they have it in their "marine" section.
So you're saying that the filter that I have on my engine might not be doing water/fuel separation at all? It's the orange one at the very bottom of this pic:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-A...628_201501.jpg
The canister looks like the water/fuel separators I see online, complete with a drain at the bottom. But this one does look like i thas paper elements inside the filter itself.
So, if I get a fuel/water separator, then where would I mount it? Before the existing filter or after?
From what I've found online, the Napa 3110 that I have should function as a fuel/water separator... ???
A fuel filter can be designed to remove water without having a drain; I do believe the NAPA filter is designed to remove water, and the advantage of the drain is you can check for water without removing / dumping out the filter. So next time you have the issue, if it's caused by water in the fuel, there should be some water/fuel mix in that filter housing. You might have to let a clear jar of the drained fuel settle for a while before you see the water - it doesn't take much to cause an issue, and it takes a while to separate when it's all shaken up. Like, let it sit for an hour or more.
If your fuel line was collapsing, it might not happen every time you run it hard, and it might stay partially collapsed after sitting for a few minutes. Next time it happens, you could switch over to a little external tank hooked right up to the pump and run it hard on that right away; if the problem goes away immediately that points to a supply issue. If it sputters for a while and then clears up, it points to water in the tank or another blockage.
My fuel pickup in the tank has a small screen in the bottom, which got clogged up the first time I used ethanol fuel in the tank. It was just a wire screen. If there was debris in the tank it could be getting sucked up into the screen, and that wouldn't happen every time you run it hard, it would be random chance, and if it's floating debris, it would happen more as your tank got lower, in theory. The problem with checking that, is the debris could fall off when you take it out of the tank. But if you carefully removed it right when you have the issue, it could be clogged up still. As with the last time, the issue remained after 10 minutes of sitting, with fuel no doubt sloshing around in the tank.
^ good idea about running on a external tank next time the proplem happens. Great way to pinpoint where the problem is. If it runs fine on the external tank, look into a clogged fuel pick up, collapsed fuel line or water in fuel. if it runs bad on the external tank, check fuel pump and carb. I believe your napa filter is a water seperator, pretty sure i had the same one on an old Ski nautique i used to own. Water in the fuel can be a real pain in the gas. Might be best to remove the tank and completely drain and clean. Water is heavier than gasoline and will always settle in the bottom of the tank, where your fuel pick up is....
I'll try and be of some help. I have a '92 comp, 351 proboss, mine looks exactly the same. I have the same fuel filter housing you have, but I am not using that filter you listed. The one I have been using is listed below. My understanding of how this works is that the gas goes into the housing, through the filter, and out the housing to the fuel pump. Water has a higher density than gasoline, so it is supposed to be trapped and will fall and begin to collect in the bottom of the housing. The filter is also supposed to capture dirt and whatnot also of course. You'll notice there's a bolt in the bottom of the housing (mine is a total PITA to get to because its so close to the hull and I have no clearance), my understanding is that the design is intended to simply loosen this bolt every once in a while and let the collected water (and likely a little bit of gas) drain out into the bilge.
My fuel filter:
http://www.skidim.com/prodinfo.asp?number=R080008
http://www.amazon.com/Fram-C1110PL-F.../dp/B000AMW0LK
Now I am not sold or am too much of a believer in this fuel-water seperator system from the early 90s. I would like to upgrade to something like this, my friend has one in his shamrock (also has a PCM 351...cool boat) and it is the bees knees. My problem is that I do not have the space to switch to this filter/housing combo as it is too tall (see my PITA comment above). I would have to rig up some kind of mount to raise the top of the fuel filter from the existing mounting location. I would absolutely recommend switching to this if you can, its nice to be able to see the water it is collecting and drain it separately.
http://www.amazon.com/Sierra-Interna.../dp/B001F0GQQ6
I would definitely second taking a external tank and hooking it straight to the fuel pump (or the out hose of the fuel filter housing, skipping the filter). This will help troubleshoot your problems.
One last thing (and I hope this isn't it). My boat underwent some really weird sputtering, then had issues starting while hot, and then starting at all. It was the protec ignition going bad, and basically the coil packs leaked out and it died so I had to do the whole electronic distributor conversion kit.
Yep -- That looks like a fuel/water seperator but the filter is different than what I've got in mine. I'd drain it because it might be full of water and that would be your problem. If you can take the entire filter off with an oil-filter wrench and then drain it into a glass container, you can see how much water vs. gas is in there.