I got around to changing both the Racor Primary filter and the Secondary filter on the engine today. The Racor wasn't so bad. After I removed the Racor filter, before I filled it with fuel, I changed the secondary filter on the engine. This one really made a mess as there was no great way to catch the fuel as it spilled out. I replaced the seals on both filters and closed everything up then opened the bleed screw on the racor and used hte little pump that is included in the Racor 220 housing. It took forever to fill as I didn't have any fuel that was outside of the tank to dump in. Once I got that to work, I went to the secondary filter and cracked the bleed point at the top of the housing. I worked on the lift pump for over 30 minutes and I couldn't tell whether fuel was coming out. I bumped the starter a few times, to make sure the lift pump wasn't at a position it couldn't pump fuel. I finally said screw it and ran the starter and fuel went pretty much everywhere from the first bleed point on the housing. I then moved on to the second bleed point (first one on the fuel injector) ran that until fuel was spraying out, then moved on to the next one and had fuel spray out of that one too. While I was cranking the engine, the engine started initially, but then quickly died as it sucked air into the fuel injector. I then went to the last bleed point on the fuel injection pump and saw spurts of fuel coming out. I closed this off and then went to the injectors. Cracked the injectors and ran the starter and nothing came out.
I went through this same process 5 or 6 more times and finally was able to get the motor to start. I think I wasn't getting all the air out at the final bleed point on the injection pump. I ran that one for a while and the engine started while I was bleeding it. While the engine was running, I cracked the injector lines one by one and then closed them up.
Only took me about 4 hours start to finish, and I probably had multiple cups of diesel fuel in the tub below the engine. Quite messy, but I got it done.
On the lift pump, I was surprised as I thought I would see strong fuel flow pumping this by hand and I would think 30 mins of continuous pumping would be enough to see something. Maybe I just didn't notice, but when I ran the starter fuel would come out of the bleed points very strongly. Any thoughts on this one? I had the lift pump replaced about 3 years ago, so it is fairly new. The mechanic said we needed a new one, because the old one wouldn't fill the fuel filter. Wondering whether I actually had a problem now or not or if I was doing something incorrectly. How much travel should there be on the lift pump - it was moving at least an inch to an inch an a half or so on each stroke.
Changing the fuel filters and bleeding the engine was something I was pretty nervous on, so I'm glad I got this under my belt. I have to say on try 4 or 5 I was starting to get worried i wasn't going to be able to get the motor to start.
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