Beware of the shop-vac trick when changing hydraulic filters...

[DieselBound]

Gasoline - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Wow, who knew there was another world out there, one that isn't predicated on diesel! Seems I've heard a bit about this technology; does it have something to do with things called "sparkplugs?"

I recently changed the CAT fuel filter on my VW TDI. I think I had about 70k miles on it: really no reason to change it but it was a 100k mile service so I decided to do everything (regular filters are spec'd for 20k miles). I poured out the fuel and it was as clean as could be. My truck mechanic bought one of my TDIs from me (wife's previous car) for his son and they had an issue in which they replaced its CAT filter and found it BLACK! He'd told me of trouble with fuel from a truck stop that I use (about 99% of the time). I was happy to show him a picture I'd taken: his son had to have done something really stupid; it wasn't fuel from my regular stop. Really no way I was getting crappy fuel given I was racking up 800+ mile and 55mpg tanks (and the car running perfectly)!

 

[IndyJay]

Wow, who knew there was another world out there, one that isn't predicated on diesel! Seems I've heard a bit about this technology; does it have something to do with things called "sparkplugs?"

I recently changed the CAT fuel filter on my VW TDI. I think I had about 70k miles on it: really no reason to change it but it was a 100k mile service so I decided to do everything (regular filters are spec'd for 20k miles). I poured out the fuel and it was as clean as could be. My truck mechanic bought one of my TDIs from me (wife's previous car) for his son and they had an issue in which they replaced its CAT filter and found it BLACK! He'd told me of trouble with fuel from a truck stop that I use (about 99% of the time). I was happy to show him a picture I'd taken: his son had to have done something really stupid; it wasn't fuel from my regular stop. Really no way I was getting crappy fuel given I was racking up 800+ mile and 55mpg tanks (and the car running perfectly)!

Maybe his son tried using old french fry grease like his buddies told him about or that he saw on YouTube... LOL

 

[DieselBound]

Maybe his son tried using old french fry grease like his buddies told him about or that he saw on YouTube... LOL

My truck mechanic said that his kid was horrible about maintaining vehicles: always makes me wonder where the instruction, or lack of it, came from!

I once contemplated buying a centrifuge to use to process old oil into fuel for my equipment. Before I could get too far along I ended up with engines that wouldn't tolerate such fuel: IDIs and mechanical pumps and injectors can deal with it, but I wouldn't try it on anything else. Glad that I didn't go this route.

 

[crazyal]

KA-BOOM !

Actually they don't go kaboom. Usually they don't even catch fire (without help). Back in the younger days we would have parties (with beer) where we would connect them up to a portable generator. Often we would have to put a flame near the blow side to ignite the gas. From there it's like a afterburner on a jet. We loved the metal vacs as the plastic ones would melt pretty quickly from the heat. It seemed like once a month someone was finding one in the free section of the dump.

 

[Smokeydog]

Dose anyone know if a Kubota dealerships employ the vacuum technique to change filters?

 

[old and tired]

Dose anyone know if a Kubota dealerships employ the vacuum technique to change filters?

Quicker to let some oil fall out and charge the customer for another quart to replace what spill out.

 

[ning]

At first, I thought that the exhaust would be unfiltered too.

Looks like the canister is always under vacuum and the air velocity is high thru the intake port, due to its small opening. Then the air enters the canister, its velocity drops because of the larger opening, allowing the trash to fall down into the canister/out of the flow. Then the air accelerates as it hits the small exhaust opening near the top, is sucked thru the filter, (if any) and finally exits.

My ancient shop vac has a vacuum port and a blower port. If you flip the switch to "blower" then there's no suck from the vacuum port -- no "negative pressure" in the canister, and the air produced by the motor/fan doesn't go through the filter. There's a sliding plug that gets pulled open when the vacuum runs that allows suck from the main chamber and the blower function keeps it in the closed position (I think it also serves as a float valve when sucking wet).

 

[Midniteoyl]

My ancient shop vac has a vacuum port and a blower port. If you flip the switch to "blower" then there's no suck from the vacuum port -- no "negative pressure" in the canister, and the air produced by the motor/fan doesn't go through the filter. There's a sliding plug that gets pulled open when the vacuum runs that allows suck from the main chamber and the blower function keeps it in the closed position (I think it also serves as a float valve when sucking wet).

My old vac has a removable motor and converts to a leaf blower.. Dunno if they still make'em like that.

 

[ning]

My old vac has a removable motor and converts to a leaf blower.. Dunno if they still make'em like that.

We used to have a leaf blower that had a bag attachment and you could use it as a yard vac (I guess to pick up leaves? Small bag though)
I never used that feature as I blow or rake leaves and pine needles away into other convenient areas where I can pretend they don't exist.

 

[beenthere]

What keeps the shop-vac from sucking fluid out of the fill opening?? Never heard of doing this. How do you know that your shop vac is perfectly balanced to pull a vacuum on top of the oil reservoir yet not so powerful as to suck fluid out?

There is no fluid at the fill opening, unless one has over-filled. So can't suck any oil out.