Junk in the fuel filter bowl

[NWOH_Grizz]

Did the 100 hour service on my NH T2310, and removed the fuel filter bowl for the first time. In the bottom of the bowl were a number of very small pieces of a black plastic or hardened rubber. I removed the filter and inspected the small o-ring that seals the top of the filter, and it appears OK. The larger bowl o-ring is OK. There is nothing else in that fuel filter bowl that is black plastic/rubber.

Maybe some flashing from a fuel line or the fuel tank? Don't know where else this could have come from.

Also, it appears that only about a half-inch of fuel goes into the bottom of the bowl when the fuel is turned back on. Shouldn't this bowl be completely full? I had to crack the fuel line to the injection pump to bleed the air after having the filter apart, and it seems to run OK.

 

[MiserableOldFart]

Sounds like it's probably no big deal to me, but I'm no expert. Do you filter your fuel before you put it in the tank? I have been using Mr. Funnel for a while now and have retrieved all kinds of junk from the fuel at times, including some dead wasps on one occasion. Bleeding the fuel line is pretty much SOP with my TC26DA whenever the filter is pulled off, which has to be done a lot more often than every 100 hours, though I hope less now using the Mr. Funnel for about a year..

If you don't at least strain your fuel, the plastic could have come from your fuel can..

I pull the filter and clean it at each 50 hours (and whenever it looks like it needs it) and usually just replace it at 100. I only put on about 50-80 hours a year, though.. if you use your machine a lot more you probably can use the filter for many more hours.

The bowl should be full after you bleed the line, if not before, I would think..

 

[Jerry/MT]

Did the 100 hour service on my NH T2310, and removed the fuel filter bowl for the first time. In the bottom of the bowl were a number of very small pieces of a black plastic or hardened rubber. I removed the filter and inspected the small o-ring that seals the top of the filter, and it appears OK. The larger bowl o-ring is OK. There is nothing else in that fuel filter bowl that is black plastic/rubber.

Maybe some flashing from a fuel line or the fuel tank? Don't know where else this could have come from.

Also, it appears that only about a half-inch of fuel goes into the bottom of the bowl when the fuel is turned back on. Shouldn't this bowl be completely full? I had to crack the fuel line to the injection pump to bleed the air after having the filter apart, and it seems to run OK.

You might have found a bunch of plastic "swarf" (British Term for what we'd call bits of machined metal) from the fuel tank. In your case, I believe the tank is plastic and there are screws that hold the fuel level indicator etc , that pentrate the plastic fuel tank. It's probably shavings from those screws.

When you try to refill the bowl from the fuel tank, the air in the filter assembley has no place to go so it only allows the bowl to fill part way. Opening up a bleed screw allows the air to escape and the fuel to fill the filter housing. Isn't there a bleed screw on the top of your filter? Most filter housings I'm familiar with have a bleed screw on the top of the housing for jsut this purpose.

 

[NWOH_Grizz]

Thanks for the suggestions. The owners manual says to clean and inspect filter every 100 hours, and replace at every 200 hours. The filter element was surprisingly clean, I'm used to black filters from my Ford SuperDuty diesel. Those plastic parts had to be from "swarf", but I'll be taking a closer look at it more often.

The manual says no bleeding is necessary, as there is an automatic bleed device, but I don't believe it. I bled the air by cracking open the input to the injector pump, and I would think that should have filled the fuel filter housing too. It didn't, but the tractor runs fine.