Yes, it is true, the shoemaker's children go barefoot. These are the actual photos of my Duramax with 29, 762 miles on the OEM fuel filter. However, it must be noted that of the 29,000 miles, all were with Primrose 405 and 409 additive and roughly 20,000 miles were with BP Diesel Supreme filtered to the 15/13/10 region..
Note the complete absence of corrosion in the filter housing.....
George Morrison
http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/uploads/8B4_Canister.JPG
http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/uploads/2FC_Filter.JPG

Edited by: Georgecls

And it didn't fall apart!

Looks like 29k is on the fringe of the service interval even with your clean source fuel. I'd like to see what the next one looks like at 15k although with the addition of the Filtermaghttp://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Thumbs Up.gif and your subsequent drop to 14-11-6, it may well go farther!http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Clap.gif





The top picture clearly illustrates the fact that water can NOT be effectively drained from the filter as it will tend to accumulate in the rectangular pockets where it will remain in contact with the steel shell...http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Ermm.gif

Actually, my original OEM with about 10k miles on it came out looking pretty good too. Very similar to what is shown above. This was using the Stanadyne additive. We all know that Stanadyne is a demulsifier.


After all the fuel and fuel filter learning sessions we have all had from George over the last year, I switched to FFPF. We all know that additive is an emulsifier. I subsequently changed out my second OEM filter with only 4k miles on it (when I installed my Pre-OEM supplemental, wanted to start with everything new). That filter, when cut open, had the beginning sign of rust specs in numerous locations.


So why do I bring this up? Because just by using an emulsifying additive does not necessarily preclude rust in the filter base. (Granted it may have been worse if I had continued to use Stanadyne, but that is speculation.)


I am convinced that the rust, in part, is from a batch of bad Racor filters. These filters had been manfactured and then allowed to sit on vendor shelves. We have discussed this at length here and on TDP. Granted, the above scenario is not the only source of rust in the filters.


The GM factory installed filters were most likely manufactured and immediately installed on the engine. I suspect they did not sit around very long before they were filled with diesel.


Just my thoughts,


Alan