[BlueOx03]

There is definitely reason for concern herewith the discovery of Pre-rusted fuel filters. Most of us already know that all the OEM replacements no matter what the box says are Racor. Racor has posted that they pull and test many of these filters for QA purposes. With that I don't think that the filters are leaving the factory with the rust. We know they are all made in the same place the same way, but some are rusted some are not. I think it has more to do with where and how they are stored. I also believe that your climate has a lot to do with it. If you live in a known humid area, or your vendor of choice does, your chances of having rust are much higher. Can one of you guys that knows this forum better than me set up a poll to collect info to support or disprove this theory? May be break the country up into five or six sections and ask rust or no rust?
I really think that the solution is simple, have a factory installed cap over the WIF sensor port. This opening is not usually present in spin on filters and is a wide open door for moisture to get in to the bare metal. One the other side the media generally keeps things out. This is just my theory and I hope we can get Racor to help put our minds at ease by implementing a solution.

TJ

 

[fishdmax]

I just installed a Racor I bought from DIS in February of 2002, no rust. This filter spent 10 weeks, in my toolbox, on the beach south of Cancun MX in 2002 and 8 weeks south of Mazatlan in 2003. What a lucky filter.


SteveEdited by: fishdmax

 

[OC_DMAX]

I'll supply another data point.


I bought 6 filters from DIS about 2 years ago. After all the concern about fuel cleanliness and the marginal adequecy of the OEM filter, I decided to change filters every 5k Miles. So to bulk up on my at home supply, I purchased another 6 filters from Oil Guard about 10 months ago. All these filters sat side by side in my garage in Orange County, California. The nominal humidty in the garage is 40 - 50 %. We have very mild temperature / humidity swings.


When all the excitement started occurring on the rusted filter issue, I opened all the remaining filters up to evaluate them. All four remaining filters that were purchased from Oil Guard had spot rust near the water sensor opening. Reference this post where you will find the picture:


http://dieselplace.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=506&PN=3&TPN=2


Of the three remaining filters purchased from DIS, none of them had any noticeable rust spots.


Since the DIS supplied filters were purchased first and had sat in my garage for over a year prior to the arrival of the Oil Guard supplied filters, my conclusion is that the batch of filters I received from Oil Guard were rusted on arrival. Is it an Oil Guard problem ? Probably not. Most likely a manufacturing problem at Racor with the batch of filters that mine came from (My Opinion).

 

[Joe Pool]

I purchased some filters from DIS in January 2002. Of the remaining 5 filters, none show any visible signs of rust. Three of the filters have been stored in my shop since purchased and the other two have been in my parts box in the bed of my truck. All of the filters are packaged in a tight plastic wrapper inside of the paper box. The filters have seen hot/humid weather -- 90+ degrees and 80%+ humidity in the summer (in Saint Louis) as well as 110+ degrees and no humidity (in the desert southwest). Possibly there has been a change in packaging or just a bad run of filters.


My $.02 worth.


JoeEdited by: Joe Pool

 

[FirstDiesel]

I bought 6 filters when I first got my turck. I live in S.C. the land of humidity. So far none of my fuel filters show rust but the Allison filters I bought through Lube Specialists do. Okay what does that tell us???

 

[LARSONEM]

I think any time you have bare unprotected metal that is not sealed or protected with some oil or like product, you have a chance to find tranishing marks or rust if you wish to call it that. Since my truck is still new enough, I've yet to change the fuel filter, so I don't know what the current one looks like inside or what a new one would look like. I know when I replace it, the replacement will probably come from the dealership parts department as that's where I do business.


Now, I've never really paid that much attention to filters, but have always used factory manufactured replacements (AC on my GM vehicles, Honda on the motorcycle, John Deere on the garden tractor). I think about the oil filter that comes goes on my Honda Gold Wing. It's sealed in a plastic wrapper and they always look like brand new metal when you take them out of the wrapper.


Now the other day I changed the external filter on the Allison transmission. I picked up an AC at the dealer and based on all the discussion on this forum, I looked at the filter. It was loose in the box just as all AC filters usually come. And I wouldn't call it rusted per say, but the upper lip around the gasket was a little tarnished. Should I have used it? I guess that's a matter of personal opinion. I did. I just wiped it off good first, oiled the gasket, filled it with fluid and installed it.


Anyway, all this talk has me concerned. At the moment I'm interested in reading and learning from everyones experiences. I think the idea of a second fuel filter is a good one. I discussed it last night with my Tech friend down at the Chevy garage. He didn't have much to say good or bad about it. He says the Duramax is still new enough and there haven't been 100's sold through that dealership, so the jury is still out on the number back with injector/pump problems due to problems with filtering fuel.


I like the idea of the Nicktane/CAT filter setup, it being a finer filter and superior in filtering capabilities to the OEM. However my real concern is mounting it under the truck in our area (Michigan). I'm thinking about fuel gel problems in the winter, ice and snow under the truck creating problems, etc. With the filter under the hood, it's warmer and dryer under there. I don't want to have to worry about treating fuel all the time, just buying winterized blend and not worrying. I'm also concerned about any airlock problems another filter might cause. I want a truck that doesn't need to be messed with in terms of extra maintenance, but I want reliability, and don't want to be let down at the most inopportune time. But I'm also concerned that while the OEM filter stops the bricks and birds, that it may be letting other damaging material into areas where it shouldn't be. On the other side of the coin, I'm thinking that GM wouldn't let us down in terms of reliability of the OEM filter. Maybe I'm wrong here.


So for the time being I'm trying to learn from others experiences and will continue reading and evaluating your experiences, both with OEM and secondary filtering systems.


Eric

 

[hoot]

I bought 6 filters when I first got my turck. I live in S.C. the land of humidity. So far none of my fuel filters show rust but the Allison filters I bought through Lube Specialists do. Okay what does that tell us???

It tells us that bare metal exposed to oxygen will oxidize. It also tells us the filter manufacturers use bare metal.

I would think they have been doing this forever. No one ever took the time too bother looking until these super sensitive injection systems came about.

This could easily be controlled by wetting the insides of these filters when you recieve them, with a safe, preferably a petroleum product that keeps them from rusting. I highly doubt they'll start making them out of 304 stainless any time soon.

Buy fewer filters, more often, to keep them fresh is another option. Check them when you recieve them.

Do not leave your OEM filter on for extended periods, as in trucks that accumulate miles slowly. I have no idea of the interval but 6 months to a year regardless of mileage is a good starting point.

I also noticed the slight oxidation on my Allison filters but it seemed too insignificant to warrant any concern.Edited by: hoot

 

[chuntag95]

I'm inclined to say the Allison is a bit more robust than the fuel system. I also know you put a magnet right on top of that surface, which reduces the fluid flow that would "wash" the rust off into the system. I would think the clutch materials that are constantly sheding would be just as bad.


I didn't see a batch number or anything on my fuel filters. The idea that some rust that you just got and others don't that you have had for a long time is interesting. The batch theory is a good possibility. I have seen examples of suppliers changing there material vendor which did really strange things to our end product. Maybe the coating supplier changed vendors for one of the components and it isn't working as well now.

Maybe Racor needs to put a batch number on so we could say batch a had no rust, batch b rust and c no rust. That would allow us to trace back where the problem starts, storage or manufacturing. I also think it is possible that no QA samples at Racor showed rust. I don't know if they have an "aging" program to test how long there corrosion inhibitors last, but I doubt it.

 

[BamaFan]

Not to be ignorant, (well overly ignorant

), what/where is DIS ?

 

[chuntag95]

Diesle Injection Service. http://www.dieselpage.com/

 

[BamaFan]

Thanks Chris !

 

[geno]

Getting ready to order 6 from DMAtech and will listen to any and all suggestions how to preserve them to stop the rust, thought about putting them in my gun safe, anyone know of a preserative that will work. (help please)


Geno

 

[Frank Blum]

Geno, If you have the de-humidifier option, that will work. Vacuum packing will also do it. Later! Frank