Filters

[Guest 000]

This issue may have been addressed before but...time for engine service and I like to do the right thing by my engine which means using the Perkins filters specified by the manufacturer. The problem being these filters are expensive and difficult to find.

An internet search would tend to suggest opinion comes down on the side of original equipment but I wonder how much is hype and if if really makes much difference.

It may be coincidental but last year I used a Donaldson filter equivalent instead of Perkins on the fuel system and had a persistent leak around the gasket.

[marinheiro 352]

I had a big turbo 6 Perkins in my powerboat days and always used Ryco filters, never a problem.

[wheels 543]

Donaldson make high quality filters and did make filters for John Deere, at least at one stage anyway.
However, other names that have a good reputation are, Wix, Puralator, Racor, Fleetguard. AC Delco, Bosch.
Fram I am not so sure about, because supercheap have a cheap Fram range. Although I was told by someone that there are two versions. German and somewhere else. I may not have been told the real story though. It may have been a supercheap hater.
What tends to set filters apart in quality is not so much the particulates they stop, but the area of surface and thus amount of particulates the filter can catch.
But you should not go wrong with Donaldson.

 

[jonathan 4]

Funny you say that as I changed the filter and had a persistent leak around the gasket on my old Perkins 4108, i left it as it was really slow, will check the filter make now....   I need to completely clean out my Racors, has not been done of a long time.

[Guest 000]

The leak around the filter gasket was very small but if the engine was not started for a couple of weeks it became necessary to bleed the fuel system-not a difficult job as my Perkins has a bleed screw on the injector pump.

It does raise the issue though of all those copper compression washers throughout the fuel system lines as well as under bleed screws. I recall reading somewhere that copper crush washers work harden over time, leak and therefore should be replaced. True, do you think?

[wheels 543]

If in a mission critical situation, like seals around injectors, then yes you always replace the copper washer. That is because it crunches down just the once. But for something like a bleed screw, it is not so critical. They don't harden. They will always remain soft enough. However, if you really had too, you can anneal copper by simply heating it. It goes totally soft again. But you would simply replace the washer rather than doing that.
Odd about the Donaldson filter gasket. What was the filter housing? Maybe it was not quite the right filter for that housing?

[Guest 000]

The Donaldson was given me by the Perkins agent as the correct stand in for the Perkins original filter. Reading up on filter replacement, I should have put a smear of oil around the gasket first - I can't remember if I did that or not which possibly contributed to the leaking gasket.

The older I get the more I realise I don't know much. I've only just discovered that changing engine oil at the start of the season is all wrong. It should be changed at the end of the season so that the engine lies idle over winter with nice clean uncontaminated oil in its bilges. I didn't know that and I wonder what else I don't know?

[mcp 32]

 Donaldson

Make filters for Perkins engines and most other OEM's.  Also, make the famous Racor filters

[jim s 34]

If ever  you need to re-use an old copper washer (or gasket) i've found the best way to anneal them is to carefully heat them till they are a medium red then drop them into a fairly strong salt water - they come out immaculately clean and soft. Years ago i bought a new oil filter (very common nz brand) and found curly thread cutting swarf inside it (down stream from the filter element and so directly upstream from crankshaft bearings etc) while waiting in the check out ...of course i created a bit of a fuss and other customers started opening packets of filters and shaking swarf onto the counter too - the shop manager became quite difficult and pretty much stopped anyone going near the filters. I've always checked inside filters since then and actually they've always been clean. once bitten though...

[BMW56 12]

I was having no luck finding fuel filters for my Isuzu diesel but then came across these guys: https://motorco.com.au Though they are predominantly an automotive parts supplier they appear to have an extensive range of filters including many rare ones. Prices seem ok and for my one it was free freight to nz, so about $30 all up. Certainly worth enquiring if you can’t find what you want locally.