Racor no! no! tip of the day!

[wingtime]

I had been noticing some nasty sediment in the Racor filter bowl.  I drained it a few times but i figured it was time to change it just to be safe.  I only had 50 or so hours on it and I'm running non-ethanol but even though I had the fuel tank cleaned there still was some stuff on the bottom of the tank the fuel polisher couldn't get so I'm sure it was time.  I pulled off the filter/bowl combo and dumped the filter into a bowl.  Man all kinds of nasty crap came out.  I got lucky and the bowl spun right off the old filter.  There was some funky bits still in the bowl even after I wiped it out.  Here comes the tip part...  I  needed something to wash out the bowl quick so i grabbed a can of carb cleaner.  It didn't hurt the plastic carb parts so it should be OK.  WRONG!  I sprayed the bowl out and gave it a quick wipe with a blue shop towel...  nice N clean... wait were those cracks in the bowl before?  Nope... right before my eyes the inside of the bowl started to craze!  Hair line cracks all over it!  DARN! IT!   Now this was the bluish green color bowl.  Maybe the newer yellow color bowls would not be affected but I wouldn't be so sure.  Since I'm planning to take the boat out tomorrow I had to run down to Worst Marine...  they didn't have any on the shelf but the parts guy had one behind the counter.  $29 NO! NO!

[flounderpounder225]

I had been noticing some nasty sediment in the Racor filter bowl.  I drained it a few times but i figured it was time to change it just to be safe.  I only had 50 or so hours on it and I'm running non-ethanol but even though I had the fuel tank cleaned there still was some stuff on the bottom of the tank the fuel polisher couldn't get so I'm sure it was time.  I pulled off the filter/bowl combo and dumped the filter into a bowl.  Man all kinds of nasty crap came out.  I got lucky and the bowl spun right off the old filter.  There was some funky bits still in the bowl even after I wiped it out.  Here comes the tip part...  I  needed something to wash out the bowl quick so i grabbed a can of carb cleaner.  It didn't hurt the plastic carb parts so it should be OK.  WRONG!  I sprayed the bowl out and gave it a quick wipe with a blue shop towel...  nice N clean... wait were those cracks in the bowl before?  Nope... right before my eyes the inside of the bowl started to craze!  Hair line cracks all over it!  DARN! IT!   Now this was the bluish green color bowl.  Maybe the newer gold color bowls would not be affected but I wouldn't be so sure.  Since I'm planning to take the boat out tomorrow I had to run down to Worst Marine...  they didn't have any on the shelf but the parts guy had one behind the counter.  $29 NO! NO!

Don't feel like the lone ranger... Your post brought back the same thing I did years ago, it didn't crack it, but it clouded it so bad you couldn't see through it at all, pretty much useless at that point...

[fitz73222]

Good tip Bruce! They're proud of those bowls. I usually clean them with Simple Green, wash out with the hose and put in the back of the GMC with the Line X Bedliner and it's cooked dry in about 10 minutes.

[wingtime]

I knew in the back of my head it probably was a bad idea to use it but I was in a hurry and it was convenient.  I can tell you that the new one is much easier to see into.

[pigbike]

Good tip Bruce! They're proud of those bowls. I usually clean them with Simple Green, wash out with the hose and put in the back of the GMC with the Line X Bedliner and it's cooked dry in about 10 minutes.

I like to use the hot air blowing up from the A/C unit to dry things

[redemn93]

Good tip Bruce! They're proud of those bowls. I usually clean them with Simple Green, wash out with the hose and put in the back of the GMC with the Line X Bedliner and it's cooked dry in about 10 minutes.

you dont mean the filter element do you?  or just the bowl?

[wingtime]

Just the clear plastic sediment bowl.