heated fuel filter 2

[a64pilot]

Sorry but the BB would let me post in the original thread, fatal error, flood protection etc.
You may be missing something, The other reason that we need a heater is that if it get's below the fuels wax point the wax that comes out of suspension of the fuel will clog the filter if it's not heated. It won't do it in your driveway either, it'll let you get half way to work in really bad weather before the filter clogs and shuts down the truck. A heater is probably more necessary in a pre set up than a post as the oem filter is heated.
Think of it this way GM wouldn't have spent the money if it wasn't necessary for cold weather operation.
BTW, this is another area where a good fuel treatment will help a lot.

[TDIwyse]

I couldn't post to the old thread either.

DmaxalliTech, Greg and whoever else is in the know.

I have an 02 model. Do you recall exactly to which connectors and how you made the connections to the fuse boxes?

I’ve been probing around and wanted to run this by you guys before I actually do it.

The first possibility is to use the SEO (Special Equipment Option) relay studs in the fuse box under the steering column (these connectors seem to be connected to the SEO fuse in the driver side panel fuse box). There are two studs/pins that go to +12 when the key is engaged. It appears these studs could be used for the heating element relay control signals? Using this would require at least two wires to be routed through the firewire (The Power wire for the Relay, and the heating wire for the heating element) and maybe additional ground wires.

The other option that looks promising is with the unused Power Relay Connections in the driver side fuse box labeled as L Body. It appears that there is a stud tied directly to the Battery and at least two (L Body and M, IIRC) that go high when the key is activated, and several grounds. Could these studs be used for all the wires on the heating element relay? The +12 V stud goes the relay’s Power connection (with an inline fuse), The stud grounds to the relay’s grounds, and the key activated pins (L Body or M) to the relay control wire? This approach would only need one wire going through the firewire (the heating element wire).

Or is there an even simpler way?

Your help is much appreciated.

[56Nomad]

Jeep Puller,

I put a copy of the install/wiring diagram for the Racor heater at:

http://members.cruzio.com/~quailman/racor.heater.jpg

[YZF1R]

I wondered about wiring also. I don't suppose you could just wire it in parallel with the OE heater power could you? That sounds way too easy. Probably would blow a fuse from two heaters on at once? Or cause premature failure of the OE relay?

Steve

[YZF1R]

Just for curiosity, does anyone know what for amps the OE or any other fuel heater draws?

Steve

[56Nomad]

The Racor heater with our 12 volt system
calls for a 25 amp fuse because the demand
for the heater is 20 amps. They also recommend an additional relay which they
can provide.

[chuntag95]

Originally posted by YZF1R:
I don't suppose you could just wire it in parallel with the OE heater power could you? Probably would blow a fuse from two heaters on at once? Or cause premature failure of the OE relay?

Steve Steve, you have answered your own question. Use a relay hooked in paralell to the OEM heater to drive the secondary filter heater on a circuit from the battery or where ever. The extra few milliamps shoule not hurt the OEM in the slightest.

[YZF1R]

Thank you both! smile.gif

Steve

[TDIwyse]

For those interested in installing the heater relay for the Racor Filter assembly:

First off, my truck is an 02. My filter is located on the frame rail.

I finally installed the heater relay this weekend. First off, I was told the Red wire goes to the battery (+12), the Black wire went to Gnd, and the White wire was the heater wire. I originally connected the Red connection to +12, the Black to Ground, and the White as the heater wire which goes to the filter, and the blue and yellow wires as the relay control wires. Doing this immediately resulted in a blown fuse because when the blue and yellow control wires are grounded (no signals on the control lines) the Red and Black wires are shorted together (i.e. +12 is shorted to Ground in my original connection). Not good.

So, after this happened I disconnected the relay from my truck and measured the relay myself when the control wires (blue and yellow) were grounded or when they had a 12 V potential applied across them. I used a spare +12V battery for the controls. Well, as mentioned previously, when the control lines are grounded, Red and Black are shorted together. When the control wires have a 12V potential applied across them the White and Black wires are connected together. I strongly encourage you to verify this before connecting to your truck so you don’t damage anything. I had to do this several times to verify it to myself because it seemed backwards. What this means is that the Red wire must be grounded (so when your truck is off the battery won’t be supplying current to the heater and draining the battery), the white wire connected to +12, and the Black wire is the heater wire (when the truck is on, you want the +12 to be connected to the heater). I always thought Red was battery and black was ground. Not in this case.

Excuse me for a moment while I go add my aromatic hops to the last 5 mins of my homebrew boil and start the chilling phase…

Ahhhhh (sipping a previous batch of a Belgian Double Stout). So, anyway, this is important information. To those who previously installed the heater relay, if you connected it as I originally did, you may want to check your inline fuse to see if it blew. Also, to those who haven’t yet installed, here’s some pictures and descriptions of my install.

For the control lines and +12V (battery) connections I used relay pins located in the fuse box under the steering column. I used quick release female connectors for making connections to the relay studs (male pins). This works very well and doesn’t require any soldering in tight, cramped spaces (a big plus if you ask me). For the control lines I used the SEO (Special Equipment Option) pins, pg. 6-80 of my manual, (the upper left relay, the top two pins are what I used- this relay is already fused in my 02 Silverado on the driver side panel in the location called out as SEO ACCY on pg 6.78 in the trucks manual with a 15 amp fuse). The 15 amp fuse is more than enough for the relay control. For the battery connection I used one of the studs in the Pwr ST (Directly right and down of the SEO relay) relay connection (don’t think it matters which one). Note: This pin doesn’t have any power going to it unless the fuse connections in the driver side panel are connected (fuse SEAT on pg. 6-78 of manual). I’m using an in-line fuse so I can either short the SEAT fuse connection or buy the SEAT fuse (it’s different than the standard fuses used in the other locations. I’m going to buy the fuse, but for my testing I went ahead and shorted it).

The Black wire (I connected to a very long blue wire for the routing) goes out the firewire and along the truck frame back to the filter assembly. For getting the wire through the rubber protector I used the following technique. From inside the truck I used a small flat head screw driver to puncture through the rubber piece into the engine compartment. From the engine compartment I then clamped onto the sharp end of the screw driver with a needle nose pliers and then pushed the pliers back through to the inside of the truck using the screw driver to guide the pliers through both sides of the rubber piece. I then let lose of the screw driver and put the end of the wire in the jaws of the needle nose pliers and proceded to pull the wire back through to the engine compartment. This was necessary since the rubber piece is two sided with a space in between the sides. This space made it difficult to push the wire through without something to guide it through two different holes on opposite ends of the rubber piece.

The Red wire I grounded as indicated in the pictures.

After this was done I placed a leeded resistor across the female heater connector down by the filter assembly add measured the pins to see if I was getting pwr back to the filter. Sure enough, when the truck is off, the heater connector pins are at ground. When the truck ignition is turned on, the pins have 12 V applied across them.

Now, back to my home brew. Gotta add yeast and transfer into the fermentator.

Oh, the pics are located at: http://www.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=8294953/t_=1645464

The picture that shows the connections to the fuse box has a problem in that one of the relay control lines is blocked from view. The top left of the picture should show both relay control lines connected to the SEO pins, but the right one is blocked from view (the left one is visible).

[TDIwyse]

Doh! Snapfish won't let me share the pics with the world. Let me work on this and see if I can find another way to do this.

[TDIwyse]

Try this.

http://community.webshots.com/album/87200536eCfEJB?992