cold weather fuel filter tec tips!

[mark45678]

Well after owning a diesel truck since 93 I finaly fell victum to fuel gelling on the road.... Had it happen on off road stuff but never on the road. Well I can tell you first had that the duramax fuel heater can't help you if your introuble already..... It will only heat enough fuel to run at 1800 rpm with light load and it was slowing down ! Never use so much heat that you cant hold any part of the fuel filter housing in your hand...I melted a plastic piece in the primer section! NONE of the parts are replaceable threw GM.... It must be replaced as a hole filter assembly to the tune of $500.00 list cost!!!! and good luck finding one ,it only can come from the factory that its made in..... NO stock IN ANY GM warehouse ANYWHERE!!!!! I talked to 1 dealer in VT that had one and by 8:30 am he had 10 calls on it that day! If any one has any idea who make the filer assembly I would like to get just the parts I need threw them ! I got the truck up and running with a little clean up work with a dremel tool on the parts that melted ,It just started to melt around some "o"ring seals in the primer bulb!Once it cooled off it was leaking fuel around the bulb and drawing air in ! I found the o rings witch are more like lip seals had plastic stuck around them ... I removed the lip seals and cleaned off the plastic and reasembled the filter houseing and vacuemed tested it to 20"..... I got lucky to say the least!

[Kennedy]

If this happens again, it would stand to reason that you may do well to cover the fuel cooler, and idle/fast idle the engine. This should put more warm fuel back in the tank...

[needbigtruck]

That seems like it would be like p#@$%$# in the wind, the BTU's you may be pumping back there are easily gone by the time the fuel gets to the tank, it's -5 degrees out there. Isn't the place gelling would take you down is in the filter?. Book says good down to -20 degrees then use plug, what does the plug do for the fuel? I've put a lot of faith in the fact they sell only winter blend fuel around here and I use the power service fuel additive stuff sold at Walmart. I have a diesel tractor and heat the intake with a heat gun to get it started then it runs just fine. I'm curious if you are sure that your fuel source is selling blended fuel?

[Runaway]

Yep to the fuel source being blended/winterized! My brother delivers the stuff to the stations I use here in the Northern/NE Wisconsin and UP. :D Have not had fuel related problems in the winter months since I got back in a diesel powered vehicles back in "99."
Now that I've said that, I more than likely just jinxed myself! :(

[Idle_Chatter]

Well, I've had my first incidence of "stall/no start" since I put my KD Megafilter on my truck in October. It's bitter cold here in Ohio (single digits) and I think that it may have something to do with it. Twice now in the last five days on a cold start after sitting at work all day, the truck has started fine and run for a minute or so before getting rough and stalling. Won't refire on a couple of cranks. All I've done so far is pop the hood and pump the primer (without opening any vents) until I get resistance (about 20 pumps)- not "solid" but just until I can feel some backpressure - and it fires and runs fine. JK mentioned that the rubber drainback valve in the OEM head may be shrinking or getting stiff and allowing an air pocket to form. It's been so damn cold that I'm sure there's a lot of "shrinkage" issues! tongue.gif This morning on the first start of the day in the garage, it started to idle rough like it was going to stall and I eased it up to 1500 rpm for a few seconds and it got over it. I suppose there may be an air leak somewhere caused by the cold - sure hope it gets over it AND the temperature goes up! :rolleyes:

[OC_DMAX]

If any one has any idea who make the filer assembly I would like to get just the parts I need threw them

I believe the filter assembly is made by Racor. I remember a year ago or so where an individual lost the plastic bleeder screw. Reported the same thing, could not get just a bleeder screw replacement from GM. Needed to replace the whole assembly. Someone from Diesel Injection Services came up with the part number and actually ordered just the plastic bleeder screw for them. So you may want to start with DIS. A phone call couldn't hurt.