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Diesel fuel filter head design/layout

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Diesel fuel filter head design/layout

Postby WarthogARJ » Sat Jun 16, 2018 12:26 am

Hi,
Does anyone know how the Fram/Ford diesel filter head is designed?
Like it has four pipes entering it: suction from tank and return to tank on right hand side, and supply to fuel pump and return from pump/injectors on left hand side.

I searched hard and found nothing at all about how the internals are arranged.

There’s only one filter/bowl assembly, so it’s obvious that one the filter side there is only a dirty/input side and a clean/outputput side.

But how are the four connected pipes arranged in the head?
The return line does NOT seem to be simply straight through: as would be the simplest design.
After all, why filter fuel that has already been through the pump and the injectors??

In fact, if it WAS straight through, without anything connected to the other lines, why even connect it to the filter head??
Seems a waste.
Just another place to use quick connect couplings that aren’t actually quick, and fail after a while.

So is there some sort of complex one-way valve in there??

It’s important to know how it works if you want to bleed the system of air or contaiminants, as well as to modify it for alternate fuels. Or add a lift pump.

Anyone have a schematic or cross-section diagram?

Alan
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Re: Diesel fuel filter head design/layout

Postby knobby1 » Sat Jun 16, 2018 7:42 am

Depends on what engine it's fitted too...there's several different types.

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Re: Diesel fuel filter head design/layout

Postby v8dave » Sat Jun 16, 2018 11:32 am

There is a thermstatic valve in the filter head on the return circuit.

When fuel is cold the "leak off" in the return circuit is allowed back into the intake side.
Once the fuel in the leak off is hot it is sent back to the tank, via the fuel cooler if fitted.
mk7 08reg 2.4 T350 LWB MHR RWD
mk6 X reg 2.4 T350 LWB MHR RWD - scrapped
mk4 J reg 2.5 L300 LWB MHR RWD - sold on

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Re: Diesel fuel filter head design/layout

Postby WarthogARJ » Sat Jun 16, 2018 7:25 pm

Thanks to both of you for input.
I have a 2004 Mk6 2.0 TD Pumatorque engine.
100PS ABFA ENGINE.
Direct injection, NOT common rail.

A thermostatic valve in the filter return would explain a lot.

But there must be something more.

Maybe it’s how the diesel pump inlet/return are arranged?
The Bosch pump is very common for the Mk6, although i suppose it might have a different variant for the TD direct injection
and for TDCI common rail.

I know that on the pump return outlet there is a check valve.
But i would really like to know how the input to the pump goes.
Like inside the pump.

I believe that some of the input is used for cooling and lubrication, so i THINK a certain fraction is immediately sent out the return valve, to join the return from the injectors.
Is that a constant?
Like is there a valve, or is it just a restrictor that does it?

I have found confusing results if i add a solid state pump (to prime/bleed air out) depending on where i put it.
My system has no lift pump, it relies on suck/siphoning from the injection pump, which means it’s REALLY sensitive to air, or any air leaks.

If i add a so.id state Facet pump with a suction line in all cases from the tank (tube in the fillup line), i can:

(A) add a T after the filter, also with a filter stopping it from going back
(B) add a T and send the fuel to before the filter, with a check valve stopping it from going back to the tank directly.

I measure the pressure on the filter output line in all cases.
The pump has an about 10micron pre-filter.
And i have another T where i can bleed off air as well.

For (A), with pump adding AFTER the filter, i get 6psi if the engine runs, and goes to 10psi if it doesn’t.
Air is bled out quite well.
But i don’t like doing that because i am byassing the filter, i think it filters to 5microns.

For (B), with pump adding BEFORE the filter, i get no obvious pressure, and very little flow.
A little bit of air is bled out, but not much.

The FACET pump is primed, if i check its output before the T, it pumps well.
So obviously the fuel is being diverted in the fuel filter head, I suspect going right back to the tnk in the return line.

I would like to add a lift pump to make it easy to bleed the system, and is on the way to veggy conversion.
But it seems the current filter head is not going to work for me.
Unless i’m not understanding something?

It’s annoying that it’s so hard to get details on the components.
Like if you google, you are deluged with hits of offers to buy stuff, but very little info on it.

There’s lots on marine diesel, and on petrol filters, but zero i could find on diesel for vehicles.
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Re: Diesel fuel filter head design/layout

Postby v8dave » Sat Jun 16, 2018 9:30 pm

WarthogARJ wrote:Thanks to both of you for input.
I have a 2004 Mk6 2.0 TD Pumatorque engine.
100PS ABFA ENGINE.
Direct injection, NOT common rail.

A thermostatic valve in the filter return would explain a lot.

But there must be something more.

It makes no difference whether your tddi or tdci. Filter housing is still doing the same thing.
Apparently tddi filters are 10 micron, tdci filter is 2 micron

tddi have bosch pumps. pump also does distribution to injectors.
tdci have denso pumps. pump does just that, nothing more.

Have a read of this http://injectionpumps.co.uk/pdf/bosch_ve_pumps.pdf
found on the first page of results from google for "bosch vp30 manual"
mk7 08reg 2.4 T350 LWB MHR RWD
mk6 X reg 2.4 T350 LWB MHR RWD - scrapped
mk4 J reg 2.5 L300 LWB MHR RWD - sold on

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Re: Diesel fuel filter head design/layout

Postby WarthogARJ » Sat Jun 16, 2018 10:18 pm

Dave,
Thanks very much for the reference.

Howeve it’s wrong as far as the return routing is concerned.
They do not go directly back to the tank as Fig 1 says.

I did a bit more testing.
When i pump fuel from BEFORE filter with my facet pump, it comes out the outlet return to tank side of the filter (i undid the connection and put a hose on it to see).

So that suggests there might be some sort of temperature valve inside, and when cold, both the supply and return sides of the housing are connected.

But that seems silly, because it is one more issue with feeding the bosch fuel pump, at least while you start up.
Sure when you are running, it doesn’t hurt.

I’ve taken off the filter housing and will have a look at it and see what mine actually has inside.
I don’t know who makes it, mine is Ford part number 1708369.
And it is designed for a 5 micron filter.

It sure seems a poor design to not have a lift pump: they don’t cost much, and add no more complexity to the system. In fct it makes things SIMPLER: you don’t have to worry about air leaks, or air in the system. And all your fuel system is pressurized and not under vacuum: much easier to detect leaks!

I’m going to add one to mine, and have it switched on by the ignition, with a pressure sensor on the outlet side to turn it off if pressure gets too high: like if you turn on ignition without running the engine. That’s what Facet recommends.

At the moment there is a lot of attention paid to not letting your system run dry. But if you hve a lift pump with a good suction, it’s no longer such a big deal. Facet makes one with a 1.2m dry suction head, and 7-10psi output.
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Re: Diesel fuel filter head design/layout

Postby knobby1 » Sat Jun 16, 2018 11:05 pm

Just curios as to why you want to fiddle with or change something that has been working well on millions of transits for many years??.

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Re: Diesel fuel filter head design/layout

Postby v8dave » Sun Jun 17, 2018 12:35 am

Howeve it’s wrong as far as the return routing is concerned.

No, it is different.

The document is generic and not specific to the transit.

The vp30 pump has been used on many other vehicles, lots of audis use it.
It has a built in lift pump so that a separate item is not required - item 1 in figure 3.

The ford fuel filter housing is designed to work at a little below atmospheric pressure.
It is designed for the injection pump to be pulling fuel through it.

The facet pump when placed before the filter will be pushing fuel through it, this is not how the filter housing is designed to work.
Maybe the thermostatic valve is lifting and allowing fuel into the return circuit.

Why is it a problem to have both supply and return line open ?
Both go back to the tank below the fuel level.

TDDi transits fitted with the VP44 pump have an additional separate electric lift pump on the filter housing.
This is designed to supply the VP44 without over pressuring the system.
VP44 pumps are not known for mechanical failures, but they have a reputation for electrical/electronic failure probably due to thermal cycling and the use of lead free solder.
mk7 08reg 2.4 T350 LWB MHR RWD
mk6 X reg 2.4 T350 LWB MHR RWD - scrapped
mk4 J reg 2.5 L300 LWB MHR RWD - sold on

Notice a trend there ? not too big and not too small
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Re: Diesel fuel filter head design/layout

Postby WarthogARJ » Sun Jun 17, 2018 2:54 pm

knobby1 wrote:Just curios as to why you want to fiddle with or change something that has been working well on millions of transits for many years??.

Lord Knobrot

I want to eventually convert it into a dual mode: diesel and veggie.

And it has NOT worked well: it’s well known to be difficult to bleed of air once it gets in.
And the entire control system is aimed at preventing you running low/out of fuel and thus letting air in.
It’s a pretty complex system.
And anything that complex is prone to faults as it gets older.
Or if not looked after well.

A better engineering design would be more robust, as i said. With a strong lift pump so it wasn’t as big a deal if you did run dry or had an air leak.

Anyways, even if i didn’t add a lift pump as a permanent option, it would still be nice to have an easy way to flush the system/bleed out air. That silly pump bulb you can buy to flush doesn’t work very well. If you read through the forums it’s obvious that bleeding the Mk6 TD is a real hassle. Even for the dealer.

And if you look at the other variants, many have indeeed got some sort of lift pump, often built into the filter head.

Ford just screwed up with this design: what do you expect for a company based in Detroit? You don’t exactly get good design engineers who want to go live in Detroit!! At least not in the past 20 years....
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Re: Diesel fuel filter head design/layout

Postby WarthogARJ » Sun Jun 17, 2018 5:12 pm

v8dave wrote:
Howeve it’s wrong as far as the return routing is concerned.

No, it is different.

The document is generic and not specific to the transit.

The vp30 pump has been used on many other vehicles, lots of audis use it.
It has a built in lift pump so that a separate item is not required - item 1 in figure 3.

The ford fuel filter housing is designed to work at a little below atmospheric pressure.
It is designed for the injection pump to be pulling fuel through it.

The facet pump when placed before the filter will be pushing fuel through it, this is not how the filter housing is designed to work.
Maybe the thermostatic valve is lifting and allowing fuel into the return circuit.

Why is it a problem to have both supply and return line open ?
Both go back to the tank below the fuel level.

TDDi transits fitted with the VP44 pump have an additional separate electric lift pump on the filter housing.
This is designed to supply the VP44 without over pressuring the system.
VP44 pumps are not known for mechanical failures, but they have a reputation for electrical/electronic failure probably due to thermal cycling and the use of lead free solder.


Thanks for this.

I know that the Bosch VP44 has two stages, the first acts like a lift pump. The problem there is that it is placed a long way from the tank, and is thus vulnerable to air leaks. It has to suck (as in work below atmospheric) over a lot of hose, connections and over the filter. Lots of places to get a leak. And if you run dry, is not going to self prime.

As i said to Knobby, adding a separate “lift” pump might only be temporary to bleed/flush the system. But the filter housing as it is now defeats that: when cold it just returns everything back to the tank.
You need to disconnect/block the return line to bleed using a (temporary or not) lift pump.

And i’m not really sure that the common trick of using a bucket of diesel added after the filter to flush/bleed the system is such a great one: you’ve hypassed the filter, and become very vulnerable to any dirt in your bucket/diesel.
Like where do you get the diesel from??
Was it filtered to 5 micron??
Doesn’t take much to block an injector....

So yeah, “The good news Sir is that we bled your system. The bad news is we blocked your injectors.
That’ll be £20 for the flush, and £400 to refurbish the injectors.”

And if you want to convert to veggie, you need to know how the OEM system is setup.

As far as the filter being designed to have fuel pulled through it, instead of pushed, it makes no difference to the actual filter. It doesn’t “know” what is being done to it: “pull” or push because diesel as a liquid is essentially non-compressible.

In fact you cannot really “pull” fuel: it’s a liquid, the max suction you can get is its vapour pressure. Which is the issue with trying to get by with a lift pump in the main fuel pump, liquid pumps cannot suck very high.

When fuel goes through the filter there is a pressure drop, as a function of the flow rate, nothing more. It makes no difference if you suck or pump the fuel through.

What is misleading is in thinking in terms of gauge pressure. Rather think absolute. What many call a “vacuum” is not really, it only means less than atmospheric.
Zero psi gauge = 15 psi absolute (approx).

Like we could put 1,000 psi before the filter and 998 psi after and it won’t know any difference than if you have -4psi gauge after and -6psi gauge before. Is still the same 2psi drop.

A liquid filter is like an electrcal resistor, to get flow through it you need a difference in pressure/voltage. It’s the DIFFERENCE that’s important, not the absolute values.

Sure it does matter if the HOUSING can handle the pressure.
But i think you’ll find that to make a filter housing that doesn’t leak air in when you run below atmospheric, has to be at least as beefy as one that has to hold a small pressure in. Remember we’re talking SMALL pressures here: 6-10 psig.

So if you have two cases, both with same flow rate:
(A) 12 psi ABSOLUTE after filter, and 10psi ABSOLUTE before.
Net pressure drop of 2psi over the filter

(B) 18 psi ABS after filter, and 16 psi ABS before.
Same net pressure drop of 2 psi over the filter (because same flow rate)

I’ve read that the Bosch VP22 fuel pump is ok to work at up to 10psi gaugeat inlet, even a bit more.
Was in a forum for exactly what i want to do: convert to veggie.
Have lost the reference, will look for it.
And the fuel rate depends on what it pumps, which it controls.

The fuel line connections shouldn’t see any problem at 6-10psi gauge as opposed to slightly under atmospheric. The seals are all of symmetrical/o-ring type and thus seal both ways. And even if they do leak, you will see it. And a leak of fluid out is nowhere near as bad as sucking air in (which is hard to see, and messes up the system as we all know).
Anyways, Ford uses the same connectors for pressurized and under atmospheric pressure.

The piping itself is fine for the pressure.

Maybe the filter housing will not be so, but i suspect won’t be an issue, we are not talking much pressure here. And as for the filter housing seals, you will spot a leak, and it won’t matter to how the system works.

The only real issue is what my first question dealt with: how the filter housing distributes to fuel from its four inputs/outputs. So you might need to change/modify that if you add a lift pump.
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Re: Diesel fuel filter head design/layout

Postby v8dave » Sun Jun 17, 2018 7:55 pm

WarthogARJ wrote:And if you want to convert to veggie, you need to know how the OEM system is setup.

Sorry, I'm not familiar with the use of 'vegetable' oil as an alternate to readily available diesel.

I thought it was simply a case of putting it into the fuel tank. :?
mk7 08reg 2.4 T350 LWB MHR RWD
mk6 X reg 2.4 T350 LWB MHR RWD - scrapped
mk4 J reg 2.5 L300 LWB MHR RWD - sold on

Notice a trend there ? not too big and not too small
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Re: Diesel fuel filter head design/layout

Postby WarthogARJ » Sun Jun 17, 2018 11:21 pm

Ok, i had a look at my housing.

I will post photos and a few diagrams on a separate post: i’s worth making that a “sticky” because as we’ve seen there’s very little factual info on the filter head.

But in essence, say you have four connectors to the filter head:
(A) supply from tank
(B) feed to diesel injector pump
(C) return from injectors/pump
(D) return to tank

The filter is clamped on, and has two pipes, one inside the other.
(E) The inner pipe is the filtered side, and hopefully dewatered to some extent too.
(F) The outer space, an annulus formed by the inner pipe in the outer one, is the input to the filter, the “dirty” diesel, so to speak

A is connected directly to F.
However on the opposite side that it is connected, there is also an opening that goes to a special restriction orifice, (G)
See more on this below.

So diesel goes from A to F, through the filter, and some water is knocked out, and it exits the filter by E, the inner pipe.

E goes directly to a sort of bowl in the filter head, and then goes out by B to the pump.
There is a threaded opening in the bowl where a pressure drop gauge is cinnected (H), to measure the pressure drop across the filter. To see if it is getting dirty/plugged or not.
More on that below.

On the return, diesel enters by C, and goes into a small enclosed volume/bowl in the filter head. It goes directly out by D, but with two exceptions:
- there is a small spring loaded check valve on D, labelled (J) about 8mm long, and 6.5mm in diameter.
It allows flow out to the tank, and stops return flow from the tank back into the system.
I cannot think of a reason to have it: like how can you get reverse flow from the tank?
And even if you did, so what?

Any flow from the tank backwards through D only can go to the diesel return, against the pressure of diesel from the injector leakoff, and/or the pump return flow. It cannot enter the injectors.
It is NOT a temperature valve from what i could see, only has a simple spring.
And remember it’s only 8mm long: hard to put some sort of temperature control in that spce, and you could hve much more space if you did need to do that.
It does not seem to be user serviceble: i had a look by endoscope, and it seems well stuck in there.
Maybe Ford sved a bit of £ and just re-used an older part where you did need a valve?

- G the restriction orifice i mentioned. This allows diesel to flow from the return side to, and from the supply side.
I’ll post a photo and diagram, but it’s just an orifice: no moving parts.
It’s not even much of a restriction: it allows flow both ways

Perhaps when you look at the very small pressure drop over the filter, and the very small suction from the diesel pump, the spring in the check valve, and the pressure drop across the orifice plate encourages flow mainly from A to B, via the filter.
In fact, there might be a sort of venturi effect caused by the return flow from the pump/injectors from C to D, that tends to help suck upbfuel from the tank. To compensate for not having a lift pump closer to the tank.
But that only works if your engine is running: no engine, no flow, no venturi effect.

As i said, i’d rather spend another £50 and get a proper lift pump, in the right place: next to the tank.

So that’s it.
No temperature valve that diverts flow when cold, unless tht very small check valve does that, and i really doubt it: it’s very small.
And it did allow flow at room temperature.
I’ll do an experiment with iced water, but i really doubt it makes a difference.

However the issue is that if you try to bleed the system by pumping through A, even with a temporary pump, or even that stupid flushing bulb, most flow is just sent straight back to the tank.
That’s one reason why this system is so hard to bleed of air.

I’ll add photos and a few diagrams to a separate post.
As well as confirmation that the valve in D is just a check valve.
Along with a bit of background on how filters work.
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Re: Diesel fuel filter head design/layout

Postby WarthogARJ » Mon Jun 18, 2018 3:54 pm

v8dave wrote:
WarthogARJ wrote:And if you want to convert to veggie, you need to know how the OEM system is setup.

Sorry, I'm not familiar with the use of 'vegetable' oil as an alternate to readily available diesel.

I thought it was simply a case of putting it into the fuel tank. :?


It’s very common in North America and the UK.
The original diesel engine was in fact designed to tun on either diesel or vegetable oil.
The obvious motivation is cost, if you use used vegetable oil you can essentially run for free at the one extreme.
Without any engine modifications.
Many people have had success in just filtering used veggie oil from chip shops etc, and pouring straight into their tank.
Either as a blend, or as 100%.
That’s one extreme, and might not work for everyone’s situation.

There are many variants, your optimum choice depends on a few factors:
- veggie source, either pure (you can buy it wholesale cheaper than diesel), or else used
-engine design: in general, the simpler/earlier engines run better on lower grade/used oil that has just been filtered to tke out the muck, and the water separated out, the more modern/complex ones need a higher grade oil
-ambient temperature: in colder weather, veggie oil is thick, in fact can solidify at really cold, so you need to either blend it, or heat your system. Or keep both systems: diesel and veggie separate

A common method is to start on diesel, warm up, then run on veggie, then when you shut down for any longer period, switch to diesel and flush the system out.
You have two tanks, basically you leave your diesel as is, and add a few valves and t-pieces to swap in or out the veggie.
Also have some heating from the engine coolant:
-heating loop in veggie tank
-heated pipe from tank to heat exchnger
- heat exchanger
-heated veggie filter

You can use the same injection pump and injectors for both.
You are better off using a pressurized rather than sub-atmospheric system: is less susceptible to air leaks/leaks, and easier to flush etc, and swap over.

Can do a conversion as i described above for <£300 parts. And that gives you two systems: diesel without any veggie in it, plus veggie you can run on new veggie, filtered only, blended veggie/diesel and “converted” veggie.

The converted veggie is the best way to deal with used veggie, you do a very simple reaction with caustic soda, and filter out the crap plus separate the water. Are left with a very pure and high calorific fuel, close to that of diesel.

The issues?
Well, it takes some knowledge on either your part or whoever does it.
And some moderate care in running it: it’s not for idiots.
You might not want to either run on pure/new veggie, or do any conversions on a vehicle under warranty, some manufacturers get touchy. Is the same story with petrol engines being run on higher levels of bio-fuel.

In some places you are supposed to pay tax on your modified veggie, or even if you use new veggie. Although thay’s changing. In any case, how does the txman relly know how much you use? And for what?

It’s in effect a renewable fuel, and doesn’t add to the carbon emisssions because it’s from plant matter. It’s no dirtier in other emissions than diesel, in fact better because no sulphur. You can modify it to be even cleaner.

Some people worry about effects on injectors, but that’s hard to really see onevway or another. The issues people have had with plugged injectors and pumps seems to me due to poor use: pilot error. As i said, is not for idiots.

And ok, if you can save £10k per year on fuel, who cares if you need to refurbish injectors a bit more often? In worst case. But if you have avvery new car, with very fancy injectors, then you can run on good quality veggie, or a blend. And startup and shut down on diesel.

But then if you have been able to afford something for >£40k, do you really care so much about fuel costs??
Well maybe you THINK you do, but it’s less important i expect if you really think about it.

It’s perfect for vehicles under £10k, and i’d say not common rail. Although lots run on common rail without issues.

You’ll find that those who jump up and down and say it will ruin your engine don’t actually know much about it, or how you cantailor it to your situation. They are going on one or two examples: and if you look at them, i think you’ll see it was human caused. As i said, is not for idiots.

Heres’s a good reference about a good design, run in a pretty extreme place: Colorado with sub-zero:
http://www.burnveg.com/wvo-conversion.htm
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Re: Diesel fuel filter head design/layout

Postby v8dave » Tue Jun 19, 2018 8:39 pm

Thank you for taking the time to summarise the vast array of amateur research on the use of vegetable oil.

As far as I'm concerned the use of any fuel in an engine produces 'carbon' emissions, the only difference between the fuels is the timescale over with the carbon has been accumulated.
Many organisations involved in campaigning to protect the environment are against the replacement of conventional diesel with biodiesel because of the intensive agricultural effort required for production.

UK duty payable is governed primarily be HMRC regulations, it will take some time for me to read them and the regulations they reference.

WarthogARJ wrote:As i said, i’d rather spend another £50 and get a proper lift pump, in the right place: next to the tank.


WarthogARJ wrote:However the issue is that if you try to bleed the system by pumping through A, even with a temporary pump, or even that stupid flushing bulb, most flow is just sent straight back to the tank.

Sorry, these two statements seem to contradict each other :?
mk7 08reg 2.4 T350 LWB MHR RWD
mk6 X reg 2.4 T350 LWB MHR RWD - scrapped
mk4 J reg 2.5 L300 LWB MHR RWD - sold on

Notice a trend there ? not too big and not too small
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Re: Diesel fuel filter head design/layout

Postby WarthogARJ » Thu Jun 21, 2018 7:03 pm

v8dave wrote:Thank you for taking the time to summarise the vast array of amateur research on the use of vegetable oil.

As far as I'm concerned the use of any fuel in an engine produces 'carbon' emissions, the only difference between the fuels is the timescale over with the carbon has been accumulated.
Many organisations involved in campaigning to protect the environment are against the replacement of conventional diesel with biodiesel because of the intensive agricultural effort required for production.

UK duty payable is governed primarily be HMRC regulations, it will take some time for me to read them and the regulations they reference.

WarthogARJ wrote:As i said, i’d rather spend another £50 and get a proper lift pump, in the right place: next to the tank.


WarthogARJ wrote:However the issue is that if you try to bleed the system by pumping through A, even with a temporary pump, or even that stupid flushing bulb, most flow is just sent straight back to the tank.

Sorry, these two statements seem to contradict each other :?


Thanks for the interest.
And i am not trying to get on a high horse here, and say you MUST have a lift pump. As Knobby has commented, there are lots and lots of Transits without a separate one.
I was just trying to bleed my system, and struggling.
I read up on it, looked at Haynes, as well as the online Ford mnual, searched the forums, Youtube etc etc. And struggled.

I wasn’t so keen on using the bucket method: seemed too easy to introduce dirt into my freshly refurbished injectors. So after seeing a lot of diesel systwms used lift pumps, and as i had a spare one from my motorbike, i thought great, i’ll use that.

As far as my statements contradicting each other, you are missing my point.

I just spent some time figuring out how the filter head works.....obviously one would use that knowledge to add a pump. so if i were to fit a lift pump permanently you’d obviously swap out or modify the filter head. The obvious change would be to close off the restriction orifice bypass that is in it. Easy to do, just remove the plug/orifice plate and insert a plug into the hole to allow only flow from return input, to return output. And nothing returning to the pump. Can remove it if you want to change back.

You don’t actually lose anything: there’s no temperature control, or heat exchanger on my model, so you just send 100% of the flow back to the tank rather than about 50% (a guess). With the lift pump you have enough pressure to get enough flow on its own.

Maybe that’s not the ultimate solution, but will work until something else comes up.

Anyways, i won’t do that right now: will wait until i finish the veggie conversion. But i have the quick connects installed already in the fuel lines, so is very easy to add in the pump, before the filter. If you hve a t-piece in the filter output, you can bleed all the air out very easily: there’s enough flow to do it. You could add another t-piece in the return pipe that feeds the filter head from pump/injector return to bleed off that air, but is not needed because eventually it all goes to the tank, or else what gets recycled you can bleed off through the other t-piece.

I replaced the two lines with the ford quick links ŵith standard fuel hose and jubilee clamps: makes it very easy to undo, and/or add a t-piece of pressure gauge fonnection. As well as is the start to my veggie conversion.

As far as the logic of how the carbon cycle works, perhaps initially it sounds strange, but if you burn carbon based plant matter it is indeed considered carbon-neutral. In global terms the plant matter will die in any cse, decompose and release its carbnon to the atmosphere. So burning it sooner makes no difference in a big picture view.

Sure, if you were looking at very long lived plants, like redwoods, it’s slightly different on the short to medium time scale, you do in effect carbon capture for a while: but it”s a very very small part of the whole issue.

And in terms of the hig picture, we’re talking how do we power the existing diesel engine transport fleet? By burning diesel? Well, that puts a lot of carbon into the air. As well as other contaminants. If a few people burn used veggie oil, they are not making things worse, in fwct are making it better by burning less diesel.

Yes there’s lots of talk about the idea of bio-fuels, and its impact on land available for growing food. But again, you need to look at the bigger picture, the entire farming/food production is already out of whack: it’s extremely. Just a few crops and animals are used to feed the bulk of the population, not based on use of existing water, or local diseases/pests. Or on the efficiency of production per acre. Or even on where they are produced. It’s crazy having an American sugar industry that is really inefficient, and is only kept alive hy heavy subsidies and tarrifs. Same as a lot of the food prodction in the UK. Wrong stuff grown in the wrong place.
WarthogARJ
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