Cat Oil filter - fill with oil or install dry?

Has anyone added a second Racor or replaced the original with larger ones?
 
Hold on, hold on. What the heck are you guys talking abou? Do you mean the racor our filters are not big enough? Also, are you saying some boats have 2 razors and then the primary filter - Basically 3 fuel filters per engine? Also, is there a kit to move my port oil filter to the inboard side of the engine?
 
There is no kit per-se, you just have to buy new filter brackets and mounting bases and block off plates for the original mount. There may be some fuel lines that need to be either rerouted or replaced if they are steel. For a one time per year thing, it hardly seems worth the effort and cost since the 410 has a reasonable large hatch that freed the space over the engine. On the 450, there is a small hatch between the engines and you would have to get behind the engine to service the filters, so the engines in my boat were equipped from the factory with remote filter brackets on the inboard side of the stbd engine.

Some boats do have larger and dual Racors. You have a single 500MA that flows 30 GPH, my boat has dual 900MA filters on each engine that flow 180 GPH. The big thing here is the added flow capacity in case you get a lod of crap from the bottom of some marina's fuel tank. Changing Racors isn't hard, but it is a royal PITA when you are bobbing about in a busy waterway or 50 miles off shore in 6-8' seas. The change to 900MA is pretty simple if you have room above and below to change and service the larger filter size. The cost for on pair of dual 900MA's is about $400....or $800 total. No new plumbing would be needed.
 
Interesting information on the larger fuel filters. When I ran my boat from ny to Florida 2 years ago, I had to limp into cape canaveral inlet, due to either a bad batch of diesel, or possibly some sludge getting stirred up in my tanks - hard to tell for sure. There was no way I was changing the fuel filter, bouncing around in the ocean "alone". I was quite a distance from the inlet, but I just ran my boat at 1800 rpm, since I couldn't get much more from one engine. If I had the larger fuel filters, probably wouldn't have been effected until it got a lot worse.
 
With the extensive racing back ground I have, I would never install dry. If you do not want to spill oil in the bilge, what I do is fill new filter with new oil then turn filter upside down and drain what comes out. What you have done is fill the filter material inside the new filter with oil and it will not take as long to fill filter when starting.
 
fwebster said:
Ever the contrarian, I fill every oil filter I can with fresh oil when I put them on, including the ones on my Caterpillar engines. The only ones I don't fill are those with an inverted or horizontal mounting. I think the potential for wear is a lot greater than the potential for contaminated oil when you crank and run a diesel engine with no oil pressure for 15-30 seconds. Besides, if you remove the foil seal in tact, just how much contamination is going to be in a gallon of new Rotella, Delo 400 , SAEO or DEO.?
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Change to my prior post on this subject.

I stand corrected. I should reasearched before I spoke. I believe most modern Diesels use a by-pass system that allows oil to bypass the filter when either the filter is too clogged or the oil is too thick to pass thru the filter. And I do agree that without first filling the filter with oil, there will be a short period of time while the filter is filling that there is no oil pressure to lubricate moving parts.
 
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Dani-Lu said:
Hold on, hold on. What the heck are you guys talking abou? Do you mean the racor our filters are not big enough? Also, are you saying some boats have 2 razors and then the primary filter - Basically 3 fuel filters per engine? Also, is there a kit to move my port oil filter to the inboard side of the engine?
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My boat has dual Racors (mounted on the engine room wall) and an 3rd filter (Cummins) mounted on the engine. The dual Racor gives you the option to run fuel thru both or one side at a time. I think the purpose of the dual racor(least that is how I use it) is to run fuel thru one side and if you have problems with that filter, you can choose to run fuel thru the other side. So yep, 3 filters per engine.
 
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You hear that little extra rattle when you crank an engine without oil in the filter? Notice that the little rattle continues until you see oil pressure registering on the oil pressure gauge? While you might not hear the rattle on a diesel engine because of the fuel knock, it is there. That rattle is wrist pins, rod bearings, main bearings all contacting metal on metal because there is no oil cushion on the bearing surfaces because you have no oil pressure until the filter fills with oil. I guess we can argue oil system designs forever, but for me its just too easy to fill up the oil filter before installing it and avoid the risk of premature engine wear. My oil analyses seem to confirm that benefit........the analyses from 1997 read almost exactly the same as the 2011 ones, some 1400 hours later and show no wear metals.
 
fwebster said:
You hear that little extra rattle when you crank an engine without oil in the filter? Notice that the little rattle continues until you see oil pressure registering on the oil pressure gauge? While you might not hear the rattle on a diesel engine because of the fuel knock, it is there. That rattle is wrist pins, rod bearings, main bearings all contacting metal on metal because there is no oil cushion on the bearing surfaces because you have no oil pressure until the filter fills with oil. I guess we can argue oil system designs forever, but for me its just too easy to fill up the oil filter before installing it and avoid the risk of premature engine wear. My oil analyses seem to confirm that benefit........the analyses from 1997 read almost exactly the same as the 2011 ones, some 1400 hours later and show no wear metals.
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Would have to agree with you 100% Frank. I do hear the rattle sound at start up. I was just thinking it was rocker arms (do they have rocker arms?) or something on the top side. Not sure if the Cummins use pump up lfters or not. I would hate to think it is wrist pins and such banging around. My Generator seems to do it the worst. Makes my teeth clinch for a few seconds every time I fire it up. I will just assume it is rocker arms. Makes me feel better.
 
The only time I didn't prefill the oil filters is on previouse gas merc where filter was upside down.

I always prefill the filters on my Cummins filters. They're positioned vertically with the filler hole at the top, so I really see an excuse not to do it. My stbd side is very easy, the port side is more difficult b/c I have to twist and turn before positioning the filter in place. So, I first get the filter in place dry, then I fill it with oil and screw it back in place. This way I avoid any mess with spilled oil.
 
Alex F said:
The only time I didn't prefill the oil filters is on previouse gas merc where filter was upside down.

I always prefill the filters on my Cummins filters. They're positioned vertically with the filler hole at the top, so I really see an excuse not to do it. My stbd side is very easy, the port side is more difficult b/c I have to twist and turn before positioning the filter in place. So, I first get the filter in place dry, then I fill it with oil and screw it back in place. This way I avoid any mess with spilled oil.
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Alex, when you spin your filters off, do you get a mess? My port one comes off, no spill no nothing. My starboard one comes off and oil goes everywhere. Must be something to do with them not being located in the same position. I have learned to punch a whole in the bottom of the starboard one with a screw driver and let it drain into a bucket first.
 
On your generator, you can easily unplug the fuel supply solenoid and remote crank the generator motor (no more than 30 seconds at a time) until you see pressure on the pressure gauge. When you see a pressure reading, plug the fuel solenoid back in and crank up the engine and resume your usual routine.
 
Morgan Jane said:
Alex, when you spin your filters off, do you get a mess? My port one comes off, no spill no nothing. My starboard one comes off and oil goes everywhere. Must be something to do with them not being located in the same position. I have learned to punch a whole in the bottom of the starboard one with a screw driver and let it drain into a bucket first.
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That's exactly what I do as well. Small oil pan at the bottom, punch the hole and let it drain. No much mess at all, only few drops here and there, which I get covered by placing the white oil absorbent pads under the engine.
 
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