2017 Seneca 37TS Fuel Filters

[Oma/opa]

My owners manual was printed in 2015 which may be causing some of my confusion.

The owners manual calls for the fuel/water separator to be a Fleetguard FS 1065 which is a solid filter can with drain on the bottom. My Seneca has a Fleetguard FS 19551 which is a metal can with a plastic see through cup on the bottom with a drain. Does anyone else have this arrangement?

How often to you drain your separator?

My separator is mounted to a bracket that has what appears to be a primer bulb on the top which again is not what the owners manual describes. Is this set up now the standard?

Do you have to prime the filter to fill it back up after you drain off the water?

[WinnieView]

Originally Posted by Oma/opa

How often to you drain your separator?

My separator is mounted to a bracket that has what appears to be a primer bulb on the top which again is not what the owners manual describes. Is this set up now the standard?

Do you have to prime the filter to fill it back up after you drain off the water?

Usually the separator drain should not be opened unless the Fuel In Water light comes on. If it is opened the primer bulb is used to re-pressurize the system.

Usually the primer bulb can also be used to re-pressurize the system after changing the filter.

[RetiredLEO]

Back in my wild youth when I did LTL delivery in large Ford straight trucks with a Cat engine. Majority of the year we didn't mess with the separator unless it was PM time. Once winter hit though it was just part of daily trip precheck to pull the separator off, drain it, reattach, re pressurize. On occasion in severe cold weather and the engine would stop due to jellying it was drain the sep, drain the fuel filter, put a little power serve in both and the re pressurize.
Those were the days...............and nights!

[Crossingover]

Thinking of doing this myself this time and changing out our primary fuel filter/water separator canister [Alliance Filter | # ABP N122 R50550] but have not found any Youtube videos on the procedure. Does anyone have a URL they can share on this? I'm most concerned with ensuring I don't create an airlock in the fuel supply to the injectors. Thanks.

[Fishman417]

I'm thinking of doing the same thing as Crossingover, replacing fuel filter/water separator canister myself. Does anyone have a link or tutorial on how to do this?

[SloPoke]

I have ours replaced every year... but it is only a part of the annual service our Factory Freighliner dealer charges us about $500 for that includes everything on the service checklist.

[Crossingover]

Originally Posted by Crossingover

Thinking of doing this myself this time and changing out our primary fuel filter/water separator canister [Alliance Filter | # ABP N122 R50550] but have not found any Youtube videos on the procedure. Does anyone have a URL they can share on this? I'm most concerned with ensuring I don't create an airlock in the fuel supply to the injectors. Thanks.

Surprisingly little web info on this. What I have learned reading other forums is as follows:

The plastic bowl should have been installed hand-tight and so should be removable easily. If not, you'll need either the proper wrench (Racor makes them but unsure of fitment to the ABP/N122-R50419 filter) or improvise with a rubber strap wrench. An expensive option is to purchase the filter with bowl already assembled. Remove the two electrical leads from the bowl bottom (one is for water detection, the other is a heater) and remove the metal filter with a standard oil filter strap wrench. Reassemble the bowl to the new filter ensuring you have the new gaskets in place. Spin on the assembly to your engine, reconnect the leads, and push the black primer button several times until it goes solid. If you have a reliable source of suitably filtered diesel, you could prefill the new filter to minimize the button pushing.

I did not read any concerns on air locking after this priming procedure, but would be concerned with cleanliness to prevent injector obstruction. Keep the center hole of the filter covered at all times prior to installation to minimize contamination. You will note the secondary filter (the black plastic one) comes with a red cap over the center hole mainly to allow pre-filling with diesel, but also to minimize particulate contamination in the clean side of the filter.