F#*$*** FCC bowl is TIGHT!!!

[M3Fan]

Re: RE: wrench

I have had the filter service kit on my shelf for over a year now. I may never service this thing. Keep in mind I don't run marina/Lake gas, I usually only run Chevron gas in my boat and refill from jugs I carry to the lake when needed. As an ex-employee of Chevron I know their micron filters should keep all particulates out of the system so I should not need to service the FCC.

What are you guys seeing when you remove the FCC? Is the filter dirty? Is there water in the bottom of the seperator? Am I making a mistake not servicing this in my boat with over 300 hours now?

I just changed mine this spring- let it go 2 seasons and it was noticeably dirty relative to the new one. It also expanded and bound to the FCC bowl- removal of the filter from the bowl itself was not easy. Happened with the last one too. It seems the filters grow a little bit from the gasoline.

[east tx skier]

I bent my cheapo filter wrench on it, then took it to my dealer. He put a better filter wrench on it and was practically lying on the floor to get enough leverage to budge it. In the end, he got it loose and I bought him a brat on a bun as payment. I can't say enough great things about this dealer.

[DanielC]

RE: Re: RE: wrench

I have been letting mine go longer than the recommended. Every 100 hours, according to my manual. I drain the FCC when I winterize the boat, and look for crud in the FCC, and water too. If I get a lot of crud coming out, then I will change the FCC. I used to work at a dealer, and I have changed many FCC fuel filters, and I have found only a very few that needed to be changed. It is more of a peace of mind thing.
If your fuel pressure drops off when the boat is running, change the filter. You may need to do this test with the boat running in the water, at wide open throttle.
Change the filter at 500 hours if you know you have got good gas every time you filled up. If you see the tanker truck delivering gas to a station, do not fill up there, let the fuel sediment in their tank settle. You have no guarantee that the station has changed their filters, or that they have one.
On a side note, I have been running the E10 mix in my boat for a few years now, here in Oregon, and often I find no water in the FCC.
I did not find any water in the two Nautiques I recommissioned this spring.
I did not find any water in the fuel filters i recently changed on the two outboard motors I work in on our ski team's twin rig boat.
I also keep the fuel tank nearly full in the winter. Lately, the gas I buy in the fall to fill the tank, has been cheaper than the gas price next spring.

[herd2243]

jeezzz I am glad mine runs on LPG and I don't have to tackle the FCC bowl.

Thats the way ahead, LPG conversion!!

[Canuked]

I use a 24" pipe wrench to remove it....after breaking a fuel filter puller

[AirTool]

Some comments:

1. I changed my filter last week. It is an '06 206 with the clamp ring instead of spin on. Wow....was that easy.

2. I bought the boat with 97 hours on it. Right now, it as 12x on it...maybe 130. I do not know if the filter was changed prior to my purchase. The owner had the boat on a lift and serviced by the dealer. I know they did service at 25 hours and 74 hours. I doubt they changed the fuel filter. Although I do think they changed the pre-pump due to the recall. (I need to double check that with PCM or CC before it strands me.)

3. I drained the fuel from the bottom drain into a clean funnel with new vinyl hose attached. ...down through the drain plug and into a clean mason jar. The fuel came out absolutely spottless with not a single drop of water.

4. I had no problems before...just needed piece of mind. Only concern was that when starting the engine hot, the engine has to crank a second + before it fires off. I was thinking that might be due to a restricted filter. If the clean filter makes a difference, I will post an update.

5. Picture of fuel filter below. I wonder if it is dirty or just stained / discolored. Any comments compared to what you've seen before?

AirTool

[DanielC]

Fuel injected engines have a start delay programmed into them. The thought is that the engine will crank about a second or two, and get some oil pressure before a cylinder fires and starts to slam things around without oil pressure.
In some cases, a carburettor engine will start soomer than a FI engine. But the fuel injected engine takes the same amount of time to start if you are going out skiing on Jan 1, in the cold, or if you just picked up a down skier on Lake Shasta, in the middle of August.
Now that the picture has loaded, the used filter is just stained, or discolored. There will be crud falling off the filter if it is dirty.

[KPNautique]

Anybody concerned about the 10% ethanol that is in the fuel? My understanding is that it absorbs water. This may be a good reason to change filters?