Dark color on pleated material in fuel filter
 

Just pulled fuel filter from 2000 cummins it was dark but also had alot of Maroon color splotches to it, is that normal? I have not changed in 35,000 not sure when was changed before today, will this restrict fuel enough to effect performance of VP-44?

Ive never seen that or anything like that....fuel varies a lot from place to place. But then again, I change my fuel fllter every other oil change. I would suggest changing your FF a bit more often. Unlike gas, diesel fuel has a lot of crap in it.

Maroon could be from running dyed offroad Diesel many fillups ago.

Just look close next time you change it to see if it cleared up.


phox

Not sure what the maroon colors are your seeing but the only real way to tell if you have plugged up the filter enough to lower fuel psi is to hook up a gauge. Temporary or permenant, but both need to be post filter housing to get accurate numbers. If you dont have gauges in your truck then I suggest getting some for many reasons and this being one of them. Also if your FP gauge is hooked up post filter then you will notice a drop in psi as the filter clogs and then you change it, but if the psi doesnt return after the installation of a new one then you need to look at your lift pump.

A pre and post filter guage setup would be the most ideal. That way you could see the pressure drop across the filter.

Good point but I dont have room for that many gauges (or money) and I dont think there is to many if any dual needle fuel pressure gauges. So the post location seems the most logical for one gauge. But again, good point.

IIRC, Scotty tried to plug up a fuel filter to the point that it would restrict flow and he said that it was dang near impossible. I'm betting that the maroon stuff is algae.

You could set it up on one guage. Run the two lines (pre and post filter) to a three way cutoff valve (think of the cutoff valve on an ATV's fuel line, they are setup for three way, ON, OFF, and reserve). Then run the valve output to the guage. That way with a turn of a valve you could have pre, post, and cutoff in case of leaks.

I would suspect that black part is from running black diesel (Waste Oil).

Beware of what colors you describing...

This is a filter after 3,500 miles! Never used waste oil... Believe it or not it was choking my performance pretty bad...


http://www.cloud10computers.dynu.com...m/DSCF0175.JPG

Jeez. You musta gotten hold of some bad fuel. I run mine until 6000 miles and while they are black in color, they don't hurt anything.

Could be...but only if they ran Off Road Diesel at some point....dying it red.
Live algae is Greenish in color
Dead algae is white

Any algae in a fuel filter would be dead....cause it can not live in diesel fuel.

RJ

It's probably foreign material that has been dyed from the red fuel.

Don't think that's right. Not only can it live in fuel oil, it lives ON fuel oil. or at least the impurities thereof

I'm not an Algae...just repeating what I learned in a Fuel Purification Course I took in 95. We were told that algae need oxygen to live. They find it, and thrive, in the boundry layer between water and fuel in a storage tank. Algae feed on the impurities in the water. No water in the tank....no Algae!
Makes sense when you think about it. Hope it's right ....paid good money for the class! :)

RJ