Howdy. You guys see any problems with using these type of fuel filters? They're cloth-like. About $2 at the local import shop. This is the kind they use in air-cooled vw beetles. The difference is that in the beetle, fuel is pumped UPWARD through these and not gravity drained. Please advise.
I just put some high-flow plastic filters on my GS that I got at the local dirt bikes parts place... I'm guessing that I could have used them earlier as when I rebuilt the carbs last weekend (for the 1st time in 40K miles I would guess) I got around a 1/4 teaspoon of black grit from around the main jet of each carb... no wonder it was getting hard to get those suckers balanced!
is that what the kind in the picture is technically called? "high flow"? Just thought these would be cheaper than the bmw kind with the little screens in them. and probly filter more crap.
Mine are similar, but don't have a paper insert, it's a screen. Think I paid around 5 bucks for two from the dirtbike store...
fuel boils in these transparent filters in hot sunny days and sometimes create vapour lock. Heat radiating from the engine when combined with the heat of sun creates this sort of problem. I bought same type of Mahle branded filters they are semi-opaque white and no boiling problem. Stick some reflective tape on transparent filters, this may also cure the problem
Hmmm, I don't buy it. A black fuel line would absorb more energy from the sun, and be hotter than a clear plastic fuel filter, and opaque container would also heat more than clear plastic. If you experienced vapor lock I would suspect that is was a blocked vent line on your tank.
Rode up 395 past Death Valley in 100 degree heat on my R100RS with clear plastic filters with no problem. Like being able to look at what's flowing into carbs. No vapor lock or any other problems that I can see. After 10K miles with these things I'm not sure what they're trapping, but bike's running great. My observation.
Don't know if it happens in the fuel line but I've seen fuel boiling in the clear type filter many times. My bike is an r80gs kalahari with an old sytle pd tank and double fuel taps and the difference between the filter in the shaded part of the bike and the one the sunny side is quite visible. Even the paper element of the filter on the hot side gets dry. This made me reach such a conclusion.
drove my 66 bug from wichita, ks, to San Diego in the middle of july. went through Las Vegas and out the other side in the middle of the day. that was about 107 degrees on an enclosed air-cooled engine. used the clear ones shown on the above picture of the truck engine. I've used them on several carb'd vehicles with fuel pumps cause it has pressure and it's an easy visual check to see if the fuel pump isn't functioning. I'm not too worried about vapor lock or fuel boil, etc. especially in a gravity feed. Mostly i was worried about whether the gas will drain through the filter fast enough to keep from starving the engine. **Let the arguments continue. My question is answered**
After reading your replies I wondered why I am the only one who runs a bike with fuel filters that boil like kettles and asked another friend who has an r65 and an air cooled bettle if he is experiencing the same problem. He agrees that clear type Bosch or MANN fuel filters boil on hot days but he has no observations for his vw. A quick search on google showed that the boiling point of gasoline can be as low as 40C degrees and it depends on the ingredients of fuel. I live in Turkey, most of my summer riding takes place on the mediterrenean coast where temperatures up to 30-35 C degrees in the shade is quite common in summer. Also I use unleaded 98 octane fuel but dont know what the ingredients are. It is probable that difference in the ingredients of fuels in US and Turkey may cause such a difference. http://www.imakenews.com/aristatek/e_article000301646.cfm Boiling Point of Gasoline Gasoline as used by vehicles is a mixture of roughly 230 different chemicals. Gasoline formulations vary depending upon the location, time of the year, environmental regulations, and availability. If the PEAC user looks up the boiling point of gasoline on the PEAC tool, the temperature 102o F (or 39o C) is displayed. But the information is misleading. Gasoline boils over a range of temperatures, with the most volatile components starting to boil away at roughly 102oF. The less-volatile components will boil at higher temperatures. Gasoline boils over range of temperatures, between 39 and 200o C (102oF and 392o F) typically, the temperature range varies depending upon the formulation. The final boiling point of the last residual of gasoline might be typically 225oC (437oF). This is in contrast to a pure chemical such as heptanes (one of the components of gasoline) which boils at a single temperature (209o F; 98oC).
well, I hate the heat. That's why i live in FL :huh :huh ya, good thinking there huh? Anyway, if it's over the low 90's, i'm not on my bike. I'm in the a/c. So maybe it does boil, but I won't be around to see temps over 100 degrees F.