Traumatic failure. The U270 engine started smoking. At a mountain pass, we pulled off at a truck pull-off. There was diesel fuel forcefully squirting all over the engine, battery and our towed car. We traced it to a crack in the side of the fuel filter, shown below in the white square.
Bought a replacement at NAPA in Fontana, CA. Installed it and continued to Barstow, CA for the night. Whew!
The defective filter was recently installed by Bob's Diesel in Yuma, AZ. I believe they over stressed the filter sheet metal because there were several depressions near the split. I'll contact them in the morning. Fortunately, diesel fuel does not spontaneously ignite, or the rig could have been a total loss.
What should I do to keep the diesel fuel from doing further damage? What could I buy on the road to de-grease the engine compartment without harming plastics, fiberglass, connectors, wiring, etc? Should I just let the fuel eventually vaporize?
Use Joy or Dawn soap with watwe. Krud Kutter works well also but is much harsher. Brake cleaner is good too, but stay away from any plastics.
Glad you avoided a disaster.
Autozone sells a water soluble degreaser in a spray bottle.
Diesel does not vaporize it is a oil. Steam cleaning is the best way but some purple power in a sprayer and a water hose will do the trick too.
When I had oil all over the side of coach and car from steering gear leak, I went and got big bottle of dawn and sprayer from the garden center. Poured Dawn in, then hot water from outside faucet. Keep going over spraying. After doing it a few times took water hose and rinsed off.
Joy soap with a pressure wash or car wash bay. The Purple power may mess with paint and should be used only in the engine compartment IMHO.
Use something like Simple Green and mix it with water and apply with a "Hudson" type sprayer on a warm engine. Cover the alternator with a plastic bag and then use the sprayer with water to clean it all off.
Oil and fuel filters are designed to be installed by hand, not a strap wrench. NEVER with a mechanical aid. The mechanic that did the work needs to be retrained.
Pierce
That's assuming they even trained the guy.
Wow. Whoever installed that filter should be fired. Clearly they either used a wrench to overtorque it or installed a filter that had been dropped or damaged prior to install. Either is 100% unacceptable, especially for a professional shop. Diesel fuel can easily combust if it touches the exhaust system, so you are super lucky that you didnt have a fire.
A lot of shops ban us from rubber necking, claiming insurance regs. Here is a good reason to insist you take a look before paying the bill!
Depending on your situation and if you can or do change your own,change them even if it's early and your at home or somewhere where you can to avoid these yeah-who's.
They are refunding $100, so at least my costs are covered. Yes, I will lower their review ratings from 4 stars to three.
I used a rubber and plastic strap wrench to help me fasten the new filter, but used light force.
Thanks for your suggestions on the cleanup effort.
Seems likely the appropriate time to remind everyone hand tight only!!!!
No "light force" with a rubber and plastic strap wrench! Read the side of the filter. Spin the filter until it just touches the base. Turn the filter 3/4 of a turn more and that's it. See YouTube for how to do it. Would you lower their review to 3 stars if your coach had burned up?
Use a felt tip marker to put the 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 marks on the filter if necessary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO9qJbNmxaU
Pierce
With respect to your concern over fires, there are automatic fire suppression devices that are available which can be installed in the engine compartment and other possible fire sources.
Now I have to remove the filter because I did not confirm the small rubber ring was installed by Bob's Diesel. I am at a Death Valley campground and am concerned with the possible fuel spill and disposing of fuel captured. Do you think any damage could occur in the 3500 miles left in this trip if the ring is missing from this secondary fuel filter?
Which "small rubber ring" are you talking about?
A one inch rubber flat ring came with the NAPA filter. It installs over the secondary filter's threaded shaft. I believe this forum discussed this issue before, but just wanted confirmation as to how critical this ring is.
If the mechanic did his or hers job right, the old, almost new, ring was still seated on the filter's threaded shaft. As memory serves, if the ring is not installed, some unfiltered fuel can enter the injector system. However, since this is the secondary filter, the fuel is filtered by the primary filter.
If it was me, and I was concerned about the rubber ring, I would check for it. Clean fuel is critical to diesel engine life/performance.
When I remove and replace the filter on the side of the engine block, I don't lose any appreciable amount of fuel. Might dribble a few drops when you drop the filter, but easily caught and cleaned up with a rag. It's not gonna come gushing out or anything like that. You should be fine to R & R the filter wherever you are parked. Since you do it from inside the coach, nobody will even know what you are doing. You are just checking for the presence of the rubber ring, so keep the filter vertical while it is off the mount, and it will stay full of fuel until you replace it. You shouldn't have any liquid to dispose of...just a few oily rags.
Use a big gallon ziplock slipped over it when you unscrew the filter. You won't make a mess then.
Pierce
Many filters have rubber gaskets on the center tube to seal the filter fluid flow and an outer rubber gasket to seal the fluid flow in the opposite direction. It is VERY important to not double up on the center gasket. Some have added the new gasket without realizing the old gasket is still in place.
To answer the question on a missing center gasket, seems like no damage could occur, but there may have been some comingling of fluids entering and leaving with less filtering.
Done! There WAS a ring installed. However, the center double-threaded tube was loose, so I removed it, inspected it and installed a smaller NAPA ring, re-installed the center tube, ring and filter. The engine needed about 10 seconds of cranking, but it started and ran fine. No leaks.
About one hour was spent cleaning many engine parts with a bucket of water with detergent. Thanks to all who replied. I will add a photo of the ring installed when bandwidth allows. We are in Death Valley's Furnace Creek and have minimal internet.