I bled the filter head today for the first time in 32k miles. (I'm guessing no dealer has bothered doing this for any reason.) I got a surprising amount of air out of the system. No wonder the heating elements are prone to running dry and burning up on these things.

- Chris

This brings up an interesting issue since I experienced the same yesterday when I bled for the first time along with the filter change. Unless this head has a check valve, and a good one at that, there is no way you would not get lots of air upon pumping it with the bleeder valve open. Someone correct me if I am in error but the bleed process should work just like bleeding brakes...

That's the process I generally followed but since I knew I had lots of air from the filter change I used a brake bleeder cup which relies on pumping into a resevoir of fluid. I initially had the tube on the wrong side and ingested air. If one has not previously used a bleeder/pump system though they may mistakenly be pumping with the bleeder open.

It looks like a RACOR.
The new 215, 230 and 245 filter/separators come standard with an integral priming pump and a new see-thru contaminant bowl which can operate in applications up to 30 psi. Another design upgrade is the optional 200-watt in-bowl heater for colder operating conditions. Applications include light-duty and medium-duty trucks and vehicles, welders and other diesel-powered equipment.

http://www.parker.com/racor/spn_product.html

Look closely at the picture of the 315, 230, and 245, and compare it to the posted picture, on the forum.

Ranger1 found some close-up pics of the fuel filter that he sent me on e-mail, which unfortunately I don't have the capability of posting here.

On the bottom of the filter there is a plastic see-thru bowl, with a water drain and two other fittings with wiring harnesses connected to them. One is most probably a fuel heater, as it has the same red/black wiring harness that goes to ours, and Racor puts their fuel heater below the filter element.

The other fitting I'm not sure, it could be either a wif sensor or a fuel temp sensor. The color coding on the wiring doesn't match either on our US spec CRD's. Perusing the Racor catalog, I'd lean toward a wif sensor.

If you go to www.usdieselparts.com , you can access the current full Racor catalog in pdf format.

Looking thru their catalog, there may be an intermediate solution to completely replacing the stock filter head with a Racor unit.

Racor makes filter elements to replace OEM spin-on cartridges. Three of them have the same thread and gasket size as our stock filter assembly (16MM thread, 72 MM gasket). They can be ordered as 2, 10, or 30 micron elements. P/N's are S3208, S3209, and S3216. Add suffix to P/N for micron size, S = 2 micron, T = 10 micron, P = 30 micron.

For these same filters, you can order either metal or see-thru plastic bowls, some of them equipped with fuel heaters, depending on the diameter of the filter, and all standard with a water drain.

In this case, only one of the above filters, S3209, is of sufficient diameter (3.82") to be able to use a see-thru bowl equipped with both a water drain and 12V fuel heater. While the gasket and thread size match, the overall diameter of the filter, approximately 1/2" more than the OEM filter, might pose some fitment problems with the mounting bracket and fuel inlet banjo fitting on the OEM filter head, and it would be wise to do some measurements first.

If the 3209 filter will fit without any clearance problems, with a see-thru bowl including a water drain and 12V heater, that could solve two problem areas - the fuel temp sensor and fuel heater on the stock filter head.

By keeping the sandwich adapter with the temp sensor and stock fuel heater in place, you could still make use of the stock fuel temp sensor, which there doesn't seem to be a readily available replacement for.

The stock fuel heater could be plugged up with your medium of choice (RTV, epoxy, etc) to prevent any leaks. The connector on the wiring harness can be changed to match that on the bowl heater of the Racor filter, and plugged into the bowl heater.

The bowl heater on the Racor units are 12V 200 watt, and unlike the stock unit which constantly has power applied, has it's own thermostat built in - 45 F on, 85 F off.

While there isn't a provision for the wif sensor, you could argue that having a see-thru plastic bowl, where you can actually see when the filter needs to be drained down, would eliminate that need. There's also the chance that the drain fitting on the bowl will be the same thread size (M12 X 1.5) as the wif sensor on the OEM filter and be able to use it without modification, or be able to retap or install an adapter to make use of the wif sensor.

What about getting someone to CNC machine us a quality metal "sandwich" to replace the stock plastic unit? That way all the sensors could be plugged in as stock (expect maybe WIF) and one could use their filter of choice, Racor, Cat, or stock.
I don't if this is possible, and it may be too expensive. But it might accomplish our goals.

Once upon a time someone forgot, and left both the heater and temp sensor unplugged for about a week . This person also reported during this same time that they got 27 MPG running 75-80 MPH.....

Once upon a time someone forgot, and left both the heater and temp sensor unplugged for about a week . This person also reported during this same time that they got 27 MPG running 75-80 MPH.....