Fall Maintenance - Universal Diesel

Jul 5, 2011
702
Oday 28 Madison, CT
I have typically done my oil change in the fall, then fuel filter, fuel pump sieve/screen and HE anode in the spring, but I sure would like to streamline things with "one stop shopping". Any reason I can't do all of the above in the Fall?
 
Feb 26, 2004
22,759
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
fuel pump sieve/screen
Is your fuel pump before your primary? If so, you should re-plumb it to be after the primary filter, then you never have to worry about that screen ever again. That tiny screen shouldn't be the first filter in your system.
Any reason I can't do all of the above in the Fall?
Of course not.
 
Jul 5, 2011
702
Oday 28 Madison, CT
The O'Day 28 (1985 in my case) was plumbed fuel tank to Fasco pump with internal fine screen and magnet, then on to the engine and its fuel filter.
 
Jan 27, 2008
3,045
ODay 35 Beaufort, NC
That's how O'Day and many others plumbed their boats, but as Stu notes it is not correct. Racor filters in particular specify being installed on the suction side of the pump. Just get some fuel line and change the plumbing, it is inexpensive and an easy fix. The hardware can stay where it is, just re-route the hoses. racor.pdf (usna.edu)
 
Feb 26, 2004
22,759
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
The O'Day 28 (1985 in my case) was plumbed fuel tank to Fasco pump with internal fine screen and magnet, then on to the engine and its fuel filter.
Which sounds like you do not have a primary filter and that the only filter you have is the engine mounted one. If this is correct, most of us would recommend adding a primary filter before the fuel pump (Facet, not fasco).
 
Jul 5, 2011
702
Oday 28 Madison, CT
I am citing the original set up from O'day. When I got the boat in 1995, a Racor was added, but after the Facet pump, then on to the engine. If this is wrong, I wonder why it has worked so well for 25 years now....
 
May 17, 2004
5,028
Beneteau Oceanis 37 Havre de Grace
I am citing the original set up from O'day. When I got the boat in 1995, a Racor was added, but after the Facet pump, then on to the engine. If this is wrong, I wonder why it has worked so well for 25 years now....
It’s one of those things that works fine until it doesn’t. If debris grows in the tank it will clog the Facet screen, which doesn’t have the filtering capacity of a real filter. Most likely that will happen when you’re in rough seas and are counting on the engine to beat an approaching thunderstorm.

(Yes, I have the t-shirt)
 
Feb 26, 2004
22,759
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
If this is wrong, I wonder why it has worked so well for 25 years now....
Because you were lucky and perhaps got clean fuel.
Think of it this way: What does a filter do?
Once you have that concept, would you prefer a tiny filter or a larger one as first in line? Or a simple flat mesh compared to one actually made to properly filter fuel?

Look, there are still folks with M25 engines puttering around with the old alternator cast bracket, one of whom I ran into just the day before yesterday on this very forum! Failure of that bracket, which has a known and reliable replacement and takes from 2 to 4 hours to do, could avoid having the alternator slam into the irreplaceable gear case cover and require an entire engine replacement. In 2014, I ran into an Ericson guy who said he'd read about it and then said exactly what you just did.
 
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Jul 5, 2011
702
Oday 28 Madison, CT
So you essentially are all saying that O'Day messed up shipping boats which plumbed the fuel tank to a lift pump and on to the engine fuel filter and that adding the Racor after the lift pump even makes things worse, despite the extra filtration stage?
 
Feb 26, 2004
22,759
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
1. So you essentially are all saying that O'Day messed up shipping boats which plumbed the fuel tank to a lift pump and on to the engine fuel filter

2. ...and that adding the Racor after the lift pump even makes things worse, despite the extra filtration stage?
1. Yes, I am. And O'Day wasn't the only manufacturer who did that. I know for certain that early C34s came that way from the factory. Once knowledgeable owners starting buying them in droves in 1986 & 1987 (they made and sold almost 800 those first two years alone, 1,801 hulls by the time they finished in 2007), those owners contributed to the Catalina Association's Mainsheet magazine Tech Notes advising other owners to correct that error. It was one of the first things most owners who read the magazine did. My PO did NOT do that even though he gave me all of those magazines from 1987 when I bought my boat from him in 1998. My engine still ran, but it was the right thing to "fix." The little tiny filter on the bottom of the Facet pump was nearly plugged when I did the repair.

2. Not really. Just go back and read my reply #9.
 
Jan 27, 2008
3,045
ODay 35 Beaufort, NC
If your boat was originally shipped with only an on-engine filter then it was plumbed the only way it could have been. Adding a primary filter provides a much more robust system, but if you read the Racor information I posted previously it clearly says the filter is to be installed on the suction side of the pump. So if that filter was added by the PO then that was done incorrectly, if O'Day installed it like that then it was their error. Regardless of fault, it is not installed according to the manufacturers requirements and needs to be corrected. Your choice whether to proceed with the correction or not.