Bee in the bowl

[Kent & Jane Overbeck]

Bee in the bowl, Primary filter problem

While doing the 6500-mile "Great Loop", one of the biggest pains in the butt was changing the primary fuel filter.  Carina is a 2001 MKII and the spin off filter is surrounded by the raw water hose and various throttle and transmission cables making it difficult to remove without making a mess.  I'm sure many have the same problem.  
I decided to replace the spin off with a top loading Racor 500 turbine series before we started our next extended cruise.  I made the change but could not get fuel to flow through the filter to fill the secondary filter.  If I manually filled the secondary, the engine would run for a short time then quit.  I repeated this procedure several times with the same results and decided to put my old filter back on.  When I did, all was good.  
I took the filter home, pressurized it and found no air leaks.  Mike, at Racor support, was patient but had no answers.  He wanted me to try it again as this is no rocket science.
I got the filter from the basement and was putting it in the back of the truck when I saw a BEE in the bowl!!  I must have dislodged it when I pressurized the unit.  I disassembled the filter, removed the bee, installed the new filter once again and everything worked as it should.  I don't know when or how the bee-yellow jacket got in there but I am extremely glad to be able to have the top loading filter working.  It is not only easier, but the paper filters cost about 1/3 of the spin on filters.

I now will tape all hoses, etc while work is in progress.  Has anybody encountered this before?

[Joe Holmes]

I hope for your sake you mean "bowl" not bowel.  Sounds like this was a real pain in the butt....

Thanks for the advice.

[Kent & Jane Overbeck]

Thanks, my spell checker didn't catch that

[Jack Hutteball]

Kent, I have had the same problem with the mess the spin on filter replacement caused until I just rapped a 1 gallon zip lock bag over the whole thing, unscrewed it and let it all dribble and fall into the bag.  No mess, but still inconvenient.  Our 27 had the top loading primary filter and I have thought about replacing mine as well.  A lot easier and less expensive to change, that is for sure.   Did you locate the new filter in the same location?

Jack

[Kent & Jane Overbeck]

Pretty much the same. I had to drill new holes for the mounting bracket.  It sticks out further but that's OK as it allows the intake hose to run between the filter and the wall instead of over the top.

[DarthOccam]

How bizarre!  No, haven't had any insects in the fuel filter.

I did share your feeling that it was a pain to check/service the filter in the original location, so I relocated it to under the head. Much easier to get to there.