RACOR 500 Service

RACOR 500 inspection/cleaning and filter change

I give the Racor a through cleaning on 100 hour service intervals. Filter changes at 50 hour if fouled.

#1 Secure the main fuel valve between the tank and the RACOR filter.

#2 Drain the filter housing in to a small bucket, via the plug or valve on the bottom of the bowl. Loosening the top cover to will help increase the flow.

http://bocaboard.com/data/512/4RACOR_Drain.JPG

#3 Remove the top cover buy turning the T- handle, then remove the old filter and place it in a bucket to drain.

#4 Remove the bowl from the bottom of the housing. There are 4 Phillips head screws securing the ring that holds the bowl in place. There will be an o-ring between the bowl and the housing that you need to save for re-installation. Hang onto the screws, I've drop more than one in the bilge.

http://bocaboard.com/data/512/4RACOR_Bowl.JPG

#5 Disassemble the fuel spinner. Righty tighty, lefty loosey, this part unscrews from the metal stem. Inside the spinner is a 3/8" ball check. sometimes it comes off with the spinner and sometimes it is stuck in the metal stem. Take your time and locate the ball before it ends up in the bilge as well. The ball check keeps the fuel from siphoning back to the tank when the engine is off.

http://bocaboard.com/data/512/4RACOR_No_Bowl.JPG

http://bocaboard.com/data/512/4RACOR_Spinner.JPG

http://bocaboard.com/data/512/4RACOR_Ball_check.JPG

#6 Now it's time to start cleaning. Give all the internal parts and bowl a good wipe down with a lint free rag. The spinner has some 1/8" passages that should also be inspected to see if they're clear.

http://bocaboard.com/data/512/4RACOR_Apart.JPG

#7 Put it back together. Drop the ball check back in the spinner, place the slotted cone over the spinner(wide end up) and spin it back on the stem. To re-install the bowl, slide the collar with the 4 holes over the bowl, balance the o-ring on the face of the bowl and slide the bowl back over the spinner. The o-ring needs to fit into a grove on the bottom of the housing before installing the 4 screws.

#8 Install the new filter element. I go with the 10 micron(blue) as a pre filter. They also make 2 micron(brown) and a 30 micron(red) filters if you choose to run something different

http://bocaboard.com/data/512/4RACOR_Filter.JPG

#9 Fill the housing with fuel and install the cover with the new gasket and o-rings supplies with the filter.

http://bocaboard.com/data/512/4RACOR_Fill.JPG

http://bocaboard.com/data/512/4RACOR_Top.JPG

Nice post

Mike, This is another very nice post.

1. I see you have a pressure gauge on the fuel line, which is a very good idea. At what pressure do you know it's time to change the filter element?

2. Do you need to bleed the fuel system after performing this maintenance?

Bill

The gauge you see is a vacuums gauge with a pointer that is suppose to stay at the highest value the gauge reads from the last time it was reset.

It all sounded good when I installed it, but the engine vibration resets the pointer back to zero when I run. The only way to know what the vacuums is, would be to take a look at it while I'm underway.

I've popped the hood while trolling and it reads around 2 inhg, but never looked at while at cruise speed.

I've never needed to bleed the fuel system after cleaning the RACOR. The key is to refill it before you put the lid on. I have a small reserve tank on my boat that I put a squeeze bulb on the fuel line. I switch over to that tank and give the bulb a few squeezes and everything is filled back up.

Mike