School boy error

ChasF · May 25, 2019

I have never fitted in line filters. The carbs have flooded on probably 3 or 4 occasions in 50k miles and it has always been fixed in half a minute just by simply unclipping the float bowl and letting a little fuel run though whilst jiggling the float up and down. Still on the original float needles.

There are gauze filters in the tank and I haven’t ever found any grit in the float bowls although I’m sure we had plenty of dirty fuel in the bike on our Cape Town trip.

If these filters are a service item it would mean carrying spares on a long trip.

Steptoe · May 25, 2019

Beemerboff said:
Every car sold today has a inline filter and they seem to work just fine on them.
But they are a service item, and should be replaced / cleaned regularly, depending on the type.
If you buy cheap and nasty no name filters you get what you pay for, but water has no effect on the medium in a quality brand name filter.
I have been using inline filters for as long as I have been riding bikes, and have never had a problem with them.
Unless you call doing the job they were installed to do a problem!

BMW didn't feel the need to fit inline filters during the production run of the air cooled flat twins.

And i can't see how introducing a part that could cause the engine to stop running a benefit. If i get water in the float bowls i just empty them.

Carry on.

Beemerboff · May 26, 2019

Water actually flows through a good quality filter, so there is no difference in that respect.
As anyone who has ever fitted one would know.
It is the other crap that gets trapped which would end up either in the carbs or in the motor which I prefer in a filter, and it seems that everyone who makes and sells a motor vehicle today likes it that way too!

Big-G · May 26, 2019

ChasF said:
I have never fitted in line filters. The carbs have flooded on probably 3 or 4 occasions in 50k miles and it has always been fixed in half a minute just by simply unclipping the float bowl and letting a little fuel run though whilst jiggling the float up and down. Still on the original float needles.

There are gauze filters in the tank and I haven’t ever found any grit in the float bowls although I’m sure we had plenty of dirty fuel in the bike on our Cape Town trip.

If these filters are a service item it would mean carrying spares on a long trip.

Lucky you. I got a wet foot only yesterday and that's the second in 200 miles from different sides. I'll keep an eye on it but everything looks fine inc float plates.

Steptoe · May 28, 2019

Beemerboff said:
Water actually flows through a good quality filter, so there is no difference in that respect.
As anyone who has ever fitted one would know.
It is the other crap that gets trapped which would end up either in the carbs or in the motor which I prefer in a filter, and it seems that everyone who makes and sells a motor vehicle today likes it that way too!

The filters in aus may allow water to flow through.. But the bikes i've had in that have stopped running have stopped the fuel flowing due to the "blottiing paper" type of material used as a filter element becoming non porus due to water.

Obviously there are other filters that do allow water through, as you'd know seeing as those are the type that you are lucky enough to use.

but all things are not equal.

And the sole reason for the 100% use of efficient fuel filters today is because of fuel injection.

The mesh in tank filters used in the airheads were perfectly adequte for stopping nuts, bolts and gravel from getting to the bing carbs

ianboydsnr · May 28, 2019

I never saw the point in putting external filters on my airheads, there’s a filter on the tap’s, if it gets past the taps, it’s filtered.

Beemerboff · May 28, 2019

The element in the filter in fuel injected cars is the same pleated impregnated fiber sheet as in proper in line filters.

And it is similar to to the element in most oil filters - the fibers are just a different material to the fibers used in blotting paper!

Both work fine when there is a moisture around, and there is always some in your sump!

If the gauze screens in the tank were sufficient nothing would ever reach the in line filter and they would sit there unused and unloved forever and make no difference to anything, but if left long enough they will clog , which to me indicated the in tank gauze do let something past.

Suppose it depends on the fuel quality too, quite a few country petrol stations in Oz still have rusty old steel tanks and if you have no choice but to use them it is not unusual to get a tankful containing a fair bit if of sludge, rust and water.
I have no problem finding Bosch branded filters in Oz and they work Ok, but like everything there are probably counterfeits around.

Steptoe · May 29, 2019

Beemerboff said:
The element in the filter in fuel injected cars is the same pleated impregnated fiber sheet as in proper in line filters.

And it is similar to to the element in most oil filters - the fibers are just a different material to the fibers used in blotting paper!

Both work fine when there is a moisture around, and there is always some in your sump!

If the gauze screens in the tank were sufficient nothing would ever reach the in line filter and they would sit there unused and unloved forever and make no difference to anything, but if left long enough they will clog , which to me indicated the in tank gauze do let something past.

Suppose it depends on the fuel quality too, quite a few country petrol stations in Oz still have rusty old steel tanks and if you have no choice but to use them it is not unusual to get a tankful containing a fair bit if of sludge, rust and water.
I have no problem finding Bosch branded filters in Oz and they work Ok, but like everything there are probably counterfeits around.

It’s pretty simple really, and what we’ve both based our opinions on .. i have had problems with blocked in- line fuel filters on customers bikes, and you haven’t had a problem using in-line filters on your own bike.

School boy error

ChasF

Well-known member

Steptoe

What a waste.

Beemerboff

Registered user

Big-G

Well-known member

Steptoe

What a waste.

ianboydsnr

Well-known member

Beemerboff

Registered user

Steptoe

What a waste.

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