How much are you paying for those filters?
The quick search I just did barely showed any results, and it was like $35-50 a piece on ebay. That doesn't seem much less than a coolant flush, or am I missing something?

I'm not saying its a bad idea, just it doesn't seem as good as you make it sound right there.

 

Penray NF2088 Coolant Filter w/ Need Release | eBay

$35 shipped.every 18 months.
well,it's not exactly cheap.but then again,is maintaining a diesel ever cheap? lol.i kinda miss my old 300 straight 6..........until i go to use my truck and then im over it again lol.
well 4 gallons of fleet charge is fairly pricey.i recall paying like $65 last time.right around $16 + per gallon.test strips are kind of a hassle because they cost $ too and expire and before you get to use 'em all.
distilled water is pretty cheap,as long as you remember to grab it ahead of time and not make a special trip i guess,so that's hardly worth considering.
then you have to buy some liquid sca and make sure you put in the correct amount,and test it every 10k miles.
in the end it could just be a coin flip,just with a lot less hassle i guess tecgod13.

edit;
nah its cheaper in the end,it has to be,because normal recommended flushes on the idi cooling system is every 30k miles or 24 months,whichever comes first.
that's unless you just want to run some basic low cost,low silicate coolant and add sca's yourself,skipping the pricier fleet charge coolant.then you still have to buy strips,keep up on them,not letting them expire,buying new over and over,add sca when needed.....i dunno.it could be a wash that way too.

 

Filtering the crap out of the coolant is surely better for the water pump and can only help the rest of the system. That I can certainly see.
For people like you that use these trucks hard everyday in your business, its probably a no brainer. The time you save not checking the coolant (labor=$$) can make it worth while. For the regular joe, it might be more of a wash though.

 

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4F4...p=docslist_api
(I didn't like the filter/housing cramping my space under the hood, so I got creative. I love it!)

Thanks for these part numbers and the idea!! I installed in about two months ago. My system was BAD. I had run 2 gallons of vinegar in the system for about a month or so on another member's advice, and it actually worked pretty awesome. But I didn't have the filter at that time, which was not awesome.
So after I installed it, I filled up 2 filters right away. Did a full coolant change including draining the block plugs, and refilled with fleet charge and distilled water.
BTW during the drain I caught much of it in a big bucket and there was basically zero particles in there.
Soon after that I had no heat in the cab so I must have filled the third filter too. I changed it and got heat, but didn't cut open that filter yet. The first two were covered in junk, mostly stuff the vinegar ate and turned into soft grey goo, and the sand from the sand casting process F250 wrote about.
I know my heater core needs a good flush or something too cause I have a healthy cooling system now but only light heat.
Anyway, thank God these filters are only $4 each or I'd be pissed.

Thanks again, gashog!!

 

wow what a strange location Josh.never seen that one.odd as it may be,i guess i can't think of any reason why its not a good idea.that's really thinking outside the box.

 

Creative setup! What's the gauge measuring/for on the center of the fuel filter bracket whose name escapes me right now?

 

Well I read a lot of other posts about it and wanted my filter at the top of the system(at least while changing it), and really didn't want to clutter up the engine compartment any more than it already is. Any spillage goes down between the engine and fender well, and it's out of the way for fuel filter changes/atf tune-ups, etc.

That's the fuel pressure gauge I installed after deleting the return line. Got the idea from another member. I love it!
The thing it's screwed into is the fuel filter header.

 

Well, on a Diesel you can't just delete a return line, They all have a function, you know?

For example if you delete the return line, there might be not enough diesel pressure in the injection pump to lubrificate the internal pump parts, so they will wear out quickly, and since the diesel serves as well to cool the IP, and if you sent that directly into the fuel filter and so into the injectors (which are cooled as well with the returning diesel) into the engine. that has the future written for the IP and Injectors, Overheating and therefore shorter service life.

normally the return diesel flows into the tank, where it cools further, or slightly heats up the rest of the diesel (it depends at how you look at it...).
and there the diesel pick-up picks up fresh diesel which flows through the IP, cools that down and in the same time lubrificates it and then does the same ting again when it arrives at the injector, and there are the retour hoses where the journey back to the tank starts.

Off course it's your engine, so do with it what you want, I'll let you just know what deleting a diesel return line does to an engine.

my .02 cents.

 

I'd agree with you except that Ford released a TSB in the early 90's saying to delete the return line coming off the fuel filter header, because it causes most of the air intrusion problems on these engines since its connected to the entire return system. It only takes one of the 36 points where an O-ring or hose connects to be loose enough to suck air back into the filter, once the crappy duck bill check valve stops working right.


And, I didn't delete the one coming off the IP like you seem to think. Just the one off the fuel filter header.

 

if ford were to issue a current TSB, they would advise to disconnect the oem lift pump and install a duralift electric fuel pump (which has a built in check valve) in line under the hood somewhere.

 

LOL honestly they could have just added a real check valve between the return outlet and the #1 injector cap but I guess deleting it was simpler.

 

@ The Josh Bear,

Ok, I'm sorry, didn't know that.

But in that case would you mind placing a pic or a drawing or something like that (if you can) from the piece you deleted? so I can do that as well at my '89 idi?

I would appriciate that very much.

 

most of the big OTR trucks I have driven have had in line coolant filters, and would be changed every 20,000 miles (2 months) and some were precharged to improve SCA's they were set up as stand alone, and not affected by heater flow, most big trucks use shut offs on heaters for summer operation. not sand, IMO cast iron particles and corrosion of copper and dissimilar metals, broke down buy electrolysis, when molecule's move they create electrical currents, in pipes and passages, heat and pressure create Oxides, yukky stuff and IMO properly installed and functioning filters have no down side. I put one on my boat's cooling system. yet to put one on my van, on the to do list.

 

So would I! I have the facet pump in my truck and am looking to eliminate the possibilities of air intrusion or at least look at alternatives to the factory setup.

 

Uh... All you need to do is plug it? Remove the fitting, put a 1/8-NPT plug in it's place.

That being said, I've determined that the best thing to do is take off the steel line that goes from the mechanical fuel pump(if you still have it), chop it in two and add a squeeze-bulb primer in the middle. You could do the same with your electric pump; just put the squeeze-bulb between your pump and the filter head.

This serves three purposes: One, it instantly solves all air-intrusion/drainback problems(these squeeze-bulbs have two check-valves inside them), gives you a manual primer, and lets you tell if you're sucking air(i.e. out of fuel or cone of failure failed)