I just bought a car hauler - 1987 F350 with a 7.3 IDI (I guess someone replaced the original 6.9 along the way). The fuel device mounted on the Drivers side of the firewall has been bypassed. I am assuming this is a water separator and water detector. The thing appears to have been bypassed, and open to the atomsphere for quite some time, and doesn't look like it can be disassembled to be cleaned. My basic question is - does the fuel filter mounted at the front right of the engine also serve as a water separator? I am guessing not, as I don't see a way to drain it. What should I replace the thing with? I found some posts about a "racor" filter, but doing some web searches I found many versions of Racor filter/water separators - is there one that most folks purchase? Where is a good place to buy one?

Here is a link to some pictures of the truck I bought:

http://www.j7vehiclesales.com/vehicl.../87fo8852.html

Thanks in advance for any advice.

James

 

Looks like a nice rig, with all the fancy trimmings and such.
Some people said that NAPA sells a filter with a built in drain.
The PO of my truck also bypassed the separator and I plan on reusing it after I buy a new sender.

I don't remember how the 7.3 separates water, I think it is in the filter, but I'm not sure.

 

Wow, I was looking at your truck some more and I noticed something........

That is one loooooooooooooooong truck. The wheelbase alone is incredible........have fun turning the bus. lol

 

Yeah, it's incredibly long. It turns shorter than I expected though.

 

My truck is a 88 with the 7.3 and the fuel filter and water separator are one unit at the front of the passenger side of the engine. the fuel filter screws on like an oil filter, except at the bottom it has another set of threads and a big hole, you put the cap on there which contains the water sensor, and the drain petcock. might be cheaper to get one of those from a junk yard and replace the filter, than buying a whole new unit.

 

That makes sense. I had found some stuff on the internet that indicated the drain and sensor was builtin to the filter, but that didn't sound right. This arrangement sounds similiar to my dodge Diesel.

I am starting to think now that if I just clean up the old water separator/detector that may be ok - I had not realized that it was actually before the lift pump and filter...