Fuel Filter Help

Pat

Supporter

• Dec 28, 2008

• #1

I took the filter bowl off my fuel filter/pressure regulator housing to discover a small spring, brass plunger and sleeve at the bottom of the filter. Obviously this is a problem. If anyone is familiiar with it, can I simply press it all back into the top of the housing or is there something I'm missing? It is an Italian made Filter King unit.

 

Attachments

• 
  Fule Filter.JPG

  142.5 KB · Views: 437

A

Al Wohlstrom

• Dec 29, 2008

• #2

How about going to a parts store and looking at the same filter?

 

C

Ian Clark

Supporter

• Dec 29, 2008

• #3

Hi Vekk,

What can happen on these Filter King / Malpassi regulators is that the plastic retaining collar can get pushed out when turning in the fuel pressure adjuster screw. The collar and spring it retains end up in the filter bowl and you have no pressure regulation. No leaks however, just fuel pressure at whatever the pump is doing.

The collar can be reinstalled and carefuly "staked" to hold it in place. A close look at the bore the collar sits in will reveal the original stake marks. I've seen this happen several times, sorry I didn't take pics of the last one I overhauled. You should be ok with three radial stakes to pinch the end of the bore. The spring goes in the top side of the bore, under the diaphram.

It's a bit fiddly a job, unless your plastic collar has fractured you should be ok. The part is available new from www.europaspares.com although I have stock here if you need one.

Cheers

 

Pat

Supporter

• Dec 29, 2008

• #4

Thanks Ian, I'll get it off the car and on the bench to take a look.

 

Pat

Supporter

• Dec 29, 2008

• #5

Thanks Ian, surprisingly, it looks like mine was never "staked" so I guess that's why the push out. Can I assume the concave side of the bushing goes toward the plunger when I reinstall?


There are no marks whatsoever. I spent some time in the the auto parts store and nothing looks like a close match to the filter. I'm now trying to find a car that had the Malpassi Filter King stock so I can reference it to something.

 

J

John Christian

• Jun 11, 2020

• #6

Hi Ian,
On removing the filter bowl I discovered this exact thing had happened to my Fuel King regulator. The collar, spring and brass plunger we’re lying in the bowl. The collar looks intact. Could you just let me know what you mean when you said the collar should be “staked” to hold it in place. Also when replacing the collar which way round should it go? The concave side facing down into the bowl or facing the brass plunger. The strange thing is I can see no reason why the collar fell out as certainly I haven’t altered the adjustment screw.

Many thanks.

John

 

B

Brian Kissel

Staff member

Admin

Lifetime Supporter

• Jun 11, 2020

• #7

John, your answer may be a little slow in coming. This thread is almost 12 years old. Ian does frequent the forum, but not as often as he once did. Someone should chime in.

Regards Brian

 

J

John Christian

• Jun 11, 2020

• #8

Thank you Brian for letting me know. I did wonder if it might prompt a reply from Ian given the age of the postings but I thought it worth a try at least. As you say someone may have some comment. Best regards.
John

 

Mike Pass

Supporter

• Jun 11, 2020

• #9

Staking means that you use a sharp point or fine chisel to hit the metal surrounding the insert and this deforms the metal and pushes some of the it inwards which then prevents the insert from coming out. A bit crude but nonetheless effective.
Cheers
Mike

 

J

John Christian

• Jun 11, 2020

• #10

Thanks Mike. I did wonder if that was what it meant. Makes sense and although I have not pressed the collar back in yet pending finding out which way round it goes it does even now seem to be a tight fit. How it became detached in the first place still is a mystery. Regards. John

 

T

Trevor

• Jun 11, 2020

• #11

Likewise, this has just happened with my car. I thought about staking it, but in the end drilled a 2mm hole through the nose of the Al casting that holds the collar in place and through one side of the collar. Then inserted a 2mm pin with a length that just reached the other side of the collar and was flush with the casting on the outside. It was a lightly snug fit but cannot come out anyway once the filter is in place. I was surprised there wasn't any mechanism to prevent this from happening; circlip or something in the original design. In my particular case, the car is stored in an unheated garage over winter (which can get pretty cold) and have a feeling that the collar may get stiff and shrink more than the Al at cold allowing the slight pressure (and gravity) to allow it to slip. Now back in place at pressure reset to 2psi and car running OK again.

 

J

John Christian

• Jun 12, 2020

• #12

Thanks Trevor. Good idea as the collar does need to be made more secure in position.
I have another theory now about the cause. The twin pumps and pressure regulators are mounted in the engine bay in the usual way in 40s. However as the engine bay gets very hot this would tend to heat up the bodies of the regulators. Aley,being prone to expansion, then surely this would make the collar become looser in its position and therefore become detached.Possible?

 

T

Trevor

• Jun 12, 2020

• #13

Entirely possible John. Re which way the collar goes, i.e. concave side up or down, I'm not sure. I assumed it would be concave side up as the inner diameter of the recessed shoulder exactly fits the diameter of the spring and therefore provides a fixed location for the base of the spring , but checking the position of the marks from the 3 retaining ridges in the housing seems to suggest the collar was mounted with the concave side down. Perhaps someone can help?

 

J

John Christian

• Jun 12, 2020

• #14

Thanks Trevor. Think the best way to find out for sure is to disassemble other Filter King which I did first to change the filter. Certainly there was no sign of the collar, spring or plunger in the bowl but of course this now begs the question as to whether I should remove the whole thing and do a similar modification to prevent it happening in that one too. I’ll let you know then which way rounds it goes for future reference. Regards.

 

T

Trevor

• Jun 12, 2020

• #15

that would be much appreciated - thanks John

 

Ed McClements

Supporter

• Jun 12, 2020

• #16

I have a pair of new, 85mm "V8" Filter Kings boxed in the mancave. Just got to pop out for an hour - once I'm back I'll open one up and check.

 

J

John Christian

• Jun 12, 2020

• #17

Thanks very much Eddy. That would be a great help. Regards.

 

Ed McClements

Supporter

• Jun 13, 2020

• #18

JhnC40 said:

Thanks very much Eddy. That would be a great help. Regards.

Click to expand...

OK - once the filter bowl is removed....

I think what I'm seeing is some grey plastic flashing from when the seal was pressed into place, and four small stake marks to hold the seal in place. Hope this tallies in some way with the inside of your unit. As Trevor surmised, the concave side is indeed downwards.

 

C

Ian Clark

Supporter

• Jun 13, 2020

• #19

Hi John, always happy to help forum members sort out fiddly bits to avoid a tow home or buying new parts, if a simple repair can restore original operation. Here's a pic of a Filter King regulator showing the "stakes". Pretty heavy hits, cannot say if these are original or some got to this one before I opened it up. Be careful staking the casting to help retain the plastic molding. Uou don't want to crack the plastic part. Cheers

 

Attachments

• 
  IMG_20200613_111153.jpg

  127.9 KB · Views: 208

T

Trevor

• Jun 13, 2020

• #20

Thanks to both Eddy and Ian. Think that clears things up regarding the orientation of the collar. There were certainly no staking marks evident on my casting, so think Ian that your suspicion that someone may have had a similar problem and 'got to' that one may be correct. For anyone running a Malpassi unit, it may be worth checking the fuel pressure on the outlet side of the regulator. If it has increased since it was set up this could be an indication that the collar has started to slip down from it's seated position and should be checked and pressed back in and preferrably pinned/staked in place.