All of the previous changes to the fuel system were essential and covered in the fuel system projects that can be found under the fuel topic, however the addition of the Golden Rod pre-filter uncovered further major problems in the fuel system. The coach had been known to have sat for possibly a few years before my acquisition. The Golden Rod additions and other design changes were in response to problems that were uncovered after the initial Parker/Racor installation. As stated in the other topics. Removing and cleaning the fuel tank is not possible given the coach location, therefore a filter system was added to protect the main system from debris.

The Golden Rod is a large water and particle filter with a see through bowl. This filter is used for diesel fuel transfer tanks and farm machinery. The picture below is a preliminary design and will be explained in the first presentation to follow. (The kink was removed from the clear fuel line).

The problems uncovered were:

(1) the deterioration in the fuel line from the tank to the service bay. The fuel line is a 1/2″ ID line about 40′ in length that runs through the wire bundles along the inside frame rail on the passenger side of the coach.

(2) entrapped air was still in the system even after the system was supposedly purged of air.

(3) the check valve on the fuel regulator had failed.

Therefore this project is split into three sections. (1) Diagnosis and troubleshooting of the initial problems, (2) changing the fuel lines (3) changes to the fuel system layout in the service bay.

The information in the previous projects on the fuel system is correct however I now have a much clearer understanding of the fuel system having spent several weeks tracking down the fundamental operation of the system and its weaknesses.

The initial information on how the fuel system worked and the selection of the Parker/Racor filter replacement was based on the advice and a lot of help from Bill Edwards and John (TDJohn) from SafariFriends.