Trojan Boat Forum

Well the guy I got the boat from said it sat 8 years I thought he was exaggerating since I fired up the boat and ran it after I bought it just to make sure it ran and it did just fine. Went to change the fuel filter since I am just performing standard maintenance getting it ready for the water. I thought the filter housing glass was tinted until I poured it out so i changed the filter cleaned the bowl and reopened the fuel petcock and the line drained back in this is the gas that was in the line and it ran off of I've never seen gas this dark before I'm impressed the chrysler 318 burned it.

I took it apart and filled it with clean fuel again and changed the water seperator filter too so now there's clean fuel in the lines but it would seem I've messed something up the filter bowl won't stay full any ideas?

The glass bowl located off of the side of the fuel pump is not a filter. If you see fuel in this, it means that the primary diaphragm in the fuel pump is shot and the pump needs to be replaced. If the secondary diaphragm is also damaged, you may see oil in the bowl or even worse you may be pumping gas directly into your crank case.

I would recommend changing the fuel pump and also checking your oil for fuel contamination, a simple "sniff" test will tell you if there's gas in there.

In an automotive application when the diaphragm leaks fuel it simply drains in the ground. In a boat however this would be dangerous so they have the little glass bowl to catch the fuel and to visually show you that you have a problem.

Hope this helps.

Are you sure?
This is a brand new assembly on eBay same thing I have http://m.ebay.com/itm/371883067850?_trk ... mwBanner=1
It feeds from the tank through the water seperator into this filter then into the pump it takes a vintage fram GC3 fuel filter in the glass bowl that's the pink filter in the picture. It's definitely a fuel filter I also unhooked the line at the carb and cranked it and it shot fuel out so the pump is working properly it only has 165 hours on it so it better be working. It just isn't sealing and that means it cant draw from the tank it is just pulling air it has to be something to do with the filter I was hoping someone who had one could chime in with how to properly install the filter or something to check that I might have missed. Thank you for responding though I wasn't sure if anyone saw my post or not.

AlphaJustin wrote:Are you sure?

This is the way it's done on the MerCruiser engine, I'm assuming the sight bowl is used for the same purpose on the Chrysler.

Correct me if I am wrong here, but I believe you can only have metal canister filters in an enclosed gas engine compartment, goes for fuel water separators as well ( no clear sight bowls).

I'll be honest I have no idea on the safety of it, all i know is it is heavily tarnished so very old.

I did get a chance to start it up again today and it seems after sitting 3 days it sealed itself and works again nothing but clear fuel in that bowl and a perfectly running engine so I can't imagine there's a problem outside of it just wasn't sealed properly maybe because of corrosion or just the gasket needing to settle since it's a vintage gasket and filter.

Thank you guys and sorry for the almost useless post maybe it'll help someone else with a vintage filter down the road. The filter itself is a fram CG3 the new replacement version looks a little different luckily I have 6 left the previous owner was well prepared.

Glass bowl fuel filters are not USCG approved on gas engines, Not sure when the law went in to effect ( 60s , 70s ?? ). I just went through my Chrysler marine books back to 1976 . No where is a glass fuel filter shown . Merc used a glass bowl as indicator of a bad fuel pump . Chrysler did use them on cars pre 60s .

Can you post a photo of the "filter" and fuel pump ?


Edit went back to 1967 no glass filter .

If you have glass or plastic sight bowls on gas inboard engines, get them out of there. I just witnessed what the fuel/water separator's with clear plastic sight bowls do after one year inside an engine compartment. I had been warning the owner for over a year that they were not allowed and not a good idea to be onboard. He kept stating they must be allowed if my mechanic installed them. This year I was able to show him they were leaking into the bilge after the bowl became deformed from the heat. Not a pretty sight!

PSA complete.

prowlersfish wrote:Glass bowl fuel filters are not USCG approved on gas engines, Not sure when the law went in to effect ( 60s , 70s ?? ). I just went through my Chrysler marine books back to 1976 . No where is a glass fuel filter shown . Merc used a glass bowl as indicator of a bad fuel pump . Chrysler did use them on cars pre 60s .

Can you post a photo of the "filter" and fuel pump ?


Edit went back to 1967 no glass filter .

My father's '69 28' Sea Skiff had a glass site bowl for it's single Chrysler 383, but yes, site bowls are no longer allowed in inboard gas installations. Okay for diesels and outboard applications I believe, but not inboard gas.

Here's the picture sorry for the delay.

I think you definitely need to replace that with an all metal fuel filter.

That is exactly the type of sight bowl used on a MerCruiser engine's fuel pump to indicate pump failure. It looks like some where along the way someone added filter media to it and installed it inline.

I'd recommend replacing it with something like this primarily for safety reasons but also for efficiency.

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/sierra-- ... cordNum=18

Hope this helps