Stopped in at Burlington Diesel the other day, with questions prompted by my recent bad injector experience. We talked about the three issues that John K. posted in here, to do with potential longevity for the LB7 injectors -- * Lift pump - * Filtration - * Emulsifying additive.
Now, lift pumps, and additive are easilly dealt with in several ways, but the filtration issue brought up some serious discussion, mainly about the OEM Duramax filters. B. D.'s manager says he's been privy to about 3 changes to the OEM GM filters, and he believes that there's been a conflict of oppinions among GM, Bosch and Raycor, as to who's to blame for all the DM inj. failures. He pointed out that Raycor was the orriginal supplier, and that they (Raycor) have up-graded their filter 3 times. This guy believes that the current filter is much more capable of removing water from the fuel than the earlier ones. He also thinks that, though the other after-market (non Raycor mfg.) filters of course fit, that they haven't kept up with the latest standards, and may be the reason why we're seeing inj. failures.
I got to thinking along these lines: I've always used Baldwin filters, when I could get them. I've NEVER, had so much as a drop of water in the bottom of my filter drain! Could this be that since I'm not using a genuine Raycor filter that the water is just being pumped on through and being burned, as J. K. says can happen, without added filtration, and an emulsifying additive?
I've noticed for a long time, that the Baldwin fuel filters are all made in China, while the Raycor filter that I was shown last week was printed with "Made in the USA". Interestingly, that filter was $40, while the next previous model sold for $32. The reason being, apparently, that there has been a recent up-grade to the filter. Also interesting, is that I paid $42 for a Chinese made one in Brownsvill, TX, about 3 months ago!
A long way around asking for comments from the experts on the Diesel Page, huh?