My '85 F250 with the 6.9 diesel still has the leak-prone stock water separator. It now needs to be drained (the "water in fuel" light is coming on), and the last time I drained it, I had weeks of the dreaded "starts fine, runs for a few seconds and dies, and then is hard to restart" problem many seem to have, apparently caused by a leaky water separator. It eventually seemed to self-correct and has worked fine since, but rather than go through that again when I drain it, I'd like to just replace the thing with a decent one.
Having said that, I'm not sure what I need. They seem to be all over the board in terms of cost, GPH flow capacity, etc. Does anybody have any suggestions for an easy-to-fit compatible replacement?
I've seen suggestions to replace the fuel filter assembly with the newer one off of the 7.3 engine, which incorporates its own water separator, but my local wrecking yards don't seem to have any 7.3 diesels (a testament to their durability, I suppose), and I'm sure it would cost a lot to buy a new assembly from Ford.
A local diesel parts place suggested a Racor 230R30 like this one as a generic replacement:
Racor 230R Series
I like the fact that it has a hand-operated primer pump, like my old Mercedes diesel does (and like all diesels should, IMHO), though I notice that the inputs are 1/4" while I believe the stock fuel lines are 3/16", so I don't know if that's a problem or not. I assume a 30 GPH capacity, which this has, is sufficient, right?
Does anybody know if that one would be a good choice, or does anybody have any other suggestions for good models of aftermarket units to use? And is there anything tricky about installing these, or is it as straightforward as it seems (bolt it on, and connect the fuel lines)? Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks.
