Racor air leaks

[rsmith]

90% of Racor air leak and loss of prime problems are due to the lid bolt Oring. Most of the older units use a square black oring. The orange oring included with the filter will not work and will leak air into the filter housing. You have to order the correct oring separately. Part# is on the bag in the picture.RK-11004
This is an insidious air leak that will not be readily apparent until you go to start the engine again and the racor is empty

 

[IOLANI]

Good to know, thanks

 

[SEVEN]

You are correct sir.

 

[Captain Ralph]

Blast from the past.. ☺☺
Was there ever an official fix?
New T bolt? New lid?

Probably to old to use, I still have a box of these square O seals and the ole 500 spacers from years ago. Not been involved with this old stuff for many (MANY) years now.

 

[johnjen50]

Thanks so much. Great post!

 

[rsmith]

Blast from the past.. ☺☺
Was there ever an official fix?
New T bolt? New lid?

Probably to old to use, I still have a box of these square O seals and the ole 500 spacers from years ago. Not been involved with this old stuff for many (MANY) years now.

Every 80’s Hatteras I’ve been on has them or at least has the round oRings with a million feet of pipe tape wrapped around the Tee handle thread. Send me the box I’ll pay the shipping.

 

[cww]

Helpful blast from the past. I am dealing with this issue right now and was getting frustrated and about to replace the whole racor. Thanks for the part number.

 

[cww]

Blast from the past.. ☺☺
Was there ever an official fix?
New T bolt? New lid?

Probably to old to use, I still have a box of these square O seals and the ole 500 spacers from years ago. Not been involved with this old stuff for many (MANY) years now.

Ralph, can I get a couple of these from you? I’m having this exact problem and didn’t realize what it was until I read this thread. My old o ring split and I changed it to try and fix the leak, but it’s the red one like in the picture and it slowed the leak but I still have to fill up the racor before I leave the dock if the boat has sat for a day or more and it’s annoying.

Even if they’re too old to use (I’m gonna try anyway) I can at least take it somewhere and get it matched if I physically have one. I threw my old one out before I realized it would be a problem.

I know you arent that far from me, I can pick it up, or would gladly pay for mailing plus whatever you want for the o ring.

 

[cww]

I just got the last one on ebay. Can't find anything about that part number, but it does come in this seal kit racor sells.

Racor 11-1413 11-1759 11004-B 11350-B Genuine OEM Fuel Filter Gasket O-Ring Kit | eBay

Genuine OEM Racor Parker Parts. For use with: Racor Marine 2020 and 2040, 2020SM, 2020TM, 2020PM, 2040SM, 2040TM, 2040PM Fuel Filters and many others. Manufacturer:Racor, Parker. 2020 and 2040 Fuel Filter Gasket O-Ring Kit.

www.ebay.com

 

[MadHatter53]

The replacement filters I have come with a black and an orange oring , I use the black.
Last season I redid seals balls etc on my twin racors after dealing with having to refill them before I could run motor. I was happy two see them full after two weeks of sitting unfortunately on the third week they were both drained. My next step was gonna be valves at the racors. I think I’m going to double check my T handles. Odd thing is even when drained I still hold a vacuum per my gauge.

 

[brettportzer]

Thanks for posting this, I am in the middle of rebuilding my Racors and I am questioning whether there is more than one version of the 1000MA over time.

I have seen where the 1000MA should be a blue label, but mine are both 1000MAs, one with a blue sticker and one with a red sticker.

I also feel like the red o ring is not adequate.

Seems like the correct o ring that used to come with the filters is now $10-12, and they seem hard to find?

So, I am thinking I will replace my lids and handles to be able to use the current o rings.

 

[cww]

The replacement filters I have come with a black and an orange oring , I use the black.
Last season I redid seals balls etc on my twin racors after dealing with having to refill them before I could run motor. I was happy two see them full after two weeks of sitting unfortunately on the third week they were both drained. My next step was gonna be valves at the racors. I think I’m going to double check my T handles. Odd thing is even when drained I still hold a vacuum per my gauge.

There’s a black and a red round seal in slightly different thicknesses that cover the standard T-handles and the gauge/handle combo depending on which you have, but what these guys above are saying (and they’re right - I went and looked as soon as I read this) is that the new T-Handles have a chamfered edge where they screw down so the round gaskets are what work, but the old T-handles just have a flat surface so they need the square shaped gasket or they won’t seal. That square gasket in his pic is different than what comes in the current seal kit. The seal kit I just scored on eBay was an older one that included the old seal.

I’m guessing racor’s solution to this is to sell you new handles that use the new seal, which I just realized wouldn’t have been that big a deal. I just didn’t realize where the leak was coming from until I read this thread.

 

[Captain Ralph]

Surplus when I acquired them many years ago, my rings and spacers are deteriorating and not to be trusted.
Along with old Detroit foam silencer covers, falling apart when you touch them.

Like old time capsules, I keep finding this stuff in my boxes and bins.
Brings back some smiles is all it's worth.

Next time in my hands, I'll double check them but all will probably get trashed.

In the back of my mind, I remember using fuel hose and making these square seals also. The stuff we do in the swamps.

 

[Pascal]

I be had an issue with my stbd racor draining back for a while. Happens with either tank usually if engine hasn’t been run in a couple of weeks. I just run the priming pump or shut off the priming valves before the Racors

It cant be the O-rings as the Racors are 5 years old and when I prime them, I don’t get any leak at the Ter handle or anywhere.

Minor inconvenience so far

 

[rsmith]

I be had an issue with my stbd racor draining back for a while. Happens with either tank usually if engine hasn’t been run in a couple of weeks. I just run the priming pump or shut off the priming valves before the Racors

It cant be the O-rings as the Racors are 5 years old and when I prime them, I don’t get any leak at the Ter handle or anywhere.

Minor inconvenience so far

Sometimes a vacuum leak won’t show up under pressure. Could be a fitting also.

 

[Pascal]

Sometimes a vacuum leak won’t show up under pressure. Could be a fitting also.

True… makes it more fun to find

 

[cww]

True… makes it more fun to find

Tell me about it. The embarrassing part is I had this issue on the other engine first, so I took the Racor apart and replaced every seal on it, but it still wouldn't stop leaking. I threw in the towel and told the marina to fix it, same thing happened to them so they installed a new Racor for $1,400. I now realize that was wasted money vs. a $9 seal, but at least it stopped the leak. When the other one started doing the same thing I wanted to beat my head on wall. Nobody is aware of this issue, except apparently you guys on this forum.

 

[brettportzer]

I have been trying to get some official word on this, and the guys at the racorstore where I got my seal kits and stuff from have no idea.
They said "Well, as long as it isn't before 2002..." I said, it is almost certainly older than 2002.
Anyway, Parker tech support seems to be closed this week (?) or I would have talked to them by now.
Still think I am going to end up needed to get new lids.

 

[cww]

I have been trying to get some official word on this, and the guys at the racorstore where I got my seal kits and stuff from have no idea.
They said "Well, as long as it isn't before 2002..." I said, it is almost certainly older than 2002.
Anyway, Parker tech support seems to be closed this week (?) or I would have talked to them by now.
Still think I am going to end up needed to get new lids.

I can answer this question for you since I have one new racor on one engine and one old racor on the other. Is what you want to know whether the new style handle works with the old lid? I can swap the handles and see if the leak changes sides or if they both leak after that and let you know ?

And for what it’s worth, Racor themselves aren’t knowledgeable about this. They’re who kept selling me the wrong seals for a 1980’s boat and never once mentioned I either needed a different seal or I had to buy new style t-handles to use the new seals.

I guess it worked out for them, they got $1400 for a whole new racor assembly when there was nothing wrong with mine, I just didn’t know about any of that until I saw this thread.

 

[ian w]

Replace the whole Racor unit
They are cheap compared to other boat parts and easy to install