Home & GardenCar RepairDiesel EnginesTips for Changing a Diesel Engine’s Air and Fuel Filters Tips for Changing a Diesel Engine’s Air and Fuel Filters The air filter setup on most diesel engines is the same as on gasoline-powered vehicles, with the filter located inside the cold air collector box located under the hood. Most diesels have two fuel filters: a “primary” filter located between the fuel tank and the engine, which cleans the fuel before it gets to the fuel transfer pump; and a “secondary” filter up near the engine, which gives the fuel a final cleaning before it gets to the fuel injectors. You have to take one big precaution when you change the air filter on a diesel: Always shut off the engine first. Diesel engines produce exceedingly powerful suction, and the air intake goes directly to the engine. Because almost anything can fly or drop into it — from nuts and bolts to your favorite hairpiece — you risk serious damage to the engine if you open the cold air collector box with the engine running.

Both fuel filters are usually easy to change, and your owner’s manual should show you how to do this job. On some diesels, the job is much like changing the oil filter on a conventional vehicle: You unscrew the old one, moisten the gasket of the new one with fuel, and screw it into place. Others have filters with replaceable cartridges; you just remove the old one and pop in the new one. There’s one catch to changing the fuel filter, however: When you change the fuel filter or run out of fuel in a diesel vehicle, you must bleed the air bubbles out of the fuel system and then prime it to get a new supply of fuel circulating. Cranking the engine does the job but also wears down the battery, so most diesels include a manual primer pump and an air-bleed screw for the purpose of bleeding the system and priming it. On many vehicles, you simply pump the primer’s handle to get the fuel moving, and then you turn the air-bleed screw until a hissing noise tells you that the air is escaping.

Just keep pumping until all the air leaves and the noise ceases; then tighten the air-bleed screw and replace the pump handle.Appl Occup Environ Hyg. 2002 Jan;17(1):47-54.Hall RM1, Heitbrink WA, Reed LD.Author information1Division of Physical Sciences and Engineering, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.AbstractAerosol instrumentation was used to evaluate air infiltration into tractor cabs that are used to protect the agricultural worker during pesticide applications. Preliminary surveys were conducted on three different manufactured agriculture enclosures. The results of these preliminary surveys indicated that aerosols are entering the cab through leak sources or are being generated inside the cab. These results identified the need for in-depth field evaluations of tractor cabs to identify any leak sources. To evaluate the ability of tractor cabs to reduce operator air contaminant exposure, field evaluations were conducted on two tractor cabs.

Specifically, we evaluated: 1) the particle size distribution and the effectiveness of the filter system; and 2) air infiltration into the cab. engine cleaning gun air compressorThese evaluations were also conducted to demonstrate the ease and practicality of using optical particle counters to evaluate the ability of cabin filtration systems. mini portable air purifierPesticide particle size distribution during an air blast spray operation was also evaluated during the study. how to run an air purifierThe field tests were conducted on a John Deere 7000 series tractor cab (tractor manufacturer's cab) and a Nelson spraycab (retrofit cab). Both cabs were equipped with high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter media which were assumed to be 99.97 percent efficient at removing the test aerosol, atmospheric condensation nuclei.

Thus, the major source of aerosols inside the cab was assumed to be leakage around filters at the seals. Using a portable dust monitor (PDM), the ratio of the outside to inside aerosol measurements was used to calculate a cab protection factor. During the evaluations, one PDM was placed inside the tractor cab (near the tractor operator) and one PDM was placed outside (near the air intake) to count particles. During the evaluations, the instruments were switched to prevent instrument bias from affecting the findings. The ratio of the two measurements (i.e., protection factor = outside concentration / inside concentration) was used to calculate how efficient the tractor cab was at removing aerosols. The John Deere cab was more than 99 percent efficient at removing aerosols larger than 3.0 microm in diameter and had protection factors greater than 260 for particles larger than 3.0 microm (indicated by the PDM results). The Nelson cab was more than 99 percent efficient at removing aerosols larger than 3.0 microm in diameter and had protection factors greater than 200 for particles larger than 3.0 microm (indicated by the PDM results).

For aerosols smaller than 1.0 microm in diameter (indicated by a PortaCount Plus instrument), the John Deere cab provided a mean protection factor of 43 and the Nelson cab provided a mean protection factor of 16. The results from this study indicate that tractor cabs can be effective at removing different size aerosols depending on the seals and filters used with the enclosure. This study has also demonstrated the practical use of real-time aerosol counting instrumentation to evaluate the effectiveness of enclosures and to help identify leak sources. The method used in this study can be applied to various cabs used in different industries including agriculture, construction, and manufacturing.PMID: 11800406 DOI: 10.1080/104732202753306159 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] MeSH TermsAerosols/analysis*AgricultureAir MovementsAir Pollution, Indoor/analysis*Environmental Monitoring/instrumentationEnvironmental Monitoring/methods*Equipment DesignFiltrationHumansMotor Vehicles*Occupational Exposure*Particle SizePesticides/analysis*SubstancesAerosolsPesticidesFull Text SourcesIngenta plcOther Literature SourcesCOS Scholar UniverseMedicalIndoor Air Pollution - MedlinePlus Health InformationOccupational Health - MedlinePlus Health InformationPesticides - MedlinePlus Health Information