opened the hood to day after a nice long ride and i noticed my fuel in the fule filter looks like its boiling ... that normal? its a clear plastic filter and the fule inside it looks like it bubbling big time
It probably is boiling. Most people don't know it but there are 2 blends of gas. Winter blend and summer blend. Winter blend fuel has additives to help it atomize easier (which makes cold weather starting easier), but the bad part of it is that it boils very easily...as low as 80°F. The change from winter blend to summer blend should be mid-late March, but many times it takes longer due to demand and even then there is always some left over in the tanks at the stations.
are you serious???? i've never heard of such myself, not to say you're wrong or anything..... just kinda weird to me
Yeah......I too have heard something along them lines.....That is why I stick with Shell or Exxon brands
I have a clear plastic filter on my car, too. It's been boiling every time I open the hood (just after driving the car) for the past 2 years now. Never affects anything. I wouldn't worry about it.
I don't think it is really boiling...I think it is coming through the filter very quickly and the turbulence makes it appear like it is boiling when all it is doing is getting mixed up from the filter element and bubbling up in the clear plastic filter reservoir. I see that all the time and think it looks cool, but doubt that actual "boiling" (ie. turning from liquid to a gas state) is occurring.
Hold the filter in your hand ... does it feel hot enough to boil. I have the same clear FRAM filter as Jamie .... it has never had the appearance it was boiling.
Per Drag Times: Mechanical fuel pump In earlier cars built before the late 1970s, the pump was mechanically driven by a lobe on the engine's camshaft and therefore bolted to the engine block. It created negative pressure to "suck" the gasoline through the lines. However, the negative pressure from the pump, in combination with heat from the engine and/or hot weather, could cause the gasoline to boil. The fuel pump, designed to pump liquid, not vapor, would be unable to suck more gasoline to the engine, which would cut out. Per PartsTrain.com (same verbage - just changed up wording): Earlier vehicles used fuel pumps that were mechanically operated. Mechanical pumps are operated by lobe on the engine’s camshaft that is mounted on the engine block. The drawback of mechanically operated fuel pump is that it creates negative pressure in pumping the fuel. This negative pressure combined with the heat from the engine causes the fuel boil. Per autopartswarehouse.comL Modern engines demand that fuel pumps withstand greater amounts of fuel pressure than the old lever-actuated mechanical units that they replaced, but the job being done is the same: convey fuel to cylinders. Your Ford fuel pump simultaneously delivers fuel to fulfill the engine's operating requirements under varying conditions and maintains pressure between the pump and carburetor in sufficient amounts to prevent vapor lock (a technical term for when the fuel starts boiling in the lines).
Rick, what is your point.. when they say ...boil...i think it is like water in the creek running over a rock...looks like it is boiling but not hot... ......
I have never actually touched the filter to see if it is hot or not. I will next time. It "appears" to be boiling, small bubbles going from bottom to top through the gasoline at a high rate of speed. It's never caused any problems, so I've never really thought much of it.
I found this out through a friend who works for a motorcycle manufacturer technical support dept. I called him one day asking about a driveability issue with an ATV....and basically he said that winter fuel can cause problems sometimes because it boils at such a low temperature. In the case of the ATV I was working with, it was causing problems. The entire engine is surrounded by plastic so air doesn't really cool things off that well, especially the carburetor. With an infared temp gun and the engine running rough, the carb bowl temp was about 140, so that was plenty high enough to boil the winter blend gas. I actually took a jar, put some fuel in it, and put it on a electric hot plate for a minute or two to make it boil..guess what...he was right. It started bubbling at around 85 degrees. It was the first I'd heard of it but yet again, Fred was right. Interestingly enough, my old Mustang would boil the fuel in the carb. The fuel lines were metal and they touched the cylinder head & block, and ran close to the header on teh driver's side where it came off of the fuel pump. But, it got great fuel mileage when it was up to operating temperature, whether the hot fuel had anything to do with it or not is a good question, but I can't think of very many other reasons it would get that kind of mileage. It was over 30 but less than 50mpg, which must be pretty good judging by what similar V8/5 speed cars are doing.
I was referring to Mean-Maverick's comment, "are you serious?" query. And no, I don't mean, "boiling, like a boiling creek". I mean "Boiling", as in turning from a liquid to a gas vapor. I pretty much know everything, Frank. Jamie is a very good teacher. (j/k Jamie! )
This boiling is what has led many cars in the past to becoming VAPOR locked, as in gas vapor which is what was left after the gas vaporized from being boiled. Remember all fluids do not boil at the same temperature, water boils at 212 degrees, not true with everything else.
