A new Bluebird owner's tale of the first shakedown trip

[Pete Masterson]

Despite the discouraging beginning to your BB, welcome to the fold. A
couple of thoughts -- the Racor filters are usually pretty reliable,
but they will block up pretty fast if there's algae or water or other
problems with the fuel. You may want to check the quality of the fuel
and be sure to drain any debris out the petcock on the bottom of the
fuel tank.

Next, you'll need to learn how to replace the filter element.
Especially if you've used an algaecide the filter will clog in a very
short time. (It helps to carry a 1 or 2 gallon container with diesel
in it.)

Note -- always keep the fuel tank as full as possible when the
vehicle is sitting in storage. It reduces the air space in the top of
the tank and discourages the condensation that allows water to
accumulate in the fuel. Of course, it's always possible to get a
"bad" load of fuel. I try to always fill up at an active truck stop
-- I'm a little leery of the local station selling diesel to a
handful of customers each week -- and doesn't have a big fuel filter
on the dispenser.

You should have a fuel/filter vacuum gauge (mine's on a panel above
the driver's head.) While not the easiest gauge to check, if you're
getting fuel feed problems, take a quick look to see if you're into
the red zone.

Of course, in the random chances of life, the problem might truly be
a bad Racor or other fuel delivery problem unrelated to the filter.
And it beats having to replace the radiator core, as I did....

===============================================
Pete Masterson, Author of
Book Design and Production: A Guide for Authors and Publishers
Aeonix1@...
Aeonix Publishing Group http://www.aeonix.com
===============================================


On Jul 27, 2007, at 10:01 AM, Greg Young wrote:
<snip>
>
> A discouraging and harrowing tale of a first experience you say?
> Enough to make us regret the decision? No, not at all! We love
> our Bluebird! And we really believe that Dan & Cindy had no idea
> that there was an issue - we drove it with them ourselves, and it
> had been regularly driven and loved.



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