Fresh PM, Davco level already near top of bowl

It is the fuel.

Most Pilots and Flying J are adding BIO-Diesel to the fuel.

In my opinion that is why the Davco is filling up faster.

Mine is doing the same.

Mine lasts much longer in the summer months.

I carry an extra filter and change it when it gets to the top.

You may had got bad fuel but,I would bet it was more than likely the bio in the fuel.

Keep an eye on it. The level may go down a little. It may go several more miles before it gets to the top of the filter.

 

On my 2007 Volvo this happened to me for the first time late last year. It turned out that it had nothing to do with bad diesel (it happened three filters in a row). What happened was I took my truck in to have a PM done and they used a different brand filter than I was used to. Less than a week later it was well and truly plugged up so I figured it was a bad fill up and got a new one. Same thing. Did it again, same thing.

Turns out the type of filter they put in was meant for a single filter setup not the primary / secondary filter setup my truck uses. Not realizing this was the issue I simply had successive shops replacing the fuel filter, which they did by matching the part number. I was complaining vociferously the fourth time and the mechanic at the T/A I stopped at looked everything over carefully then figured it out.

I'm not very mechanically knowledgeable but I can say that from that time on my primary fuel filter has run the same way as it did before.

Good luck,

Jim

 

I have a 14L Detroit.

It calls for a 7 micron filter.

I have used different manufactures.

Make sure you are using the correct micron filter.

I am still betting you got fuel that was blended with Bio.

 

If you used the the yellow bio diesel it plugs up fast. The green doesn't. Most likely your filter and not the fuel. Get a different filter, not the same they used at the pm, and see if that helps.

 

this has been a constant problem with me too. if you use non bio diesel, your filter will last a lot longer.

 

I use nothing but biodiesel and so does millions of other trucks. The fuel is filtered before it gets to the pump. I only have to change my filter once a month if even that. Since my company installed these stainless steel filters I haven't had to change it yet and that was well over A month ago. Obviously a smaller micron filter will catch more stuff which is a good thing because that means it's doing it's job. The more stuff it catches means less stuff makes it to your injectors and that means no clogged Injectors or other problems. I'd rather change a $15 filter rather then have to have the engine tore down.

 

Biodiesel in high concentrations is an excellent solvent. I'm not talking about the b10 or b20 you get at most Pilots, I'm talking about b50 and higher. It absolutely WILL loosen the filth built up in your tanks and fuel lines from years of DinoDiesel use. That gunk has to go somewhere... Right into your filters! So it is doing exactly what I would expect.

The Davco unit is super easy to drain and change and the cartridges I've been getting at NAPA are less than $10...

I bought an '07 Volvo 780 D12 with 920k on the clock. That's a LOT of years of built up gunk. I buy B99 as often as I can get it (675 gallons so far) in New Florence, MO right off I-70 exit 175. I have gone through 2 cartridges since I bought the truck (24k miles) and I expect the next one will be short lived too. After that I expect them to last a lot longer because most of that buildup and filth will have been cleaned from the fuel system.

I went through the same thing on the 600k Kenworth I bought in 2011. When I first started running high concentrations of Biodiesel, I ate the first few filters in 2-3 weeks (~8k miles). Went through 3 in the first 2 months and 1 more in another 30 days, and then went back to changing about every 20k. Sadly THAT truck didn't have the cheap Davco filter cartridges!

The ONLY thing that concerns me about BioD is where does all that gunk that was in the fuel system DOWNSTREAM of the filters go?!? I like the idea of cleaning the system, I don't so much like the idea of that nastiness going through my injectors!