Caterpillar Water Separator - The Full Story

[waz2011 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close waz2011]

Hi Pinko,

I am familiar with everything CAT, but I can't say I have heard of Speed Flow before, you don't list your location, but can you tell me who you got the fittings from? Was it a hyd shop or a motor parts supplier hopefully available in Qld.

Waz

[wooley Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close wooley]

Hi Pinko,

I am familiar with everything CAT, but I can't say I have heard of Speed Flow before, you don't list your location, but can you tell me who you got the fittings from? Was it a hyd shop or a motor parts supplier hopefully available in Qld.

Waz

http://www.speedflow.com.au/distributors_australia.html

[pinko351 Member Find all posts View Profile Close pinko351]

Hi Waz

Wooley has beat me to it, best to use their web site to find your local dealer.

In short Speed Flow is a a supplier of fluid fittings. Think Enzed only helpful, and most dealers I've used have had a good working knowledge of the product.

[LeighW Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LeighW]

Much better and cheaper than the Raco setup and you have solved the 8mm to 10mm problem as well. Cat filters are cheaper then Raco, I seem to remember.
Good on you mate. I will be looking into this myself.
The Roo.

Wouldn't agree with that statement myself, the cat filter specs show it will filter 87% of dissolved water.

Raycor 230R is quaranteed to remove 99%, as with most things in life you get what you pay for.

Cheers
LeighW

[gxl_d4d Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close gxl_d4d]

What speedflow part numbers are required for this unit? I ordered the CAT pipes and then found out they're 8mm.

[ROB83R Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ROB83R]

I've just purchased my water seperator through work from CAT and got a very good price. When I picked it up I told the sales guy I needed 10mm barb fitting for it to. He was surprised to hear that prado's and most crd's don't run a water seperator. He then spent 15 minutes searching the system for a 10mm barb. He eventually found an adaptor to run a similar size imperial barb that cost $25 each and there's none in oz.
Cut a long story short I stopped at pirtek and found what I need very quickly. I got 2 adaptors with o-rings and a self seating barb fitting suitable for hydraulic pressure.
Going to fit it very soon, hopefully it all goes to plan.

[gxl_d4d Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close gxl_d4d]

I ended up obtaining 3/8 banjo's, bolts and washers from Queensland Diesel Spares.

The Prado's do have a water separator, it's part of the fuel filter, no different to the CAT one. The Cat element is 10 micron. They have another part number that is a 2 micron filter. The CAT filters are cheaper than aftermarket. I got quoted around $40 for a Fleetguard part and it wasn't in stock.

[ROB83R Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ROB83R]

I think later down the track I'll upgrade to banjos just for a cleaner look. It functions perfectly as is though.
I thought the whole reason to go to this cat separator was because the factory filter wasn't adequate enough at removing water???

[ROB83R Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ROB83R]

P.s thanks bazooka ;-)

[ptnlinda Member Find all posts View Profile Close ptnlinda]

Tell me guys why don't you just do the old trick of adding some Methylated Spirits to the tank every now and then. Methylated spirits mixes with water which then mixes with petrol and then burns. Have been doing this for years in my inboard ski boats and never had any problems with water in the fuel. Not sure whether it mixes with diesel the same as it does petrol but would be an easy solution to some water in the fuel if it does.

[Whooshka Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Whooshka]

I've installed this to my 2008 D4D (big thanks for such detailed information!!!). I'm very happy with price and ease of installation. I know this has been covered (kind of) in other threads but are we absolutely confident that this 2nd filter won't put strain on the pump, causing issues? I was comfortable with it initially but now a little uneasy due to some more reading.

[frederick Member Find all posts View Profile Close frederick]

Hi, my two bobs worth, with regards to filtration, sieving etc something I have had a fair bit to do with, you always start with the larger sieve size then work your way down to smaller therefore fitting the cat filter before the OEM one makes good sense 10 micron down to 2micro. I have had my cat filter on for 13000ks with no issues thus far. In my opinion if you fitted an additional filter with the same mesh sizing(2 micron) as the OEM one then that's what would put strain on the pump.

[gxl_d4d Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close gxl_d4d]

The CAT filter is 5 micron. You can get 30 and 150 micron elements:

Brand Part # Length Micron
Fleetguard FS19516 91.4mm (3.6") 5
FS19585 91.4mm (3.6") 30
FS1953 91.4mm (3.6") 150


CAT 156-1200 91.4mm (3.6") 5
100-6374 91.4mm (3.6") 30
138-3100 91.4mm (3.6") 150


Donaldson P550351 91.4mm (3.6") 5
P550399 91.4mm (3.6") 150

Stanadyne 31871 91.4mm (3.6") 5
31863 91.4mm (3.6") 30
33169 91.4mm (3.6") 150

[Whooshka Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Whooshka]

Thanks Frederick. It seems the cat filter is 5 micron. Anyone concerned about a 5 down to 2 micron setup? Thinking maybe I should replace it with the 30 micron ...

[gxl_d4d Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close gxl_d4d]

I've got the 5 micron element installed as this is what came with the unit. I was planning to use a 30micron when I change it after 40 000km.

The CAT filters were cheaper than aftermarket. I was quoted $18 for the 5 micron filter when I bought the filter assembly. Queensland Diesel Spares wanted $37 for a Fleetguard unit.