Fuel filter worked, red float not so much

[RyeThomas]

So my recent 2002 4510 score with only 170 true hours was great, price even better. I did a full fluid and filter change, after about 10 hours of running I popped the side panels to check things out and noticed what I thought was alge or contamination in the filter bowl. No worry I had a spare, but when I pulled the bowl it was a solid chunk of ice. The darn red float ring that is supposed to indicate water was in between 2 coils of the spring in there so it was stuck below at the bottom. I had a few filters so I swapped it out, added Startron and it already had Power service anti gel (white bottle in the tank). I figured with so little hours it may have some alge but not water. Then the fact it was a frozen ring and the red float didn稚 work concerns me a bit.
Good news is filter looked great (fwiw) the water popsicle was only about 1/4 high and the machine is running just fine. I will just be monitoring it every few hours until I run another full tank of fuel thru her. These filters and fuel bowls really do their job or is have big issues.
I also cracked the fuel tank drain which seems to be the lowest point of the tank and nothing but clean looking diesel came out. Maybe I got lucky???

 

[RalphVa]

Unfortunate. In 39 years or running diesel cars and now getting near 14 years on JD diesel tractors, I've never run into a water-in-diesel problem. Guess you got lucky.

One of the "bugs" on my decrepit 1025R was that one could hit the fuel shut off valve with one's right foot. Did it once. Have a 2025R now. No issues with it at all, almost like the 4010, which is just a smaller version of it.

Ralph

 

[jgayman]

It's possible that the filter bowl wasn't assembled correctly the last time it was removed. They are usually pretty full proof. However, it is not uncommon for the float bowl to freeze in cold weather even going so far as to crack the bowl if it gets full of water and is not drained promptly.