water in fuel ? or?

[Soundguy]

info.. my 04 f250 w/ 6.0 PSD

never had any engine problems with her ( i know the early 6.0 had head issues )

mine is at 102000 riht now.

oil change every 5k ( or 3k if I tow alot or am in dusty conditions alot ). I use the motorcraft 15w40 power stroke oil, napa oil and fuel filters, and I have the conversion air filter box for the better / cheaper air filter.

starting 2 weeks ago I was going down the road and had just went over a dip and bump, truck lost power, could not maintain rpms, and started 'smoking' white heavilly. I pulled over and got out for a look. she idled real rough around 600 rpm.. 'smoke' as far as I can tell was steam the way it disipated. I didn't smell rich fuel or oil.

it cleared up in about 30 seconds or less.

all gauges ok.. oil, temp, etc. drove home and let her set to cool a bit so I could look under hood.

no oil in coolant, no coolant in oil, oil not low, coolant not low. drive back home was normal.. good power no smoke.. handled just like she always had.

i figured wet diesel, dumped in a can of seafoam and went on. we had just started the cool weather in florida, and truck had sat all weekend.. I figured either I got water at a pump.. or condensation on tank walls had washed down during the bump... then got sucked up.

fast forward a week, same deal.. exactly. again.. I was at 1/4 tank fuel like last time.. and we are still having cold weather.. fast forward another week, today.. did it again..

goes away in 10-20 seconds.. and still no milkshake or loss of fluids.

have not changed my fuel filter yet as I had just done it a month ago before all this started with my last oil change at 100000. I know I shoulda changed it first time I suspected water 2 weeks ago. will likely change it monday.

anyway.. dumped in another can of seafoam, and will run that tank low then fill her up again and see what happens and watch my fluids.

any opinions here? am I on the right track with wet fuel?

soundguy

 

[JESSE1]

Have you tried dumping water out of the frame mounted fuel pump? It's mounted on the frame about even with the driver's door. Yellow lever, just move it forward and let the fuel drain until it stops.

 

[Soundguy]

hadn't thought of a water trap.. say it's on the undercarriage around the drivers door.. lever to drain? I'll for sure take a look in the am.

thanks

soundguy

 

[JESSE1]

You said you changed the fuel filter. You realize that there are two filters and one is on the fuel pump on the frame rail? If you only changed the one on top of the engine, the filter on the fuel pump is probably clogged. If you buy Motorcraft filters, they come in a set with both filters.

When you change the filters, cycle the key to "on" until you hear the fuel pump under the cab shut off. Do this about six times to purge air out of the system before you try to start the engine.

Also, don't let the fuel tank get low, especially in winter. If your weather is like ours, we go through cycles of warm followed by a cold front. You'll really get a lot of condensation in your fuel tank.

 

[PoorMansCat]

I would think that if you were injecting enough water to see it vaporized out the exhaust, the injectors would have already blown the tips out of them,. I would lean more toward an inpending head gasket failure or possibly EGR cooler failure(if the 04 model 6.0L had an EGR)
Pull an oil sample and send it off. If its an intermittent coolant leak such as a head gasket... an oil sample may show some coolant trace in the oil..

 

[HHR]

I would put money on the EGR cooler being your problem.... If I had any.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Water or EGR could be the issue. I would drain the under cab fuel drain. I thought mine took a 10mm alllen wrench though. Check your manual.

Changing both filters can confirm or eliminate a fuel issue.

The EGR could be it. Funny thing is my good friend Barbie, yes that her name, had a 04 F-250 with just over 100,000 and the only problem she ever had was the EGR last summer. She got it fixed but there is also a EGR eliminate kit for the early 6.0's. I think it was only $400 or so to get it fixed. Anyway she totaled it a month later.

Chris

 

[JESSE1]

You're right about the allen wrench. I have the lever on my '08 but it's in the same location.

 

[Soundguy]

worked all day so didn't get to the rail filter yet. will post back when i see what comes out of it.

the egr cooler? is it a water cooled device?

soundguy

 

[wmonroe]

I agree with the others that if enough water was going through to cause steam that it probably woudn't run or would cause major injector issues. One thing to check is to make sure that a electrical connector isn't loose (cam or crank sensor?) causing the timing to be thrown out of wack causing white smoke. Just throwing ideas out there.