What to do?? Water in Fuel!!!!

[jcmseven]

Fellow Posters:

I have a 2008 F250 KR 6.4L diesel truck with 5200 miles on it. Last week, I filled up at a station I generally do not patron (nothing wrong with it--just usually not the closest). The next morning my truck displayed the "Empty Water Separator" moniker on the dash. I contacted my dealer who sent out to my work for the truck and serviced it. He drained the water separator, stating he did not note any water, but since it is on the left framerail of the truck he could not tell. The light went off and the truck ran without incident--until the following day, when the light came back on. I then crawled underneath and drained a bit more fuel (about one gallon) which solved the problem for two days. Then, again this AM the water in fuel light came back on. Interestingly, the truck runs fine and the light will not stay on. When the truck is stopped after the first drive, then restarted, it goes off and will not come back on. I added some H20 remover to the fuel and filled up again at a different station, to no avail. My dealer says this system is quite sophisticated and would not alarm if no water was present. He did not change the filters, citing that they are very expensive and the system is designed to preserve them. I would be willing to change, but only if needed as they are quite pricey. I contacted the station to ask if anyone else had reported fuel problems and they denied so. I expected this response, but I had not seen any warning light until filling up there. What should I do to correct this problem. Even the dealer seems a little confused, and I do not want to overreact when the truck runs so well, yet I do not want to damage the engine in such a nice machine as this has been so far.

John M

 

[Egon]

I'd suggest draining the tank and keeping a sample of the fuel so you can get it analyzed.

 

[InlineDieselFan]

If/when the light comes back on, catch all of the fuel/water that you drain out in some sort of container. You may need to have a funnel and hose that run down to the container I do not know the Ford set up. Let this set for awhile and check for water.

In your post you said you did not note any water in the fuel you drained. I am thinking that if you have enough to set off the sensor you have one of two things.

1. really bad fuel that you should have seen some water in it when you drained the filter.
2. a bad sensor that the dealer has never had an issue with or is so exspensive that Ford just does not want to replace it.

A truck with that few miles has not had much fuel run through it. If you have never had this problem before in the 8 or so earlier tanks of fuel it certainly could be a bad tank of fuel. Also if it is a bad tank of fuel you could be battling this issue for a long time if you do not drain your tank completly.

steve

 

[cp1969]

Taking a look at what you're draining out is the key. If there is water in the fuel, you'll see it. If all you see is fuel, there is probably something wrong with the water detection system. If you don't know what water in fuel looks like, take a small sample of fuel and add some water to it.

DON'T add any type of 'water remover' to the system. There is no such thing. All it does is cause the water to go back into solution in the fuel. If there is water, you've got it trapped at the right place--the fuel/water separator. Don't do anything that will send it further downstream into your injection system.

 

[DieselPower]

Taking a look at what you're draining out is the key. If there is water in the fuel, you'll see it. If all you see is fuel, there is probably something wrong with the water detection system. If you don't know what water in fuel looks like, take a small sample of fuel and add some water to it.

DON'T add any type of 'water remover' to the system. There is no such thing. All it does is cause the water to go back into solution in the fuel. If there is water, you've got it trapped at the right place--the fuel/water separator. Don't do anything that will send it further downstream into your injection system.

Actually there are two types of additives for dealing with water. The one you mention which draws the water into suspension (a emulsifier) with the fuel so it passes through the system and is burned in the combustion chamber. As you said, not a good thing and can damage fuel system components. The other type takes the water out of suspension (a demulsifier) so it can be trapped by the fuel/water separator. This is the kind of additive you want to use.

As others have mentioned, the next time your light comes on drain some of the fuel and save it in a clear container. Let it set for a while and see if there is water in the bottom of the container. If there is water present then your indication system is working properly. You then have two options. Either keep draining the water from the separator or completely remove your fuel tand and drain your fuel. The first will be easiest.

I suspect the "advanced" water monitor is nothing more than the same water sensor used by most all other manufacturers. Just two exposed metal surfaces on the sensor with a voltage applied to one of them. The system monitors the current draw across the sensor and when it gets high enough it set's the water in fuel light on. No rocket science here.

 

[Skyco]

Hopefully the "water remover" you added was not alcohol based as most off the shelf ones are. Alcohol can be a very bad thing in a diesel. I'd siphon all I could out of the tank and go buy diesel at your normal place and see if the problem goes away. If it does then I'd go see the manager of the place you got the "bad" fuel from and demand he buy it back from you.

 

[jcmseven]

If the light comes back on today, I will empty some and let it sit to see whether there is really water in the fuel. The remover I used was a de-emulsifier, as I had the same concern about the emulsion of water in diesel fuel. So it seems I did the correct thing there. My expectation was that the truck would run poorly if there were water in the diesel fuel. Since it runs fine, I wonder if there is any water at all in it. It is so coincidental, though, that RIGHT after filling up at this station, the light which has never come on, came on.

John M

 

[Soundguy]

I'm with the others.. I'd not have added the water addative if it is the kind meant to solvate or emulsify water..

Good luck...

Soundguy

 

[tommu56]

jcmseven

One guy at work ran low on fuel in his ford and dumped 5 gallons of off road fuel to make sure he got to station.
He said the same thing you had happen and it ran crappy (off road fuel was good) it took a couple of tanks till it started running ok then he changed filters.
I tried the same thing in my ram to see if would run and it didn't make any difference.

tom

 

[jcmseven]

Tom,

I suppose it is possible the fuel might not have been USLD which might have fooled the sensor (I have heard this can happen), but I am impressed by the fact my truck never ran badly. In fact, had the light not come on I would have never known. The truck--through all of this--has run perfectly. Since my original posting the light has not come on again. I am cautiously optimistic it will stay off. I have opted to not change filter unless the light comes back on and stays. I ran the culprit tank of fuel low and just filled up with a new tank. Hopefully, this will prevent any issues. I did not sample the fuel from the last tank, but will do so if the light comes on again. As I noted I used the separation treatment recommended by Ford, so hopefully that helped some. I will keep posted, and I appreciate the helpful comments so far.

John M