Water In Fuel, the Light Said

[Big T]

And it be right:

Drained 10 gallons from tank and got most of it. Flushed the FFM about 5x. Was able to get the truck home. Water in fuel light came on again within 1/2 mile of my home.

I get a recurring P0251 code. I can erase, but it comes back immediately.

 

[Jaryd]

Glad you made it home. It's a whole lot easier working on the truck in the yard or the shop where all the tools are.

 

[Will L.]

Yeah, you seem to have a little bit of fuel in your waterhose there.

Flushy flushy. Then flush it some more.

Run separate fuel tank just to the ip and return lines to see if it will run on that properly. Clear code before doing it and see if it comes back while using new source.

 

[Big T]

It ran fine and the drive was just over 100 miles. I will repeat the siphoning after the water settles and flush the FFM a bunch more times.

Did I say traffic sucked and we started the drive back at 10:30 AM. On the way there was a wreck on 126 near Santa Paula. Car rear ended a big rig at high speed. Did not look good. They had to redirect traffic off to side streets.

 

[Big T]

This is the fuel I flushed out of the FFM. Ran the lift pump and sucked 2+ quarts out of it. Since the water in fuel light came back on, I will have to repeat this.

 

[WarWagon]

IMO save some time and filters and drop the tank already and suck/wipe it dry. You could filter the fuel with a large water separator and burn it off. Otherwise you will randomly get water in the pickup clogging the filter stalling the engine and all fuel added will be 100% saturated with water till it's gone. Water and injection systems don't mix for very long without replacing the pump and injectors. The factory filter isn't good enough to save the injection system. None of the OEM pickup factory filters are. Nevermind lack of any or good water separators are nearly the #1 reason the 5.7 olds diesel grenade caused lemon laws to get put on the books.

It's not that bad of a job to drop the tank. The level sensor connector needs to be disconnected while dropping the tank or you rip the wire out...

 

[Big T]

I've dropped a tank before on that '95 Suburban my son wrecked. Dropping it was not hard, but you had to wreck the plate to get the fuel level sender out. I fail to see how you could "wipe" the inside of the tank out.

I will siphon the rest of the fuel out. Remaining water is becoming less and less. Not sure if it's worth trying to save any of the fuel that was removed by running it through a water separator. I will pump the rest on the boat through a water separator.

 

[WarWagon]

Don't recall having to ruin or wreck anything on the burb dropping the tank, but, been awhile. Check out the "q tip" I made to swab out the tank. In your case angeling the tank to get the water off the bottom is what is needed. Maybe raise one side of the vehicle so the suction hose can get to the water.

 

[Big T]

I could not figure out how to remove the ring that locks the sender in place.

In that pic of the two bottles of fuel, it looks like there's still emulsified water mixed in the fuel meaning it had not fully settled out.

 

[FellowTraveler]

While traveling I carry a filter funnel that separate's the water and other junk out of the fuel before it enters tank and the funnel can be used to pour your fuel from and into containers.

Most vehicles a funnel is a PITA I attach the following link with images of what an individual did for his trek into Africa scroll down to about midway of page for images.

http://www.africaland.it/forum/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=74476&start=40

 

[Big T]

While traveling I carry a filter funnel that separate's the water and other junk out of the fuel before it enters tank and the funnel can be used to pour your fuel from and into containers.

Most vehicles a funnel is a PITA I attach the following link with images of what an individual did for his trek into Africa scroll down to about midway of page for images.

http://www.africaland.it/forum/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=74476&start=40

Thanks. That will work for the job I have of draining fuel from the boat.

 

[Big T]

Sucked another quart out of the FFM and it had water in it. Fired up the engine and it's running great AND I was able to clear the code. Left it running and it did not come back.

I will order that Mr. Funnel Filter in the F-15 size tomorrow. That should handle what's still in the boat. I will rig a lift pump to push it through the Racor and then into the Mr. Funnel Filter and into the truck and containers. Will take about 3 well planned trips to drain those tanks.

 

[Jaryd]

You can go to advance auto and get the 3 1/2 gpm mr funnel. That's where I got mine. I m going to order the big one to use at the fuel pump when I fuel the truck up. They work amazing. No water gets through it.

 

[Big T]

You can go to advance auto and get the 3 1/2 gpm mr funnel. That's where I got mine. I m going to order the big one to use at the fuel pump when I fuel the truck up. They work amazing. No water gets through it.

No Advance Auto Parts Stores in California. But Amazon has the 5 gpm Mr. Funnel for $28.95 and free shipping.

 

[Jaryd]

You will like it. You should do the water test when you get it. I poured water in mine right out the box just cause I found it hard to believe that it wouldn't let ANY water through. It worked just like they said it would. No water came out the bottom of the funnel

 

[FellowTraveler]

Thanks. That will work for the job I have of draining fuel from the boat.

I had one event with watered down diesel at a remote station so I use the filter funnel at all stops except for local PURE store, whenever I pull fuel from equipment, boats & aircraft I use the filter too "saves on BIG HEAD ACHE coming into play."

 

[FellowTraveler]

Sucked another quart out of the FFM and it had water in it. Fired up the engine and it's running great AND I was able to clear the code. Left it running and it did not come back.

I will order that Mr. Funnel Filter in the F-15 size tomorrow. That should handle what's still in the boat. I will rig a lift pump to push it through the Racor and then into the Mr. Funnel Filter and into the truck and containers. Will take about 3 well planned trips to drain those tanks.

The BIGGER F-15 IMO is best especially at big rig fueling pumps crazy GPM's smaller filters are OK at stops that don't fuel big rigs.....

 

[Big T]

IMO save some time and filters and drop the tank already and suck/wipe it dry. You could filter the fuel with a large water separator and burn it off. Otherwise you will randomly get water in the pickup clogging the filter stalling the engine and all fuel added will be 100% saturated with water till it's gone. Water and injection systems don't mix for very long without replacing the pump and injectors. The factory filter isn't good enough to save the injection system. None of the OEM pickup factory filters are. Nevermind lack of any or good water separators are nearly the #1 reason the 5.7 olds diesel grenade caused lemon laws to get put on the books.

It's not that bad of a job to drop the tank. The level sensor connector needs to be disconnected while dropping the tank or you rip the wire out...

I'm dropping the tank today. I have a new sender/pick-up with new lock ring and gasket. I will swab out the tank with a puppy pad on a stick. Need to drain the return line. Then I will have everything gone. Fuel has been run through Mr. Funnel Filter 2x.

 

[Big T]

So what is the yellow wax stuff they put all over the top of the sender?

 

[Big T]

Here's a pic of Warwagon's much maligned sock on the old sender.