I've got an 1990 E250 Van with the 7.3L Diesel & ~160k miles.

It won't start. Here is the sequence:

I turn the engine over (had been sitting two weeks), the engine starts, then dies immediately. (It usually starts rough, but doesn't normally die).

Now when I try to turn it over, I get the "Water in Fuel" light, and now the starter spins the engine around, but won't start.

This is the second time this has happened (same sequence as above). The first time, I figured out my water separating fuel filter....it has a schraeder valve at the top and a thumbscrew drain on the bottom. I rigged something to catch the fuel, opened the bottom, poked the valve and let some stuff out. I could not see ANY water, only fuel. (No droplets in the bottom; no line between water & fuel, etc.) Then I ran the starter--it took a while to fill the fuel filter back up, and it turned over.

Now it has happened again a couple weeks later. I could repeat what I did, but I'm not expecting it to solve the problem completely this time.

I now plan to fully drain the fuel filter, and change the filter. (It is probably beyond time anyhow...)

Can anybody tell me a couple things though?

1. What exactly does the "Water In Fuel" light detect and how does it do it?
2. Is changing the fuel filter the right thing to do?
3. How many more times will this happen most likely?

Thanks!

 

1.The water in fuel sensor detects water. Uses resistance/continuity to detect water.

2. Changing the fuel filter would be a great thing to do.

3. Depends on where you buy your fuel and how much the van sets. Engines driven regularly and only fueled at high volume places rarely have water problems these days.
However if you don't drive much, and fuel at a place that only sells 150 gallons of fuel a week you are asking for trouble. Yes the fuel may cost 3 to 5 cents more a gallon at the truck stop, but they pump several thousand gallons a day. The headache from water or other contaminants in the fuel is not worth saving 3 dollars to fill up.

When you change the fuel filter, in the bottom piece that screws off the filter look at the sensor carefully. Clean the bottom cap out well before you reinstall it. Some people have had trouble with corrosion around the sensor causing it to light when no water was present. Also check the condition of the terminal the wire plugs into on the bottom .

 

check the filter screen just behind the micron filter it is probably full of water and microbe gunk drian both and flush out and becarful with the screen it's only plastic but that will fix fuel problem also check glow plug timer some time's it goe's bad and doesn't heat injection chamber i mean it's just a starter solinoid anyway not sure bout your knowlege on your truck so i'll tell you the heat time reg unit is behind battery tucked way down in fender almost as much fun as putting in fuel filter.

 

OK, I'm not 100% sure what you're talking about here, so let me describe what I can find of my fuel filter:

The filter itself is a white painted filter much like an oil filter except that it has threaded openings both top and bottom. None of it is very accessible inside the van--they really had to use a shoehorn to get the 7.3L diesel in there The bottom has a fairly complicated fitting on it, considering I only remember seeing the drain valve & hose coming out of it. The top appears to be screwed onto something with lots of connections; I know it has at least a fuel intake and a fuel outlet, plus a schraeder valve; there might be another fuel connection--I don't remember for sure.

Would the filter screen just be in front of the filter when I unscrew it? Is it a separate item upstream of the intake hose to the filter?

I believe the glow plugs are operating correctly--at least I remember hearing the relay cycle on & off once the "Wait to start" light went out.

 

How long did the WTS light stay on.........

Sounds like an air intrusion problem into the fuel lines.......have you done any work on the injectors or return lines.......

 

I have no input, but want to "watch" this post

 

is your's n/a or turbo? well it's not hard to find, fuel goe's through it first then to the micron filter the 'big filter' should be about 1 3/4" in diameter and two or three inches long and unscrew's it's plastic so be careful and plc7.3 made a good point look for any strong fuel smell if it's there could be cracked line although cummins are more subbseptable for this than IH thier line's are jappanese back when this one was made the line's were made in us anyway the 'sludge filter' as i called it will be in front of the big fuel filter fuel feed 'plastic' line will go into it then the smaller metal line's with rubber 'o'ring's will come out of it and then into the micron filter hope this helps

 

That filter that 47,52,69,92 is describing is not a stock installed filter.

You are describing the correct filter.

On the top header you have an inlet, an outlet, a schrader valve and a fuel heater terminal. On some there was a connection for a return line and on some there was a filter restriction sender.

Bottom header has the drain fitting and the water in fuel sensor connection terminal.

Out of all the pictures I have, not one of the fuel filter connections. I guess that goes on the to do list.

 

well i guess the ford version was different on the IH instalation it had prefilter to catch water and trash from fuel tank and the micron filter the one that looks like oil filter with drain **** in bottom and i know for a fact that later power strokes had them and assumed the 6.9-7.3 had them as well and most all next gen7.3 did to so sorry to confuse?

 

When I change my filter on the 7.3 I just unscrew the old one (with fuel in it) fill the new one with fresh Diesel, check to see where the gasket is, screw it on and start her. This usually avoids bleeding the lines.

Filling it using the starter introduces air into the IP, which then becomes a nightmare. It is hard to tell if there is still a problem or if you have air intrusion by doing it this way. My old 6.9 caused these headaches and it took well over 2 hrs pulling off injector lines. Unless I am mistaken, new filter filled with fuel, followed by bleeding may be your safe bet.

My 2 cents, for what it's worth. Good luck.

Das Ungetum.

 

Check the fuel return lines - if painted gray replace- They will let air into the system and let the fuel drain back to the tank - thus the loss of fuel at filter. The lines won't let fuel out but air will leak in.

 

Well, I finally got around to changing the filter. It was past time to do the change anyhow, so I'm glad it is done....It took longer than it should have...lack of time and my filter wrench is 60 miles away, so I had to buy a new one...and now that it still isn't starting, I realize I should have tried harder to fill it with fuel before installing it. (ARGH!)

But I no longer think the water-in-fuel sensor (or actual water in the fuel) is my problem.

For one thing, I'm pretty sure I disconnected the water sensor by accident when I was messing with stuff previously--The water section on the bottom of the filter has three "things" on the bottom: One is the drain valve, which connects to a hose going down through the engine. I've identified and used extensively by now. The second appears to be another valve--I was able to lift something up against a spring on the inside, but didn't identify anything attached on the bottom.

The last is an electrode contact sticking up with a hard plastic or rubber insulator around it and smooth shiny metal on the top. Sticking through the bottom is about a half inch of a bolt/stud/etc....could be #10/32 plus or minus a size. I found a wire with a rubber boot/contact on the end of it floating around under the filter, and I stuffed it back onto the threaded stud. If the sensor detects the conductivity of water, and likes the insulation of diesel, I would expect an open circuit to not trigger the sensor.

In addition, the "Water in Fuel" light is only on when I am cranking the engine; it goes out as soon as I release the ignition.

After the filter change, I ran the starter for at least three 30-second cycles, and the engine wouldn't start. I poked the schrader valve on top of the fuel filter (with the engine not turning) and a teaspoon of diesel squirted out of it, so fuel seems to be making it into the filter. It is hard to get at the filter, so I didn't manage to pre-load it with fuel before I cranked the engine.

I didn't (knowingly!) touch any fuel returns or fuel lines in this whole process.

I did disconnect and re-connect three multi-conductor connectors from a wiring harness somewhere, since they blocked what little access I do have to the fuel filter. I'm sure there was no way I could miss-connect them when I put them back together. [This really shouldn't matter, but I don't want to leave anything out]

If I have air in the fuel lines, I wouldn't be suprised.

Now that my situation is updated, here's my latest questions:

1. Should I try to bleed air out of the fuel system?
2. Is there an easy way to check for air in the fuel lines? I've never touched an injector on any diesel before, although I have done some work on the fuel lines of a marine diesel before.
3. If I should bleed the system, where & how? (Previously, I turned the starter over long enough to get past the problem, but that doesn't seem to be working this time)
4. What else should I do/check? I'd really like to at least be able to drive my van to the shop to let the professionals mess with it!

Thanks for all your advice so far, and thanks for your patience with somebody who is a rank amateur trying working on my vehicle!

 

The electrode with the stud on the outside of the filter is the water in fuel sensor.
The spring loaded thing is to bleed air into the filter when you open the drain valve.
Without air entering the filter, the water would not drain out.
And the drain you have correct.

You still have a lot of air in the filter or your lift pump has died.
If you remove the valve core in the schrader valve on the filter, 10 seconds of engine cranking should produce 1/3 pint of fuel.
Also the lift pump should produce between 5 and 7 PSI pressure at the valve.
If either of the lift pump tests are failed, replace the lift pump.

After you get a steady stream of fuel at the filter.

Carefully loosen a couple of injector lines being carefull the line spins in the nut. If the line turns with the nut you will crimp a line. A little PB Blaster sprayed on the nuts helps them to turn on the lines.
Then crank the engine over with the throttle held wide open.
When you see fuel at the injectors, tighten the nuts back up.
Now the engine should start.

Also it is very important, only crank the starter for about 20 seconds, then give it 2 minutes to cool off before cranking it again. Starters do not like being overheated.

 

OK, I'll try to check out the lift pump next. Since I'm trying to understand a little about this vehicle of mine, is the lift pump the low pressure pump that just provides fuel to the high pressure pump which drives the injectors? Or is it the high pressure pump?

OK, I'm pretty sure this is the problem--I didn't do anything that should kill the pump, but I sure did something that should put air into the lines! I've just got a couple stupid sounding questions about it:

• Can you give me better directions on how to identify the injector lines? I haven't tried too hard yet, and I expect the fact that there are eight of them, four to each side of the engine block should help me figure it out. (I've never needed to know before, and haven't tried to look very hard yet.)
• When I've got the air out, how tight should they be?

Wow! Ford wasn't nearly as conservative as you are--they printed something on the visor warning me to rest 30 seconds after trying for 30 seconds.....Then again, they make more of a profit on replacement starting motors than you do

 

The lift pump or transfer pump as some call it is located on the passenger side lower front of the engine. Looks just like a gas motor fuel pump. It supplies 5 to 7 PSI pressure to the fuel filter and then on to the injection pump.

The injection pump is located in the center of the motor on top. Right behind the oil fill spout. From it there are 8 steel lines, one to each injector.(you are correct 4 on each side) I do not have my spec book here, but I would guess about 25 foot pounds on the injector line nuts. A 5/8" wrench fits them.

I can not even guess how many starters I have replaced in the last 21 years at an average cost of 300 dollars each. Several years ago I replaced it with one from NAPA that was 435 dollars with a lifetime warranty. NAPA has replaced it twice since then.

Some days depending on what I am doing, I think a conservative estimate of how many times my engine gets started would be about 150, other days it would be in the 25 or 30 range.