I have owned my truck for 3 yrs now. At the beginning I was draining the F/W sperator but nothing came out and finally just stopped doing it. I changed both filters at 25k miles.

Recently I either have a bad batch of fuel or the sensor is corroded and getting the message after about 15 minutes of running.

Finally I figured out how I think I should drain the F/W seperator. I first had the wife turn key to ON and then open valve and some came out.

I then opened gas cap and then drained and keyed OFF and lots came out but I am seeing greenish fluid which means diesel.

Chances are I have a bad sensor. The instructions say nothing about opening fuel cap. Maybe this is why some people myself included kept getting nothing.

 

So you are saying that when you opened the valve before that nothing came out? When I changed mine a few weeks ago for the first time, all I did was open the valve and it had a good trickle of fuel for a good 5 min. or so. You should definitely have fuel coming out of the drain because otherwise that would mean you have no fuel in the fuel/water separator. The only thing I can think of is maybe the drain is clogged or something.

 

I think it is more of a siphon lock with the fuel cap on. When I replaced my filter I did the engine one first but did not replace it. When I did the under carriage one the fuel came out like you describe

 

Well come to think of it, I had already loosened the top filter thinking it was the oil filter . Lol, that made quite the mess. So that may have had something to do with it I don't know. I did not touch the fuel cap though. I guess I will find out the next filter change.

 

hmm let me give some advice here. You need to change your fuel filters at 10K intervals. I can see pushing that a little but a fuel related repair is expensive and these systems are sensitive as you are finding out.

You need to drain monthly period.

Now for your current issue, take that filter out and get in there and clean the area out and maybe that will fix the issue.

Note when changing filters, both the eng and rail one need to be changed!!

 

Where is the fuel filter located? I have looked at the attached link and must be missing something. I do not see anything resembling this attached to the driver's side frame.

http://www.backglass.org/duncan/ps64...ply_System.pdf

 

Right under the drivers side, inside the rail, next to the crossmember for the trans. You can idenify it based on the link you provided. look for the yellow handle, turn the yellow handle and if you get fuel you know you are there.

Be aware though fuel comes out so have something handy to drain it into.

 

The drain valve on the 6.4 is so much nicer than on the 6.0. You can climb under there and just pull that little lever, and push it back up when you're done. The 6.0 had a stupid little allen bolt that needed to be removed that I would drop if I wasn't careful. Now all I wish was that Ford would move that thing so it was more accessible with a ratchet!

 

It would seem to me that they could have moved it back behind the transfer case and there would be plenty of room there. Maybe there is a reason it is where it is now though. I was dreading changing it after reading some posts about people saying its hard to get to, but it wasn't too bad.

 

I use a 20oz pop bottle under the drain, open it and let it run a bit.

Done

Rev

 

this is a little embarrassing, but I have 60k on the odometer and have never changed a fuel filter or drained the separator. i use a local tire/brake shop for oil changes...i suppose i better let a ford garage do the next service to see how far behind i am on this kind of stuff.

 

Don't take it to Ford; they'll void your warranty on the spot if they've never been changed.

Get a 36mm socket, a can of patience, around half a tank or less of fuel and do this...

Pop the cap on the fuel tank, open the bleeder on the fuel/water separator and let it drain. Pop a beer, and drink it. After beer is done, check to see if it's done draining. If still draining, pop another beer and wait. Once it finishes, then you can do the filter in the engine compartment without a big mess. After it's done, it's break time, so pop another beer. After the beer do the filter on the rail...The wiring harness is in the way, so a 36mm wrench helps. Either way, it's a PITA. After they're done, have another beer, climb up in the cab, and turn the key to "run" for 30 seconds. Repeat that 8-10 times to prime the fuel rails and filters. After that, fire it up, check for leaks, pop a beer and enjoy the rest of your day.

 

Oh ****...glad I didn't schedule an appointment! BTW, do you guage all your jobs by how many beers it takes? Thanks!

 

well,. how else would you measure planned delays?!

Sam

 

I'm not trying to scare anybody here but last night I was trolling one of the diesel sites (Powerstroke) and came upon a very very long thread about 6.4L engine failures including the total fuel injector system. Now I always say there is a lot of information on the internet and some of it is even true. On the thread in question there were 3 or 4 folks who's 6.4L motors were totalled and Ford was denying the warranty because the cause was excessive water in the fuel. The thread went on to talk about the need to check and drain the fuel filter often. The people with the blown motors say that they shut down when the "water in fuel" warning came on but apparantly the damage was already done. Aside from the issue of should Ford honor the warranty just because they sell a truck that's too sensitive to water, I don't want to go through the hassell. So, I have added a monthly fuel drain to my maintaince schedule. BTW mine would not flow when I opened it today. I figured it was plugged and tried several pieces of wire. When that didn't work I gave it a quick shot of air and that opened it. I found just a very little bit of water so I feel better already and tomorrow I'm gonna take off the fuel cap and see if that helps the flow just so I know in the furture.