Took my truck into get the "water in fuel" randomly coming on fixed. I have extended 75,000 mile warranty through ford with a 100.00 ded. Ford/dealership says they won't warranty it.
Is it something I can do myself?
This just started and I have 73,000 on my truck. Getting ready to pull my Airstream to Florida and that beep every 300 miles or so is going to drive me crazy.

I am not very mechanically inclined, but can it be done? Can I just clean the sensors or something? The dealer wants close to 300.00 to do it.

Thanks'
Shane

 

There is a fuel/water drain on the frame rail right on the primary fuel filter. The drain is a allen head screw(forgot what size) be careful, if it has never been off these things love to get stuck and you end up rounding out the allen head. If you have 4x4 its alittle tighter to get to but not impossible...

 

I drained the water in mine several time to no avail the light continued to come on. you can by a new sensor & cover which comes as a unit or you can clean it. I clean mine and it is a simple job that takes about 30mins. the only con is u need a fuel line puller for two of the four fuel lines the other two lines just snap in. you can purchase a puller for around $10 bucks. I borrowed one from a friend for free! take the four lines loose on the HFCM then unplugg the 3 sensors then take remove four bolts on cover and ease off so u want loose the spring from the back. Its easy you cant put it back wrong unless......... don't forget to remove the drain plug first

 

I read this from this site.....

"Whenever my wif light comes on like that and there is no water (3 times so far in 145000 miles), I usually find the sensor is dirty. Before you replace the sensor, take a can of brake or carb cleaner (carb cleaner seems to work better) and heat the end of the little plastic straw and bend it 90* so there is about a 1/4 inch leg after the bend. Remove the drain plug, insert the straw and spray the cleaner around towards the front of the truck (where the wire harness plugs in to the cover).

I usually get a slimy brown or white goop to come out with the cleaner. Ill spray half the can around in there to be sure I got it all, then let it sit and drain for a while to get most of the cleaner out. After that the light stays out for a while. The first time I replaced the cover and saw the slimy stuff caked around the sensor. Since then I have just cleaned it with no problems. "

Sound plausiable?

Shane

 

The HFCM sensor seems to be much more robust --- haven't given me a false alarm yet.

 

Mine does it occasionally too....First time it happened I got just the sensor, but have heard you can no longer buy just the sensor, have to get the entire cover kit for a benjamin. Like posted, pull the drain plug, pull the sensor and clean the housing and the sensor with brake clean and you should be good to go.

 

I just removed the drain plug, and used several q tips. then sprayed wd 40 in the hole untill it ran out clear. then dried with more q-tips.

 

I would love to clean mine out like that....
but last time I drained mine it NEVER stopped draining.... so I couldn't spray something in there...

surely (shirley ) there's not that much water in the filter....

 

The first thing to ask here, is are you actually getting water? When the WIF light comes on, have you drained the HFCM? Was there actually any water?

If not, then yes the sensor needs cleaning in one fashion or another.

If you do see water, then the sensor is doing its job. Once you get a bubble of water in your tank it rolls around on the bottom and gets picked up a little at a time, and can take a long time to get completely picked up.

 

When was the last time you changed your fuel filters (both of them)?

If it was more than 15K you should probably do it.
You can find a tutorial here:

http://www.dieselfiltersonline.com/D...ence-Guide.pdf

You can also buy the filters from them for a good price.

 

You're absouletley right, I had to do just that this past weekend when I went to drain it bolt wouldn't come out and I had to put a new cover on it with the wire harness. $100 bucks and I installed the updated drain so I should no longer have a problem getting that screw out again...

 

About 4,000 miles ago, Thats kinda when the problem started. It's progressivly gotten worse.

Gonna try the Carb cleaner this weekend.

Shane

 

Ok drined the water seperator today and used the Carb cleaner. MAN that was nasty. Full of hard deposits and yellow liquid came out after I sprayed. I waited 10 mins and got some qtips after it. Dried it up nice. Since I had to wait for that I also took my Bully breather of and recharged it, so I don't know if the WIF light will come again until I drive it. I'll keep this thread updated. I will give you guys some advice, this might be a good thing to do on a annual basis, just to clean out some of that gunk.

SHane

 

Most guys are doin this with every filter change

 

Sp Far so Good!!! No WIF light.

Thanks