How often are you guys draining the fuel conditioner? Manual says only when light turns on. I was used to once a month on my 6.4.......

 

Nobody's doing this?

 

I never had on my previous trucks. My ram its way up in there and you have to reach around the exhaust and driveshaft to do it. How is it on the powerstrokes?

 

The location is next to the frame rail drivers side. Access could not be easy unless they put it topside. No big reach or dealing with drive line or exhaust. Good design.

 

I try to drain it about every 3000 miles, I've never found any water in any of my Diesels though. Lucky I guess, but I tend to be particular about where I fuel up.

 

This larger capacity water separator is great. I was draining monthly and now I'm doing it every 3 months. Still a good precaution.

 

This is exactly the thread I was looking for but posted in another!

The location of this filter is it is it the same spot under the driver side tucked into the side of the frame? Like a fuel filter in a gas ford or am I wrong. I am a noob when it comes to checking new things like this for a diesel and if I take my truck for service or oil change I need to know if I need to request this or do it myself?

Thanks guys

 

Chris, I took a picture of mine awhile back. It doesn't really look like a gas filter, just a big rectangular box. The yellow plug can be twisted open to drain the contents of the bottom of the filter / water separator. Use a glass jar (like a Ball / Mason canning jar, pickle jar, or whatever). Place the jar under the drain and open it. Any water in the bottom will come out, but mostly you'll just see pure diesel fuel. Just drain off maybe less than a pint and close the drain. Now, look in the glass jar. Diesel is more dense than water, so any water will be on the bottom of the jar. Start off with a clean jar; if there is no water, I typically pour the diesel into the oil fill for my furnace (common heating in the northeast, but not everywhere). I would not pour it back into my truck; some might do that anyway. You could pour it into something else less sensitive and valuable that runs on diesel, like a farm tractor, etc. If there is water, a small amount is no big deal. Any substantial amount of water, I'd find a new fueling station. Certainly this is work you can perform yourself. Probably get a little diesel on your hands. Every 15k miles, the actual fuel filter in this same filter housing (plus the one under the hood in the round housing) will need to be replaced and the fuel lines purged of air. Once again, you can perform this work yourself or have the dealer do it.

Filter / Separator housing under the vehicle:

 

Okay i I don't mind doing it myself but I'm just curious would this be considered routine oil change stuff they check for you? Or would I have to remind them.

This is stuff i could could forget about and it Scares me haha

 

The dealer is not going to drain your water for you unless you ask them to. They will tell you about changing your fuel filters at 15k miles, and at that point they would probably be draining the water / fuel out simultaneously.

 

Wow, mark this day in history, Troverman made a mistake. Water is more dense than diesel and that's why diesel floats on water. HeHe.

 

Haha, I make mistakes all the time. You are correct (and I knew that!) but I guess typing before thinking.