I am new to diese engines! So I googled a few images and didn't find much and read some topics on here in the search bar.

I think I'll drain my water seperator every month.

Question is - what am I looking for? How can I tell if water is in the fuel? Will the water settle on the bottom or top?

and do I need to drain the whole water separator to check or just a little bit of it?

thanks guys

 

Open and drain into a clear container. Only need a pint or so. Let it settle and if you see water it. If you have water it will be to the bottom. If you see some water I would drain the filter again until empty, about 2 quarts or so.

 

so the water will settle on the bottom and will be obviously seeable.

If if I do see water then I drain it all, then should I immediately take it in for a new fuel filter?

 

He asked the location of the drain. I am wondering also.

Jack

 

Driver side forward of the fuel tank. You will see a yellow ****. This yellow **** only turns 1/4 turn to open/close so don't break it off. It is on the fuel filter housing.

 

take a look in this folder:


https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ead-first.html


First item is for the coffee book. Rather large but explains a lot about the motor and some of the systems.

 

Okay so if I do find water at all. I drain the whole thing and go to the dealer immediately?

 

Super obvious.... let it sit in a container for a bit. If there is water it will become very obvious to you. I don't have a diesel but I have a water separator filter on my boat and it is very obvious when there's water in there.

 

no you don't need to go to the dealer right away if you found water.


Drain it and see. it will be obvious right away. If you found a bit of water but no light then that is good.


Drain it again in a few days to recheck.


If you were to find a lot of water I am sure the light would come on. If a bunch of water then you would need to drain the tank and lines and new filters.


Just draining it monthly should be fine unless you get some dirty fuel.

 

Kinda hard to say. If you drain a pint and see a couple of small water bubbles (I've never seen any, but I don't really check it all that often) you probably don't want the dealer documenting in OASIS that you've got water in fuel. However, if the WIF light comes on, drain it, go to the dealer, call your insurance man and start pulling receipts from the last place you filled up. Once that light comes on the code is set and the dealer will know.

 

I have a 7.3. I drain mine about 1x a year, although I only put ~7,000 miles a year on it. I just drain a cup of diesel or so. I let it drain right on the ground.

I figure that there is likely only a few drops at best in the water cup, and it drains right away in the first few drops of fuel that come out.

Maybe I make too light of a bad situation?

 

you shouldn't just drain it on the ground. Save it and use it for another purpose.

 

Also a virgin diesel operator here. I'm trying to understand why this seems confusing, and no offense meant to anyone asking...

So you drain a cup/pint/quart, whatever you decide, and let it settle. IF you possibly see a bit of water on the bottom, and the rest is fuel, since oil floats on water, and water would be the first thing coming out, why would one worry about water contamination of the fuel system? You just drained it out, and the filter did its job. If I found water, personally, I'd look at my source for diesel fuel, and maybe try a different one.

Now, if you drained "an amount", and 25% of it is water, you have bigger problems a brewing... Is this over simplifying things?

 

Remember, more than 90% of these owners "fuel dumps" never see any water at all. But if you do and it's only a small amount, the separator did it's job, relax. If you do find a lot (in perspective to your glass jar) just do another draw and settle. I also have a CDL and do this on my big trucks, I'm not going to say you never find any water, but it is kinda rare TBH. Logging millions of miles will definitely get you into this sooner or later, but with these pickups and the lower miles?.... maybe sometime/somewhere, but you have a really good chance of never seeing much if any water ever in your system. You may want to avoid the non-heavily used fuel stations as one mentioned above, but when traveling; who knows by brick-n-mortar facade looks!?

Personally I travel a lot. I could never pinpoint where I got fuel from especially maybe after several fill-ups and maybe in multiple States. If you only stay local like a work truck maybe, then I can see this theory of nailing down where/who you got the fuel from.

 

Well I'm scared to death about water in my fuel. Yesterday I bellied up to the bar and threw down $800.00 for the Dieselsite Fuel Filter / Water Separator. Not a huge fan of where it mounts, a bit concerned that it's going lead to gelling in the winter, living in the Northeast, eventually going to have to grab the fuel heater option, it's July so have a few months before laying down another $275.00. Will wire it up to the fuel pump. I've never had any water in my fuel I just don't want to take the chance - that Water in Fuel light comes on and it's $20,000.00.