My truck is a ‘20 F350 Tremor, 6.7. Somehow picked up an enormous amount of water in my fuel. Separator light came on and I drained it immediately. Removed quite a bit- maybe 1/4 of a litre. Few days later the check engine light came on so took it in to Ford. Truck was running fine and ford could find no issues. Three visits later they found brown sludge in the rail and deemed the fuel system contaminated. They also removed more water from the system. By now I had refuelled again​​​​​.

So, now I’m looking at a discounted repair bill of $11500 CAD and a minimum 2 month wait for parts.

Called the suspected fuel station and got nowhere. I’ve reached out to the insurance company now. See what happens.

My frustration is this: why does a fuel system that is soooo expensive and so easily damaged by water not have a more robust and thorough water separator? I’ve heard that at some point the engine’s power is reduced if the water is of sufficient quantity or not removed in time. I never got to that point and yet here I am.

Also, why, on a mass produced, current engine does it take 2 months to get injectors? With my old Land Cruiser, running a non-north American diesel engine, I can get a complete overhaul kit in about a week…

Anyway, I’ve driven old vehicles my entire life and this experience has me missing them.

 

Damn, sorry to hear this. This is yet another example of why so many have such little faith in the water separator and wif light being enough to avoid costly fuel sytem failures.

 

No derate for water in fuel, just the warning lamp.
But, it sounds like the fuel you bought was full of algae, that is most likely the brown sludge found in the rails.
That stuff can get metabolized in the fuel, getting past filtration.
Definitely the fault of the fuel retailer.
You might try buying some more fuel from the same place, 5 gallon jugs obviously, to get tested.
Although, since you have alerted them already, they may have done some clean up.

As to why it takes so long to get parts, it only takes that long at the dealer, go to a good independent shop, dealer is the worst place to go for out of pocket repairs.

 

I've been saying some of the same things about the fuel system since 2015, plenty said the same before me.

 

I haven't owned a diesel since a 1997 7.3 other than the Kubota diesels in a BX 2380 and a Bobcat S185. Are today's Ford diesels really that delicate or is that just the impression that I get from reading posts here? Do other brand diesels have many known issues?
They sell these 6.7's by the boatload so someone must be having good service out of them. I'm just curious, I'm a happy 7.3 gasser owner.

 

The diesel fuel issues have been across the Big Three brands: Dodge, Chevy/GMC, Ford. No one has been safe 100%.

 

And of course on the forums you generally only see posts about problems, not about trouble free service.

 

So much for fords water separator design.

 

Insurance is your best bet, it's best to make sure your policy covers it before an issue occurs. If you are going to own a modern diesel its just a risk you take...could be gas, def, water, etc that can take out the whole fuel system. It's why many have switched to gassers and just deal with less power and efficiency of the engine in exchange for reliability and simplicity.

 

Sounds like it can separate owners from cash.

 

Discounted repair bill of $11500 CAD, good thing you’re not talking about real money.

I wonder how often this happens? I’ve seen other post and threads about this same problem here before.

 

Its a modern diesel, these types of failures happen. The dealer in your case is going to order and use MotorCraft parts and yes anything MotorCraft by large is months out from when the order is placed. Sure you could take it to an independent shop that will order aftermarket parts but with such a high maintenance sensitive system its best to use manufacturer spec parts.

Owning a garage that services fleets, the majority of my customer base wont own a diesel engine unless the alternative gas engine option literally doesn't have the power to move the load. The minority of my customers that have to have their diesel call me on a regular basis for non failure related electrical hiccups and fuel issues. Stuff that can be worked out over the phone. Of course I see them for plenty of repairs as well.

 

I always recommend a Disaster Prevention Kit be installed to separate the CP4 crank case from the high pressure side to prevent garbage from the CP4 going bad from getting into the HP side, but in a case like this, it would not prevent the sludge from getting into the injectors.

You could take it to a pro diesel shop that can test the injectors and have them do a full fuel system cleaning. If the injectors were just sludged up, they may be salvageable. They would need to replace the rails since they are one time use, and maybe replace the CP4, which could save you thousands. Have a DPK installed while they are at it.

A word of advice for others, if you find water in the system, enough to trigger the light and have visible amounts come out. Drain your tank and flush the lines, and replace the filters. Don't drive it! Unless you did something stupid like left the cap off in a car wash or in heavy rain, there should be no water in the tank, or at least for those in humid conditions with a nearly empty tank that sat for months, the amount from condensation should be minimal, but if you drain out water and the light is triggered, you got some bad fuel, get rid of it and flush that system. If you can't do it, tow it, don't start it, pretend you poured gas in the tank. The cost for the tow and labor is FAR less expensive than replacing the fuel system.

 

This is exactly why my '22 is a 7.3. Yes I miss the torque of my 6.7 but I don't worry about buying diesel at some sketchy station out in the middle of nowhere anymore. Every now and then, I find myself contemplating the new HO, then I read threads like this. It seems most insurance companies cover the repair, good luck!

 

Honestly I would go so far as to disconnect or even remove the batteries, don't need someone not paying attention to let all hell loose.

To the OP sorry for the crap luck, it does happen with any diesel. I lost an injector nozzle on my 04.5 CR dodge due to bad fuel. I lucked out the shop replaced one nozzle, bench tested and re-sealed the rest of the injectors. Drained and cleaned the tank and I was on my way. Last 40k I had the truck the fuel system was flawless.