Hello guys,
Just wondering about a problem I have with my '99 F-150; it's a 4x4 with a 5.4. Last night I filled my gas tank(35.00) worth, I ended up with a batch of watered down gas. It began missing and stuttering about five minutes after leaving the pumps. Now the "service engine soon" light is on and I'm wondering if I can do any harm to the sensors, computer, or engine by trying to burn off this junk. The gas station attendant gave me 4 bottles of gas line antifreeze with an apology, but the owner dosen't return my calls.
Any idea's?
Randy

 

I don't think it will hurt any sensors, but often times it takes a while to run the water completely out of the tank. The water will seperate from the gas and come out a little at the time. This can lead to fuel filters rusting and stopping up. Personally I'd try to syphon out as much as possible and fill the tank back up with fresh gas. That's alot easier than pulling the tank (which by the way is what a dealer would do) to completely remove the water.

 

The same situation happened to me back in December and I thought the same thing you did about having bad gas. But my problem actaully ended up being a bad COP on Cylinder 4. I would suggest that you get the codes read and see what that says. IF you have an AutoZone around your house they do it for free. I have the same trucka s you also. 99 5.4L V8 4x4 Offroad. What ended up causing my COP to fail was a leak from the heater bypass hose. it was dripping antifreeze right on the top of cyilnder 4.

 

I would take it to the dealer and find out if you have a tank of water contaminated fuel and see if the service station will pay to fix it. We have had that happen here and every occasion the service station paid for cleaning out the tank and fresh fuel.

 

Thanks all for the replies,the station owner still hasen't returned my call. The worst part is this happened before when I had a new '87 Ranger at the same station under a different owner!
I took the truck for about a 120 mi. cruise to the daughter-in laws house last night. It bucked a lot on the way over but was a lot smoother on the way home. If it clears up I'm gonna get him to spring for a new fuel filter. The one on the ranger froze up nearly solid when the cold weather returned.
Maybe this would be a good time to get the injectors cleaned. My buddy just had the dealer do it and claims his truck is running like new again.

 

I used to own a gas station and yes I did get water in my underground storage tanks a couple of times. It was a lot of water due to heavy rains. All underground tanks will get water in them over time. That is why the pick up tube in the tank is generally six inches of bottom. Gas and water will seperate at once and go the bottom. Being that most cars pull fuel from the bottom of the tank the water is the 1st to get sucked in. Over the six year periond I owned the place we put water in a customers tank 3 times. Non of them made it off the parking lot. I would get the call and sure enough a employee did not check the tanks that day. I was in an area that would flood over my fill tubes and if they were not caped right would alow water in. It is just not water that builds up so does a lot of trash. I used to get my tanks cleaned were they would come in and siphon out the everything that had settled to the bottom of the tank. So I bet you have bad fuel with more trash in it than water. I would get the whole system of your truck cleaned out. I always paid everytime for a dealer to do a complete fuel system cleaning and put my customer in a rental if they wanted. And btw after the 3rd time i had filters installed in my dispensers that had a little ball glue to the bottom of the filter. The glue was water sensative as soon as water hit it the ball would seperate and float to the top and act as a check valve. I never had a problem again putting water in someones tank, did have the little ball seperate in the filter though. At the time the retro fit to the dispenser was like 100 bucks per nozzel. I still don't know why so many station will not do this. Saves a lot of headaches for everyone and money too.

 

I expect that some water in the gas from time to time is a fact of life. But normally it is not enough to do much harm. At one time I was a private pilot, flew small 2 and 4 seat single engine planes -- the smallest only weighed 1,100 lbs without fuel or pilot.

On planes there is a small device on the bottom of the tank that has a valve to remove small quantities of fuel. As part of the pre-flight check we take a small sample in a glass tube and look for water. Often we would find water in the tank. Remember, water is heaver than gas and finds its way to the bottom of the tank.

We continued to draw fuel until we only got fuel and no water. Water in the fuel line on take off is not a "good thing."

Chip

 

You could also toss in a can or two of HEET...if the qty of water is small enough.

 

Hey ratthell,

What insurance do you have Comprehensive and collision will usually pay for necessary repairs for fixing contaminated fuel