My water in fuel light would stay on even after draining the HFCM at times on my early 03. I was never able to get more than a few drops of water when draining it. My diesel tech told me he had seen a number of the HFCM's that were packed full of a gel type substance causing this. I first pulled my tank and drained it. I only had about a teaspoon of water in it. The fuel was otherwise clean. I then pulled the side plate off the HFCM and lo and behold it was packed full of gel in the two lower chambers where the water is held after separation and where the fuel heater is located. Don't remove the sideplate of the HFCM without a new oring seal to replace it with. The old one will be too swelled to go back in. An easy check to perform after you have drained your HFCM is to push a soda straw in the drain plug hole while the drain plug is out. If it comes out with goo on it, chances are you have the dreaded gel buildup. IMO the problem may be occuring due to electrolysis from the fuel heater element when moisture is present. The heater element is not a sealed unit and has terminals directly exposed to the fuel and water. This problem is not covered under waranty! I've rambled enough. Back to my cleaning up the aftermath of hurricane Ivan. What a mess!

 

Sorry to hear you have clean-up to do. Hope all is safe with you.

You mean after the 3yr/36,000?

 

We're all thinking about you down there in Florida !

And sad that it takes this to let you know you're living in paradise !

My HFCM was replaced early on when the light came on and stayed on...
it was the sediment issue and since replaced I've run for about a year and 30K miles without a problem....

(and I TRUST the light to tell me when I need to drain mine )

 

Two different dealers have told me that the gel problem is caused by fuel contamination and that it would definately not be covered under warranty. My truck currently has 15,000 miles. The original HCFM was replaced under warranty at 8,000 miles. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers on the hurricane damage. I live in Alabama halfway between Pensacola, FL and Mobile, AL about 18 miles inland, right in the eye of the storms path. The devastation is absolutely unbelieveable. My home and shop building came through with only minor damage. I have 17 Oak and Pine trees down. It's totally unreal to see a 150 year old 3 foot diameter Oak tree twisted off even with the ground. Scary!

BTW, my PSD has been a true blessing with gasoline lines over a mile long at most stations. The last couple of fillups have only been a short wait at the diesel pumps. Love it!

 

on other note to make about the fuel heater. The fuel heater does not come on unless the temp is below 50 F. Unless you get colder than I think, I'm not sure the problem is with the heater.

 

We do see freezing temperatures occasionally here. My problem with the water in fuel light has been there since the first week after I bought the truck so it has been below 50degf on several occasions. It could be aggravated by our extremely high humidity here also. My diesel tech said he had seen a number of them with the gel problem. It seems odd that several trucks would have the same type of fuel contamination. I've never seen anything like the gel my HFCM was full of in 26 years of owning diesel cars and trucks. The soda straw in the drain plug hole check I mentioned earlier is a surefire way to check for the problem.

 

That is a good shade tree check....
If you're mechanic is seeing that on others - it might all be from the same fuel supply

Might periodically try some diesel fuel supplement like Power Service (from wally world) or stanadyne ...

good luck ... and know what you mean about the hurricanes being from south "Losing-Annie"....

 

Another hurricane..... I'll stay here (for now)!!!

Good luck with Jeanne comming this weekend.

 

I wonder if what you are calling gel could be algae. I had that problem on my '85 6.9L diesel. I ended up having to replace the fuel/water separator and steam clean the tanks to get rid of it. I started using the Power Service fuel treatment from Wally World and have had no other issues with my diesels.

 

This is a new one on me! My light started coming on during braking a bit after 6200 miles. I drained the unit and got about 4 pr 5 tablespoons of water out of it. The light has not come on since, and I now have 19,500 mines on it(but I just had the fuel filters replaced).
Thanks for the post, and I certainly wish you the best of luck since the Hurricanes seem to have it in for us this year.
John R.

 

When you drain the HFCM does a lot of fuel come out too or just the water. I would have to admit that I am guilt of not empting it and think I'm going to tackle that this weekend.

 

I would guess less than a quart comes out. You should cut off the top of a plastic 2-liter bottle to hold up under the drain when you take the plug out, and the amount of diesel that comes out doesn't even remotely fill that container.

Duncan

 

In the one case I did it... diesel trickled out as long as I left the plug out...
gave up on it after 4 liters and plug it back up....

maybe that's why I don't do it until the light comes on....

 

If it trickles out of there endlessly, what happens when you take the HFCM filter itself out? I would think it would *gush* out of there endlessly!

Duncan

 

I actually didn't do that - got someone else to do that

remember - I'm lazy