Anyone ever had this?

I have an 07 f250 with 30K on it. Had the fuel filters changed about ~3 weeks ago [and oil] at a good shop. Went to drive the truck the other morning and after starting fine and driving for 10 minutes, the engine shuts off and would not start. When trying to start it, it was definitely getting fuel but not cranking over - made the sound like it was flooded [on gas engines]. Towed to dealer and their diagnosis was that the fuel filter was not "seated" correctly [ran great for nearly a month] and this is what caused it to fail to start.

Also, the "water in fuel" lamp kept coming on before the filter change and after the filter change. Upon draining the spigot, there was definitely very little [if any] water in that fuel and even though I would drain it, the lamp would come on once or twice a week - and I would drain it again. Made mention of this to tech and his reply was that when the filter is placed into the casing, there is a switch or sensor that detects this action and that is what sets the "water in fuel" sensor. Fuel filter was definitely not stripped, tightened to the proper torque, and just not sure how it could be "seated" incorrectly to cause this.

Any ideas?

 

There is a sludge build up on the water sensor on the inside of the cover. I replaced my cover last year.

 

thanks ljutic ss,
spoke to the dealer and the tech did clean the sensor after taking it for a spin [initially thought that it was a faulty sensor]. It is up and running like a champ but that still doesn't answer the question on why it died in the first place with the finger being placed on the large filter's positioning. Ever heard of the filter being able completely shut the motor off if it is not in the correct position?

 

Could it have been an air intrusion?

 

sorry for the delay - went fishing for a week.

update: got the pickup back and was told that the reason it died was because the fuel filter was not properly seated in the casing -that is all the info that I got. Apparently Ford has a patent on the design of the 6.0l fuel filter and only a select few filters work properly. So the tech reseated the filter "properly" using the old filter and cleaned the sensor and put it all back together again. He drove it for awhile and the water in fuel lamp did not come on so they thought it was fixed. I went fishing [truck was parked for a week] came home restarted it, drove it around and the lamp came on. Got home removed the spigot and only about ~10ml of fuel drained out - absolutely nice and yellow with no water. Happened again the next day so I took it back to the dealer [lamp still on] and had their lead tech verify that there was no water in the fuel. He did [and he also only got about ~50ml of fuel]. The manual says that the sensor should not even come on until 100ml of water has accumulated. So now it looks like they are looking at a "faulty" sensor. Still in the shop and should know more tomorrow. Still want to know why it just died and would not start.

 

They will have to replace the sensor/cover, it's held on by 4 screws and the drain plug is in the cover also. They should have replaced the cover the 1st time instead of wasting everybody's time.

 

update: got the pickup back last night. Ford warrantied the complete sensor / module and replaced it. Runs absolutely great again. Just hate not knowing why it died like that though...

BTW - did ask it it could have been a vapor lock or air intrusion and the lead tech didn't think so based on this visit and the prior week's visit. But I am a happy camper again.