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Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) Water in Fuel Light On

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OOPps! This somehow (my fault I am sure) got posted to the 1st gen. forum. After "detailing" the engine with Groit's engine detailing product, the "water in fuel" light stays on...



So what was the fix? Pretty sure it is not with the ground connection. Something got wet! You would think a small amount of moisture would not cause such a problem, but I guess it did. I cleaned the connector (running from the fuel filter to the harness. ) No results. So I guess it could either be the connector from the filter, or somehow the PCM. I covered the PCM and the TPS with plastic wrap as well as the air filter before "detailing" the engine with Griot's kit and low pressure spray. I did not cover the fuel filter connections. I drained some fuel from the filter and it was clean with not a trace of water. Oh, I also added two bottles of Lucas diesel and gas treatment to tank and filled before detailing the engine. So the "water in fuel" light remains lit. Thanks... . :confused:
 
Thanks. Does that mean it will eventually "go away" and the dash light will shut off? Got 24k on the current fuel filter...
 
One summer I ran through a very large puddle (100 ft long and 10ft wide) after a rain and my water in fuel light came on. I let it sit overnight and it dried out by itself, but it was very hot outside.
 
Reply to GAmes. I disconnected the plug from the harness and q-tiped it. No luck. The sensor is at the filter end as you know. If I need to disconnect it I might as well replace the filter since priming the filter with the push-button pump isn't very efficient. Agree?
 
Refilling the filter with the primer button doesn't take very long, but if you have 24k on the filter why not just replace it? You know there is a 10mm bleed bolt on top of the filter housing, right?
 
I found on mine if I screwd my WIF plug in to far it would ground out in the filter and lite the indicater. To fix I untwisted the plug 1/2 turn, or just far enough to turn off the indicater/lite, and that corrected the problem. It might also be that twisting the wires on the plug has cause them to cross and give a false reading on the bottom of the plug, they bare real easy. I made a modifiation to prevent that from happening with a different plug connections.
 
I think my wires going into the water fuel sensor got wet. I mite of used connector cleaner that cleans and dries the connector/pins when I got home but the light stayed on until I cranked the Mule up the next morning.
 
Well after using electrical cleaner, the water in fuel light went off for a while, but then came back on! I did do some further engine detailing before that, but FAR from the filter up near the serpentine belt. Will put a new filter in in a few days, which gives me a chance to clean everything at the sensor end. For GAmes, there is a bleed mechanism at the bottom of the filter where the WIF sensor is screwed into it on mine. You lift up on the circular valve and fuel/H20 are drained. It bled perfectly clean... Boy, what would we do without these little (stupid) mysteries on our Rams?
 
Well after using electrical cleaner, the water in fuel light went off for a while, but then came back on! I did do some further engine detailing before that, but FAR from the filter up near the serpentine belt. Will put a new filter in in a few days, which gives me a chance to clean everything at the sensor end. For GAmes, there is a bleed mechanism at the bottom of the filter where the WIF sensor is screwed into it on mine. You lift up on the circular valve and fuel/H20 are drained. It bled perfectly clean... Boy, what would we do without these little (stupid) mysteries on our Rams?



That circular valve on the WIF sensor is not a bleed, it is simply a drain.



There are two banjo bolts that attach the fuel lines to the filter head unit and they are located at the top of the filter housing where it is mounted to the engine. The forward line has a bolt which takes a 10 mm wrench threaded into the bigger banjo bolt. Loosen that a couple of turns before pumping the primer after a filter change. When fuel starts coming out around the threads you know that the filter is full. Tighten it after the fuel starts coming out and pump the primer an additional several pumps until you hear the overflow valve squeal. The engine will fire up immediately after a filter change using this method.



Mike.
 
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Thanks for everyone's advice. TDR is such a great fellowship of Ram owners. So she finally settled down and the WIF warning light went off. As I mentioned, I took the connector from the harness off and sprayed a very liberal amount of electrical parts cleaner in both ends of the connector and then used a hair dryer on high to blow it dry. She had to think about it for a while, but today all is fine. Cannot see how water at the sensor end colud have caused the problem as it is all sealed. Still searching for a quality shop to rebuild her and bring her up to ~350 h. p. One other reason for the rebuild is that I never had the KDP fixed. I kind of doubt it would fail now (being a former statistician, even though I do not have enough data to make a solid mathematical conclusion), but who knows... . ?
 
Too bad you aren't closer. Now that I have taken the plunge and rebuilt one myself (lots of gassers in the past) I'd be happy to help you do yours. The only difference is the weight of the componants.
 
Kind of you to offer. I rebuilt several small block Chevy's and Mopars in the 70's, but that was a long time ago. :) I actually put a 301 (bored out 283) Corvette with dual-quads and a Crane cam into a beat-up 53 Ford. What a sleeper!!!! Put a blue-printed 340 into my 71 Dodge shorty van to replace the 225 (?) 6 cylinder. Another sleeper, until you heard the effects of the cam. Bout 400 hp. Blew the three-speed manual transmission in about a week.

Well, I have had no luck on finding a shop yet. Got an email to Piers and there is a shop in Wilmington, NC, but I do not know the reputation yet.
 
I did away with mine. 500K miles and never had a legit WIF warning. However, I have had the drain valve fail twice causing a major fuel leak.

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