'03 water/fuel filter won't drain

[Zshaw]

I read something somewhere about '03 water separators not draining when the lever is opened and I can't find the article to read again. My water in fuel light has never lit up in 50,000 miles. What's the deal?

 

[JPLB22]

I had an '02 for 2 years and I've had my '03 for 7 mo. and neither truck has ever had the water in fuel light come on.



When I first bought the '02 I drained water from the fuel filter pretty often. But I didn't think I was getting hardly any water out of it, so I stopped worrying about it. I would just completely drain the filter housing when I did a fuel filter change every 7500 miles. I would always drain the housing before I opened it, and if nothing would come out when I opened the valve I would just turn the key to the wait to start position, while the drain valve was open, and the LP would do its short prime ( NOT a key bump for the 25 second LP run ) and that would get water/fuel flowing from the valve. I would wait for the housing to be empty and change the filter.



Sorry if that was a little long. Just tellin' you what I did if the drain vlave wouldn't flow anything.



Jeff

 

[rbattelle]

I'm at 45400 miles and my WIF light has never illuminated. I, too, used to drain it at almost every fuel change, but only fuel came out so I stopped after awhile. Now I drain a little out every couple months (8-10 fillups) just to keep myself happy.



Don't sweat it, but if you're worried that the drain is clogged just do what Jeff suggested: open the drain and bump the starter. That will engage the lift pump and force the obstruction out. Here's a classic old-timey thread about it. Post #14 has a link to the thread that discusses the plugged drain cleaning...



-Ryan

 

[Kirwin]

There is a TSB that covers this

For us 03 owners the is a TSB that covers the no fuel flow when opening the fuel filter drain knob. Check the TSB links. If I were smart enough to figure out how, I would post a link to it. Ken Irwin



TSB 14-005-02

 

[Tomeygun]

For us 03 owners the is a TSB that covers the no fuel flow when opening the fuel filter drain knob. Check the TSB links. If I were smart enough to figure out how, I would post a link to it. Ken Irwin



TSB 14-005-02

There ya go