New TD owner, draining water???

[scatpack]

while reading the dash manual after buying my new diesel truck (1st one) they mention about draining the water seperator whenever you fill your tank.

This seems excessive, especially when it is not easy to get to. What has been peoples past experience with how often this needs to be done.



Thanks in advance.

 

[JWhitcomb]

It's really not too hard to get to. I added a long hose to the existing one so there is no mess. Some people add a catch can to keep the fuel from spilling.

 

[Deezul1]

Glad you posted that, I keep forgetting to do mine. prolly only done twice in a year. Better do it again I bet.

 

[Joe G.]

In 198K miles I've never had any detectable water in my fuel. I have always drained a bit into a glass jar at oil change time and let it sit for a while to make sure. There is a water in fuel sensor to detect a bad situation. The only time mine has ever come on is when I've washed down the engine. Draining it at every fuel up is overkill as far as I can tell. I always get my fuel at a card lock station (CFN or Pac Pride) so maybe I'm just lucky and always got good fuel. I always use the big nozzle to avoid the brain fade caused gasoline instead diesel blunder.

 

[carson6]

no problem here!

maybe lucky with fuel @95K

 

[keimmmo]

I have run the old '92 over 300,000 miles. Never had the water in fuel light come on. Never found water when I changed the filter. (I do spend most of my time in a warm climate. ) I would say your odds are that you will never have trouble.



I used to hear a horror story every once in a while that some one fueled up and pumped more water than fuel. I have even had to clean up the mess on customer's vehicles. I don't hear it very often any more. I think the government clamping down on leaking underground tanks has helped the quality of the fuel!



Steve

 

[MUDDY]

draining 02

many w/ 02 models have complained they cant get fuel to drain. my 02 wouldnt drain and i worked the lever many times on many occasions, as did others. i had 2 dealers tell me they didnt know how to get it to drain,,one which told me 'dont worry bout it'. finnally i had the valve open and bumped the starter to cause lift pump to cycle just to see if it wld work. the fuel started to flow. after that, it now flows whenever engine is off w/ key off as it shld. this has worked for others as well



dont know why many 02s are like this as earlier models werent.

 

[CumminsPower98]

I hardly ever drain mine and have never noticed any water or had any trouble.



Mark

 

[WadePatton]

Drain it when the truck is cold. That way any water or crud will be settled out of the fuel.



I do it in the mornings about once a week. Can't hurt anything and makes the driveway smell good.



Flip mine a couple of times to get a good stream.