Water in fuel

[jandtjil]

A friend seems to have a case of contaminated fuel, that one filter change did not eliminate(still getting a WIF light). With a full tank remaining, what do you do? Where can you get rid of 25+ gallons of contaminated fuel?



JJ

 

[EKlem]

Are you sure that the WIF light is working properly? Unless the fuel is really bad, if you drain the water out of the seperator, the WIF light should go off for at least a few minutes.



In my old truck, I had the sending unit rust out and contaminate the entire tank with little pieces of metal. I found that the local recycling center was willing to take the fuel and dispose of it properly. Even if they won't take it, they should know who does. There are a lot of people who have to get rid of old gas so they dispose of a lot of fuel.



I hope that you don't have to drain the tank but it is not too bad.

 

[jandtjil]

Thanks Eklem
I'll grab a phone directory and give my friend a call.
After changing the filter the WIF light did go out for a short period of time, but re-appeared while his wife was driving the veh the next day.

JJ

 

[AKaiser]

Make sure you clean the WIF sensor, if possible. On the 3d Gen it's in the water separator/filter housing.

 

[EKlem]

What year is the truck?



If the WIF light went out after draining the separator then came back on, it sounds plausible that there really is water in the fuel. If you have a shop manual, I would guess that there is a way to check the sensor based on resistance with a multimeter. It may not be worth the trouble but you could check it by checking the resistance when he is getting a WIF light, then putting the sensor in a good batch of fuel and checking the resistance again and seeing whether there was a significant difference. I would imagine that someone here probably has the numbers that you should see also.

 

[steved]

Since water and fuel don't mix, why not take several 5 gallon cans and drain the tank into them. Then drop the tank, clean it, and re-install it. Then take a flashlight and look into the cans of fuel... you should see beads or bubbles on the bottom... that's water. Simply decant the fuel off the top of the cans back into the truck, then dispose of the rest that contains water... sure will make for a lot less disposal.

And if you are really unsure, use a clear glass or plastic container to transfer fuel from the can to the tank... the water will be readily apparent. The entire bottom of my fuel cell is covered with beads of water... just a matter of time before they get sucked into the pickup.

steved