Water in fuel

[krawlr]

My 350 sits in the side yard most of the time and at the most gets used twice a month. Every time I fire it up the "water in fuel" light comes on and I drain a good amount of water out of the filter. I keep the tanks full to help prevent condensation. Is diesel hydroscopic like brake fluid or something? It seems like way too much is getting in there.

 

[Mont91]

My pickup sat for a year and no water in fuel problems. I have never had water in fuel problems, except once in Fort Worth after fueling. What is your source of fuel other than that condensation in that short of time would be practically nil.

 

[Agnem]

Seems more likely to me that your getting bad fuel. At diesel prices today, it's a heck of a thing to be buying water.

 

[krawlr]

OK, well that's a bummer. The location of the station makes it easy to fuel up but they probably don't sell much diesel.

Any reason I can't use that gas dry stuff as long as it says safe for diesel? I don't want my new tank rusting.

 

[tonkadoctor]

Most dry gas is just alcohol, I've never used it in a diesel so I honestly can't tell you much more than that.


Why not just treat your fuel with some Power Service which is made for diesel, you can get it at most walmarts, NAPA several autoparts chains and about any truckstop in the US and Canada. It doesn't take much to treat these trucks which can make it pretty cost effective.

 

[Greenie]

Stanadyne Performance formula will disperse water. I have not had to drain water out of the filter bowl since I started to use it 6 or 7 years ago. The water is sort of emulsified and put into suspension so the water is passed through the system and out the tailpipe.
Otherwise I don't know how water could be getting into a parked vehicle's tank. I would switch gas stations and find one that sells a lot of diesel.
Alcohol additives like dry gas might bother the injector pump.

 

[tractorman86]

go to the local checker and buy some ISO-HEET it is basically alcohol but works great at drying tanks and ungelling lines!

 

[krawlr]

go to the local checker and buy some ISO-HEET it is basically alcohol but works great at drying tanks and ungelling lines!

Yep, that's what I ended up using for now and tossed in a qt of ATF. The shelf at Walmart for the other Diesel treatments was empty and when I went back today it was filled with cans of R134A.

I'll go to tractor supply when I get a chance.