kertoncol

(1) If you happen to get water in your tank how do you get rid of it w/o having to remove the tank or siphon it out?

(2) Does the drain at the fuel filter remove water that's in the tank?

My 2003 is getting taken to the dealer for a second time in two weeks. The first time they claimed there was ice in the tank that they had to remove. It has run fine for the two weeks that I've had it back and now it did it again. It runs for 10 seconds or so and shuts off. I fueled at a busy truck stop and at a local station that is usually pretty busy.

(3) Is there a fuel tank de-icer product available for diesels?

Thanks everyone

mymaur

THe drain on the filter will not remove water from the tank, only water that has accumulated in the filter.

So, if you indeed have water in the tank, I'd say your best bet is to have the tank dropped and thoroughly cleaned. Change your fuel filter as well and then hope that your lift pump or injector pump has not suffered any damage from feezing water dropletts that may have gotten past the filter. Although, that is unlikely.

Also, buy fuel somewhere else.

kertoncol

Update:

I took it to a different dealer and they are saying that my injector pump has failed. They have ordered a replacement but didn't say when it would be in. They said it's covered under warranty.

Could water/ice in the tank cause an injector pump to fail???

Thanks.

Badunit

I'd be wondering where this water was coming from.

On the top of the tank are two hose nipples that are unused for the diesel. One's near the front and one near the back. They go right into the tank. Mine were not capped off nor were those on a few others who have posted about this problem. Someone posted a photo of his tank which had the front nipple in a depression on the top of the tank that could really let water in (and apparently had been). My tank didn't look like that but I capped them off anyway.

Just something else to look at.

kertoncol

Thanks, I'll take a look at the tank when I get it back. That would help explain why I had water to begin with.

If water reaches the injector pump, could that cause it to fail?

Badunit

I don't know the answer to that question. However, the fuel filter should have separated the water out so it wouldn't have made it to the injection pump.

mymaur

If enough water gets into the injector pump it could cause permature failure from wear. A secondary job of fuel oil is to lube the moving parts inyour entire fuel system. With water in the pump it might fail early. But, in my opinion, that early failure would take MANY MANY thousands of miles.

If you have so muchwater in the tank that it's in the injector pump, your filter should have an awful lot of water in it and the water in filter light should be on.

I'd get the tank cleaned, cap those lines as previously suggested and be thankful it's covered by warranty.

Good luck.

kertoncol

Ya, I am thankful it's covered under warranty. Like many of you I'm a bit irritated that it's been towed in three times in the last 2 weeks. I thought the dealer would know more than just looking at codes and following instructions in a book (sometimes they don't even do that).

In early fall before the snow I did notice a couple of times when at a stoplight the engine would stumble, almost shutting off and the recovering. It made me think something was not right. My 2nd generation engine never gave me any problems. It would start when cold and run solid. This one after starting and running for 20 seconds would shut off, requiring a restart and then run fine. Maybe that is a symptom of the injector pump also and not of the 3rd gen. engine.

I'll be glad when I get it back and when it's right!

Thanks.

kertoncol

UPDATE -- UPDATE

I got the truck back from the dealer. They replaced the lift pump with a new one. They also said there was no ground to the lift pump and had to clean the ground coming from the starter (I will assume the lift pump ground is at the starter). Well, it's run fine for the last two weeks. This morning it did it again! It started and ran for about 2 minutes and then shut off and would only run for a few seconds at a time. Anyone else having this problem? I hope it is just the ground again and not a bad lift pump. This is the third trip to the dealer in about 1.5 months.

CAKUZ

Seems rather unusual....sounds like you need to get your fuel elsewhere or someone is mad at you and is putting water in your fuel tank. What area do you live in?

Good luck in finding the problem and keep us posted.
Kuz

Vaughn MacKenzie

Well it may be the injection pump is indeed bad (sounds like they didn't replace it).

Due to high pressures an injection pump will die on very short order if fed a diet of water. That is why you have the water trap and warning light, to protect the injection pump. Water is a killer.

Vaughn

kertoncol

CAKUZ: I'm in Northern Indiana.

Got it back after a day at the dealer. Again they said that they replaced a bad lift pump. I'm thinking that they never replaced it last time but just cleaned the ground at the starter and thought that it was fixed. This time the tech notes says he ordered a pump from 'star' and replaced it. I'm getting leary of this dealership. If this happens again I'll certainly start looking at that lemon law and see if I have any recourse.