Long story short, we had 300 gallons of used waste oil that I did not get into my truck fast enough, so my company had it taken by a recycler. I got to chatting with him, and he mentioned they had 35,000 or so gallons of Gas and roughly 60,000 gallons of Diesel that had water contamination. He said that the newer fuels, both Gas and Diesel were far more prone to water contamination, and worse yet, the water does not separate nearly as readily as the old stuff. He had a sample bottle of fuel from the stop before us, and it was amazing, it had been mixed for several hours and you still had to look to see the small droplets of water. He shook it and it immediately went back into suspension.
He also claimed that the Diesel was even worse.
Evidently there isn't a simple test commercially to test for water, and since it does not quickly separate, they came up with the idea to put a small amount of Diesel into a jar, add a couple of drops of standard food dye, and cap it and shake it. He said if water was not present, the drops of food dye would quickly drop to the bottom, but if water was present, it would dye it and make it easily seen. Seems logical enough, and I intend to check a few fuel pumps around our area. At the very minimum, it would be a good deal to keep a small jar and some dye for road trips where you cannot get your fuel from a known supplier. It also makes me wonder if this is why the WIF lights don't always come on even when it is killing Common rail Injectors.

Anyway, take it for what it is worth, just thought it was an interesting enough conversation to pass on.


And yes, I tried everything in my power to be able to buy Diesel from him, I know I could dewater it cheaply, but alas he said they had to account for every gallon, and unless I wanted to get certified as a Hazmat dude, no go.

 

Thanks for the info. I may have to do some testing in a few weeks when I change my fuel filter. See how accurate this is. If it really does work I have no problem taking a "Test kit" with me on road trips!!