Water in diesel tank

[Maxhead]

Ok, some of you may know I picked up crap fuel and have a heap of water in the tank I think.
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/09/44.jpg

What should I do????

Keep driving and just empty the water trap often?

Drain the tank? Is there an easy way?

Syphon???

Additives?

What do ya reckon

[growler2058]

Drink it its expensive stuff!!!

[growler2058]

Seriously if its that bad id be draining the bloody tank!!!

[Sir Roofy]

If youve got a drain plug drain it if not its pull the tank out
and tip it out sorry mate no other way to make it safe

[Irvs]

Drain, don't let that shit get near your engine, I had to pull out my bosses iLoad diesel tank when he filled it with petrol, wasn't too difficult, a jack would've been helpful though. Good luck mate

[MudRunnerTD]

Hey Chris.

Bugger mate. I can't really make out the water line on my iPhone but if that is half and half how did you get that sample? Is it indicative or did you take that through your hand pump under the bonnet?

Water is heavier than diesel so will be sitting in the bottom of the tank and you sender is picking up off the bottom too.

Is it in both tanks?

That is a bung to drain the tank I am sure. Certainly is in my Long Ranger.

Consider pumping through with your hand pump and monitor it as it comes through and see if it gets less and less. Rightly it should diminish. Once you get most of it out then you should be able to keep an eye on you filter and just drain as required.

Damn that sux!

Grab a couple of fuel filters as thy don't really like water. Has a fresh one on hand for when it's sorted.

Good luck bud

[GUtsy ute]

If youve got a drain plug drain it if not its pull the tank out
and tip it out sorry mate no other way to make it safe

X2 on what roofy said.
Crap fuel is the worst enemy of CRD's.

[Maxhead]

That sample was with the hand pump yesterday and got about the same out today after another 50ks or so

That pic is about a quarter diesel and rest water. I reckon about 120-150ml

[Ben-e-boy]

i would drain it if left for too long you can get the "diesel bug" its like a black fungus that grows in the tank we had it in one of the generators at work

[macca]

It is a bugger but making sure the tank is completely drained is the safest option.
Water and modern diesel engines do not play well togeather, some one will pay and mate it will be you.
I'm amazed you have got away with what you have so far.
Good luck Chris.

PS Joel is home will see him next week to hear his stories. He did drive it all the way.

[Tank]

Drain the tank and then when you refill it add half a litre of meths to the full tank and give it a good shack around on a rough road or similar. The meths will absorb any water that is left over and help it to move through the fuel system without doing damage. But be warned the meths trick only works for a very small amount of water e.g any that didnt full drain out when you drain the tank

[Sir Roofy]

Thanks mate couldn,t remember if it was meth or kero to get the water moving
new it was one of them

[Maxhead]

Thanks boys, looks like I might be pulling the tank out tomorrow then:(

I'll tell the missus to walk to the shop to get another box as I won't be able to drive.... It's only about 12ks....

[macca]

Thanks mate couldn,t remember if it was meth or kero to get the water moving
new it was one of them

Jack Absolom had a TV show years ago.
He used to put a cup of meths in a tank of petrol in that Mitsi Sigma he drove all over the outback.
Said it adsorbed the condensation, so again a small amount.

[Maxhead]

PS Joel is home will see him next week to hear his stories. He did drive it all the way.
Just saw this.
That's great news he didn't have to ship it down. The weld job must have been pretty good then.

Make sure you rub it into him and tell him to get a decent vehicle!!

Cheers






........... On the move

[macca]

Make sure you rub it into him and tell him to get a decent vehicle!!


Mate last club trip, 10 out of 14 vehicles were Patrols, the poor bugger is going to cop a pasteing at Tuesday nights meeting. hahahahahaha
We have a Golden Knob award for those who do silly things IYKWIM, Joel allready has it for another trip. The way he's going he will be hanging on to it!!!!

[Sir Roofy]

Jack Absolom had a TV show years ago.
He used to put a cup of meths in a tank of petrol in that Mitsi Sigma he drove all over the outback.
Said it adsorbed the condensation, so again a small amount.

hi macca that brought back memories aye
was such a good show back then and who could forget the leyland bros

[Steve4wdin]

Did you go bact to the servo? I would be tempted to pour the crap fuel over the manager. What brand servo was it?? Hey good luck mate, lucky it didn`t do any damage.

[Maxhead]

Did you go bact to the servo? I would be tempted to pour the crap fuel over the manager. What brand servo was it?? Hey good luck mate, lucky it didn`t do any damage.

Yeah it was Marlborough service station which sell Caltex fuel.

I rang him and he offered me a free tank of water... Hahaha

I lodged a complaint with Caltex just on case





........... On the move

[P4trol]

What happens on the servo side when they work out they have tainted fuel? Do they admit it? Servos would easily get a bad name from bad fuel?

If one person gets bad fuel from a servo, likely everyone is too. Does the servo drain the bowser tank?

Tipsy-tap

[Maxhead]

You'd think they would go and clean the tanks regularly . Once the truckies get bad fuel then they all know about it and no body fills up there so who knows.

Can the servo get bad fuel delivered to them? I doubt it tho.





........... On the move

[MC97GQ]

Hey Kris,

I hope your getting it all sorted, last thing you need away from home is to be dismantling the truck. You would think all servos would have oil/water separators before the diesel bowser.

In your other post about this you said you had a warning light come on to tell you that you had water in the fuel. This might seem like a dopey question but does anybody know if the GQ's have such a thing.

Or do you just check the trap regularly.

Mark

[macca]

A similar experience we had.......
We got some diesel in a petrol van we had for work.
Filled it with petrol, unknown to everyone the tanker dumped a compartment of diesel in the petrol storage tank. Turned out to be 20% diesel.
Van started playing up in 200mtrs, continued to work it was getting worse.
Finished job and it was really hard to start, one of the guys jokingly said your running on diesel.
Got home and dumped a litre looking for water - none.
Took it to our mechanic he said that is diesel smoke, so rang distributer, the lady who answered the phone said its not diesel.
She got a bit of a serve as I was standing next to it with a mechanic and she was behind a desk 250klm away, so how the hell would she know?
All parties were denying everything. We dumped all the fuel and it did have diesel in it, went back to the servo for the 4th time and it was barricaded closed.
They had 5 jars of contaminated fuel, hadnt bothered to contact me (we had an account with them). Anyway finally admitted there was a problem and send them an invoice for out of pocket expences.
Charged for my lost time about 10 hours, mechanic and replacement fuel. When the cheque arrived it said accepting payment absolved them from any future liability.
Pigs freckle, they got another note from us.
They completely drained the under ground tank, the place was closed for 3 days.
We were filthy that they would not listen to us in the 1st instance, they lost our business over that. At the time $1200 a month minimum.

[Maxhead]

Hey Kris,



In your other post about this you said you had a warning light come on to tell you that you had water in the fuel. This might seem like a dopey question but does anybody know if the GQ's have such a thing.

Or do you just check the trap regularly.

Mark

Yeah most of them have a water trap sensor and even the GQs should have them ...hahaha

Hopefully someone can confirm.







........... On the move

[Dark 1]

You'd think they would go and clean the tanks regularly . Once the truckies get bad fuel then they all know about it and no body fills up there so who knows.

Can the servo get bad fuel delivered to them? I doubt it tho.





........... On the move

I worked in a servo for a couple of years on weekends & yes the bad fuel can be delivered to them without them knowing, but protocol is that once a complaint has been made they are supposed to do a sample test then if correct stop selling that fuel & get the tanks emptied then refilled.

Good luck mate & happy travels.

[Irvs]

This would explain the out of service bowsers I see every now and then

[AB]

Hey Kris,

I hope your getting it all sorted, last thing you need away from home is to be dismantling the truck. You would think all servos would have oil/water separators before the diesel bowser.

In your other post about this you said you had a warning light come on to tell you that you had water in the fuel. This might seem like a dopey question but does anybody know if the GQ's have such a thing.

Or do you just check the trap regularly.

Mark

Yes mate, second down top left of your dash is the warning light.

Looks like this...

[MC97GQ]

Thanks guys,

I have seen that light, which comes on with the ignition, and thought that's what it might have been. In light of what's happened to Kris is there any way to test it to see if it actually does detect water in the filter. It would be handy to know.

I had a look in the manual but can find bugger all about it.

Mark

[growler2058]

It works with a float as the watewr is heavier it sits on the bottom of the bowl as it fills the float lifts and bingo one day yer light will come on. On the td42 there is a tap on the bottom you crack to drain the water out till ya get diesel

[Maxhead]

Well, being lazy and unmotivated and the fact the missis wasn't walking 12km to get beer I opted for the easy option and just drained some fuel with the hand pump instead of taking the tank out ....hahaha

After learning the pickup is at the bottom of the tank it would be logical for the water to be sucked up first. I pumped about 6-7 litres out just to allow for the line up to the top and got bugger all water( maybe 50 ml). So it looks like I might have got it all in the filter drains.

Anyway, did about 70 odd ks today and just drained the water trap again and got nothing at all.

Hoping this is all over and no damage done but will be monitoring it closely to see how it goes

Haven't given up on Caltex just yet but I will explain later!!





........... On the move

[MC97GQ]

Nice one Kris,

Bit hard to give up on Caltex as they seem to have a Monopoly, Woolworths Servo's and Ampol(if there are any left). In Cooma 8 servos and 4 are Caltex, they are a bit hard to avoid

[AB]

Well, being lazy and unmotivated and the fact the missis wasn't walking 12km to get beer I opted for the easy option and just drained some fuel with the hand pump instead of taking the tank out ....hahaha

After learning the pickup is at the bottom of the tank it would be logical for the water to be sucked up first. I pumped about 6-7 litres out just to allow for the line up to the top and got bugger all water( maybe 50 ml). So it looks like I might have got it all in the filter drains.

Anyway, did about 70 odd ks today and just drained the water trap again and got nothing at all.

Hoping this is all over and no damage done but will be monitoring it closely to see how it goes

Haven't given up on Caltex just yet but I will explain later!!





........... On the move

Classic...sounds like something I'd do...lol

[growler2058]

Well, being lazy and unmotivated and the fact the missis wasn't walking 12km to get beer I opted for the easy option and just drained some fuel with the hand pump instead of taking the tank out ....hahaha

After learning the pickup is at the bottom of the tank it would be logical for the water to be sucked up first. I pumped about 6-7 litres out just to allow for the line up to the top and got bugger all water( maybe 50 ml). So it looks like I might have got it all in the filter drains.

Anyway, did about 70 odd ks today and just drained the water trap again and got nothing at all.

Hoping this is all over and no damage done but will be monitoring it closely to see how it goes

Haven't given up on Caltex just yet but I will explain later!!





........... On the move

Change the filter

[Maxhead]

Change the filter

Will go and get one today. Cheers





........... On the move

[Sir Roofy]

Buy two just incase

[Maxhead]

Buy two just incase

Funny thing is I bought one of a member on here about a month ago and it's sitting at my desk at work! I'll go to mr Nissan today and pay about $180 for a genuine one:( so one will have to do me...lol





........... On the move