Fuel and the outback – Food for thought…
Just thought I’d offer a bit of advice with regard the owners going or contemplating going outback. Seems to be a lot of misinformation on this issue. In particular many members seem to be confused as to why their fuel systems cause grief away from the big city. Here’s why…(and a few tips on fuel systems ) – take this advice or leave it – I don’t mind, but anyway good luck on your travels.
Okay, so you have your fourbie (Patrol of course!) and your big trip approaches, what to do? How to prepare your fuel system?
There are a couple of assumptions here = firstly, if your Patrol is new or near new then – off you go!!!
Here’s the problem; YOUR Patrol is not new or near new, so here’s what happens…
Your fourbie is a few years or even many years old…For the past few years it has been used mainly around the city – maybe a bit of bush work, but nothing to get in a tizz over.
So in your fuel tank, life goes on as usual. Over the years different bits and pieces and lots of dirt have accumulated in the bottom of the tank. Also over the eons an amount of water has set up home slowly rolling around in the tank as you drive to and from work and the park etc. How much water – who knows?
You change your fuel filter regularly and so no drama. Never ever picked up a bad load of fuel from the local servo huh!
Right o’ the big day arrives…Yooohoo off you go – Big Red here we come.
You now drive into a desert and start to deal with the outback issues. You now burn a lot of fuel and as your fuel tank level drops a lot say to a half or a third of tank, something happens. The dirt and water that has resided more or less happily in the bottom of tank (well below the level of the pick-up tube) now takes on a life of its own. As your fourbie leans violently left and right and the hill climbs and decents happen – the fuel tank sloshes around like a Washing Machine.
All the dirt stirs up into the fuel as particulates and is taken into the fuel system, worse the water that resided happily below the pickup tube now emulsifies into the fuel as both solid water and water in suspension.
The dirt begins to clog your filter and this could start to affect the engines performance, the motor begins to stutter and run rough.
Worse yet the water now does it’s tricks and acts in two ways. Solid water goes through the system, some is caught and visible in the bottom of your aftermarket, super-douper fuel filter that has a water separator bowl in the bottom. But those clear plastic bowls are virtually useless – they work on the following principle – gravity affects the water as it enters the filter and so it ‘falls’to the bottom of the filter – great theory but they don’t work. Sure they will catch a small amount of water but most water will simply swirl through into the engine through the injectors. Solid water does not cost $1.50 a litre from servo’s for one good reason – it does not burn. So now it presents itself in your cylinder via the injector and hey presto, some fuel and some water – engines misfires and carries on like a dog. Contrary to popular belief the water isn’t doing severe damage but the engine bangs and splutters as the ecu computer does it best, trying to sort out just how many cetanes are in this fuel. The dirt is adding to the misery by clogging the available supply pressure. Then the water in suspension adds it part – some water has emulsified into suspension inside the fuel. This fuel is also injected by the injectors and if the percentage of water is high enough it will be a sort of a ‘part-time’ fuel and will misfire and cause other mayhem.
Now your engine stops and you realise exactly and instantly what happened and whose fault it is. We fuelled up at Maree or William Creek or Oodnadatta or Uppercomebuckwest. Those bastards sold us bad fuel – simple the bush servo’s have low standards and the fuel is old cause they don’t sell a lot, so those bastards caused me all these dramas…I’ll never buy fuel from… then choose the last visited brand name…BP, Caltex, Esso, Oz Fuel, again…goes the call. My city fuel station never caused my 4x4 to blow up, cause they have good clean fuel etc , with high turnover.
So you can see it’s not the fuel in the outback servo, it’s the shit that’s been living in your fuel tank for years…So please, no more …”I’ll never buy from whop de whop brand again”.
So how do you stop it. There is no way of knowing how much dirt and water is resident in your fuel tank before your trip. If I were going seriously bush, I would remove the fuel tank/s and drain them and dry them and then you will not have a drama in the bush. That’s a lot easier than trying to sort it out in the middle of the Simpson etc. It takes years for that crap to build up in ya tank.
Simple, clean ya tanks out before ya go…
Might be an idea to carry a spare fuel filter too. I work with aviation fuel. The filters that filter out water from the fuel are totally different to the ones that filter out particulates, so no matter how many microns it says on the box unless it’s about a metre long and certified to remove water it’s just an expensive particulate filter. I have used those aftermarket water type Super double XX, triple extra whatever filters…on boats, they do not work. They are not water filters they are just very expensive particulate filters with a clear plastic bowl at the bottom. They don’t work cause they can’t work properly, at least where water is concerned. Want a real water filter – can be done – got a spare five grand and one cubic metre space under the bonnet???
Also, the other big consideration when going mountain climbing with your 4x4 is the cooling system. You have been driving the kids to school for years on the tarmac. Then your gunna heavily load your vehicle, lower the tyre pressures to 18 psi or so, and drive hundreds or even thousands of k’s, in soft and deep sand and bull dust roads, in day time temperatures double or triple what your car is used too. No wonder as the temperatures and pressures rise, your cooling system gives up the ghost and boils away…
With this one, I would drain and refill the cooling with a quality coolant 3 months before the trip. Inspect and change the fanbelt if required, and carry a spare fanbelt – learn how to change your fanbelt – before you go. Local mechanics will usually show ya for free! That’s enough prep, if it boils after that it was just too old!
Lastly, buy an EPIRB. They cost about $250 and when you set it off (assuming you are really in the shit) a screen flashes on a public servants desk in Canberra…and they are obliged to investigate it until they find the source – that’s you…sort of a guaranteed rescue arrangement – doesn’t get better than that!
Finally, travel in convoy and you’ve got your own rescue tow truck…The other guys Patrol can tow your Landcruiser to safety! Happy travels…Steve L
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1999 GU 4500 dual fuel
Originally Posted by Nisshead
