On our way home yesterday, I stopped and decided to top off our diesel fuel tank. Since it is a problem to find fuel here in Overland Park. Loyce went on home, and I stopped about 25 miles South of here to fill up.
Once the tank was full, I jumped back on the interstate and headed North. That's when I noticed a little yellow light on the dash that is normally not lit. "Water in Fuel" #%$#@####!!!!!
I had just topped the tank with diesel laced with water. Well enough to cause the light to come on anyway. My thoughts turned to $500 injectors being ruined and yes there are 6 of them at $500. And that doesn't include installation.
After a while the light went out, so I thought it might be just a little water. The worst of it is we are storing the MH as we will not use it for a while again. And storing it with water in it?????
And as you might guess, once I turned it off and then started it back up to go to storage, the light came back on.
Since I had the receipt from the station, I looked up their number and called them. Nope, we don't have water in our fuel. No siree!!! Manager is not here, and won't be back... What's your number I'll have him call you on Tuesday.....
The lady finally hung up on me as I expressed my concerns for all the other customers that were getting fuel with water.
So, of course there was no call from a manager today. So I carefully thought about my options, and then called the Department of Agriculture here in Kansas. They were instantly concerned and wanted all the details. Said they would have someone check it out immediately!!! The thought of "shut em down" crossed my mind.
I went over to the storage lot and crawled under the rig in the rain with a jar. Carefully I drained the water separator until the fuel came clear. I got about a half a cup of water before it came as yellow fuel.
I had purchased some Power Service brand deicer, dewaterer, called diesel 911 which I added to the full 80 gallon tank. I then started and ran the engine, and the water in fuel light stayed off. There is enough fuel in the tank to go 700 miles, so driving around just to use some of it is a bit of a waste of time.
I will be draining the water separator a lot as we use this tank of fuel. Or perhaps I should drain the tank and separate it manually. But that is 16, 5 gallon jugs and how do you control an open tank with 80 gallons in it? Not an option, should it get away from me and not be able to be shut off.
So we have a problem, that I'm not sure how to resolve. Perhaps the 911 product will take care of the issue until it can be attended to.... but I'm not optimistic..
Retired Rod
A DIFFICULT PHONE CALL FOR KELLY AND I TODAY
5 hours ago
Oooh! That's just wrong! We had an issue where our old truck got ruined because when we took it in to get a tune up, they didn't screw something back on and the transmission fluid leaked out and we didn't know it. And yes, we got the whole no siree, we didn't do it line, and we had no way to prove it. I'm hoping karma will take care of them, and they come back as mice so I can electrocute them with my new toy :)
ReplyDeleteThat's AWFUL! And downright SCARY, (we just bought a new diesel truck). Make sure you document everything and report them to your State Attorney General. Hoping the outcome is a good one! Hey Nellie, I like the old fashioned mouse traps...SNAP! (ouch!) ;-)
ReplyDelete- Mary Ann
Rod, does that station have a regional office or someone higher up than a station clerk or Manager, seems like you are on the right track with what you are doing. but a half a cup is still a lot of water, don't forget fuel floats on top of water so there may be some lower in the tank.Hope this turns out all right for you, it might get expensive to have the tank emptied and purged of water.Be safe out there, Sam & Donna.
ReplyDeleteSome days ya just can't win for losing huh:((
ReplyDeleteHope you get this all worked out. I think you should go over management,s head. You didn't mention which station it is, but I for one, would like to know. Anything you do to a diesel engine is very expensive.
ReplyDeleteWhat a problem! Hope that 911 product works so you don't have to worry about any major repairs.
ReplyDeleteYa don't count on it Rick, at a minimum the tank needs drained and the filters need changed. Just the filters are about a hundred US. Deisel tank has 300 liters in it, so hope to use a bunch of that off before we drain the bottom.
ReplyDeleteWhat a Royal PITA water can be. Although I once had the light come on in my old motorhome and after much monkeying around draining fuel and actually towing the unit 200 miles to a dealer it turned out to be nothing more than a poor connection on the sensor. However the proof is in the pudding so to speak and your water separator is telling you that you won't be so lucky.
ReplyDelete