# Ford Diesel - Water In Fuel Idiot Light



## 5th Time Around (Jul 8, 2008)

On our return trip from camping we filled up at a gas station that only had the high volume diesel pumps. Was concerned about the fuel but had to get it soon. Shortly after filling up, the "Water in Fuel" idiot message appeared. We were able to get off the road and follow the directions to drain the water, but after about 10 minutes of driving after draining the water, the message kept appearing.

What causes this (condensation or just bad fuel)?

How do you get rid of it? Is there any fuel additive to help this problem?

We just bought the 2 replacement fuel filters to replace this weekend. We were told to keep the tank fuel so there wasn't condensation (hot, muggy Florida)

Carey - Do you use anything like Lucas or Amsoil in your truck? What suggestions to keep the diesel running forever?


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

My my trip back from Michigan with the trailer, I TRIED to find the Pilot and/or TA stations with the larger nozzle. Pulling up to the semi locations was awesome. Easy in...easy out.

As far as the water is concerned, I'd wait for Carey....he will know what to do.


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## GarethsDad (Apr 4, 2007)

In my work van I tent to get water in the fuel tank every winter as snow ends up in the nozzle of the pump. I try to use as much of that tank up as possable before changing the filter. If its really bad and makes the engine skip the i'll replace the filter right then and again after the next tank full. James


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

Well first off change the flters and drain the water if you have that capability.

Then buy a quart of This and add that to your tank..

That should disperse small amounts of water. It would be fine to buy the larger 80 ounce bottle and just dump the whole jug in if you'd like..

I run the Power Service white jug in winter and then run the Power Service silver jug in summerClick.. I religously use the stuff.. I have used an additive since I bought my truck.. I have 194k miles and not a single injector or fuel issue yet, knock on wood..

I started using Lucas, but over the winter got real mad at the stuff. I had bought a gallon of the Lucas with cold weather additive. It said guaranteed to keep your fuel from gelling.. Well I put in a quart in my aux tank and filled it with winter diesel.. it was about 20 below when I fueled.. The lucas never mixed with the fuel and went straight to the bottom of my aux tank and clogged up everything for about 10 days while I was in that weather.. I wasnt able to pump any fuel being that the thick lucas was laying in the bottom of my tank and was stuck in my fuel lines.. It really po'd me.. I got me some power service 911 and then added a jug of the Power Service white bottle.. Well within about 2 hours it thinned out the Lucas and allowed me to start pumping fuel from my aux tank.. I have been using Power Service ever since..

Dont use Power Service 911 in Fords.. There is many known horror stories about injectors failing just after using Power Service 911 in Fords. Our yard even came out with a letter with all the injector failures of the ford guys who had used 911.

You can also use this, Click But be ready to change maybe several sets of filters, as this stuff will clean the whole fuel system out very quickly..

I like using the Power Service white bottle Click anytime I know I have picked up some water.. I feel it is a gentler version of there Clear Diesel additive..

This stuff works and you can pick up the silver or white jug at walmart anytime.. It ranges from 13.77 in ND. to 16.77 in Illinois.. Thats for 80 ounces good for 250 gallons..

I used 3 cases of amsoil fuel additive in my truck and never could tell the stuff was even in there, so I quit using it..

Even if I had a daily driver diesel truck for personal use, I would always add a fuel additive no matter where I bought fuel..

All I can say is this has worked for me so far.. 194k miles.... No problems yet.. I can also say that many of the trucking companies I worked for gave us the Power Service white jug. (fuel supplement)

Hope you get er figured out!

Carey

ps I forgot to mention that if you go to the bottom of this page, click There is a homeade way to get the water out of your fuel tank..


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## OregonCampin (Mar 9, 2007)

Colorado~DirtBikers said:


> Then buy a quart of This and add that to your tank..


We use this in every tank of fuel in our truck - we have actually seen an increase in mileage since we started doing this. Walmart has it pretty darn cheap!


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## cwh (Jul 8, 2009)

Oregon_Camper said:


> My my trip back from Michigan with the trailer, I TRIED to find the Pilot and/or TA stations with the larger nozzle. Pulling up to the semi locations was awesome. Easy in...easy out.
> 
> As far as the water is concerned, I'd wait for Carey....he will know what to do.


Have you replaced the fuel filters on your '08? Just did mine the other day. The secondary filter under the hood was nice and easy by the primary under the driver side was a son of a gun. I'll let the dealer replace it next time. It made such a huge mess. Thank God the EPA doesn't live on my street. It wouldn't have been so bad if I'd had a 6 foot round catch pan. What were the Ford engineers thinking.

cwh


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

Can't really comment on what was being thought when designing the undercab filter (I agree it's terrible), but I paid to have mine changed. It was something like $150, so if you can do it yourself, you'll save a bit of cash...


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## 5th Time Around (Jul 8, 2008)

Planning on doing them this weekend or next. We put the silver bottle of stuff in that Carey suggested after draing the water again. The light has stayed off for now but we are replacing them since we don't know the service history and are over 55000 miles. Everything on this truck is expensive! $50+ for fuel filters. Too bad it is our daily driver otherwise it would need maintenance so quickly. Will let you know how bad it is to replace on the 2006.


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

5th Time Around said:


> Planning on doing them this weekend or next. We put the silver bottle of stuff in that Carey suggested after draing the water again. The light has stayed off for now but we are replacing them since we don't know the service history and are over 55000 miles. Everything on this truck is expensive! $50+ for fuel filters. Too bad it is our daily driver otherwise it would need maintenance so quickly. Will let you know how bad it is to replace on the 2006.


Huh, what is the filter change interval on the 6.0L? The 6.4L is 20k regular or 10k towing. I only tow for ~1/3 of my miles so I ran mine to ~15K and changed them before the trip.


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Nathan said:


> Planning on doing them this weekend or next. We put the silver bottle of stuff in that Carey suggested after draing the water again. The light has stayed off for now but we are replacing them since we don't know the service history and are over 55000 miles. Everything on this truck is expensive! $50+ for fuel filters. Too bad it is our daily driver otherwise it would need maintenance so quickly. Will let you know how bad it is to replace on the 2006.


Huh, what is the filter change interval on the 6.0L? The 6.4L is 20k regular or 10k towing. I only tow for ~1/3 of my miles so I ran mine to ~15K and changed them before the trip.
[/quote]

If you take away the 6000 mile rt trip to Michigan (where I had just under 5,000 on my truck in 13 months) it will be a long time before I hit 20k miles.

Is there a time recommendation for this change? I should hit 15k miles next summer, so that will be a 2 year old truck. After that it will take me 3+ years to rack up another 15k miles.


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

Oregon_Camper said:


> Planning on doing them this weekend or next. We put the silver bottle of stuff in that Carey suggested after draing the water again. The light has stayed off for now but we are replacing them since we don't know the service history and are over 55000 miles. Everything on this truck is expensive! $50+ for fuel filters. Too bad it is our daily driver otherwise it would need maintenance so quickly. Will let you know how bad it is to replace on the 2006.


Huh, what is the filter change interval on the 6.0L? The 6.4L is 20k regular or 10k towing. I only tow for ~1/3 of my miles so I ran mine to ~15K and changed them before the trip.
[/quote]

If you take away the 6000 mile rt trip to Michigan (where I had just under 5,000 on my truck in 13 months) it will be a long time before I hit 20k miles.

Is there a time recommendation for this change? I should hit 15k miles next summer, so that will be a 2 year old truck. After that it will take me 3+ years to rack up another 15k miles.
[/quote]

Normal use is 20,000 miles or 24 months (whichever comes first)
Severe Duty (i.e. towing) is 10,000 miles or 400 hours of engine operation. The hours of engine operation is in the information display (part of your trip computer). Since you mainly tow with your's I'd probably follow the Severe Duty reccomendation. The Ford dealer would be happy to change it with the next oil change (which incidentally should be done at least every 6 months)








My dealer did both in just over an hour. (Total cost was $230)

Now have I mentioned that you need to let that truck stretch it's legs more often?


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## jdpm (Apr 12, 2007)

5th Time Around said:


> Planning on doing them this weekend or next. We put the silver bottle of stuff in that Carey suggested after draing the water again. The light has stayed off for now but we are replacing them since we don't know the service history and are over 55000 miles. Everything on this truck is expensive! $50+ for fuel filters. Too bad it is our daily driver otherwise it would need maintenance so quickly. Will let you know how bad it is to replace on the 2006.


OK, you guys. You know I don't have a Ford but a "jet pack" powered RAM. However, I have found lots of good info about my truck on owners forums. Here is a link to one for Ford Diesel owners:

http://www.powerstroke.org/forum/6-0l-prob...fuel-light.html

Hopefully, you can dig aruond on the above Ford diesel site and get some answers and perhaps a suggestion for a place with a better filter price. Good luck. Phillip and John


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## larry (Oct 19, 2004)

Same thing happen to me on our last trip. "Water-in-fuel" lamp came on. I stopped and drained the HFCM. Light stayed on. Drained it again. Light still on. I found a Ford dealer and talked to their diesel mechanic and he recommended the additive "J&B Diesel fuel Supplement before doing any expensive maintenance.

Light stayed on but mechanic recommended running the tank empty and then refuel.

I finally got home and checked with my diesel mechanic. He removed the water separator fuel manifold and found the brass contact points that monitor water had corrosion on the points.

He has ordered the part. $87.00, and labor $69.00 and scheduled for next week.

The Ford Technical report says that it is OK to drive until replaced.

One good thing came from this (beside the learning experience), I now get 21.5 MPG over the road and 13.5 MPG while towing. I believe the supplement works. This is the first time I have used any.


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## 5th Time Around (Jul 8, 2008)

Is there a way to get the maintenance records? We bought ours used (not from the owner) and when I went to my local Ford Dealer they said they can't pull history of when I didn't own it. But I have gotten this info from other dealers on other brands. It would be nice to know what has already been done, if it was a a Ford dealer or under warranty.


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## W5CI (Apr 21, 2009)

Flying J has the best fuel by far, i have a Kenworth that i ran for more that a Milion miles with only using flying J fuel, would go sometimes 50,000 miles without changing fuel filters, and still havent replaced not one injector.


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

Yea pretty much agree.. I got a few bad tanks of j fuel about the time they were going bankrupt and there whole fuel system was low on inventory. Other than that Ive had good luck too.. I really like using there fuel in Canada.. The stuff never freezes up, good stuff!

Flying J is always at the top of my list and sometimes even drive a few miles out of my way to get it..

Carey


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