Large amounts of water in fuel?

[md18]

So I just got a 2008 350 here that won't start. It was driving down the highway and when it started going up a hill it just stalled out. The driver of the truck had said that he fueled up at a station and since then he's been getting frequent water in fuel lights and there really is a LOT of water in the fuel. Best way to describe it is lemon juice, thats what it looks like. I put new fuel filters in on the side of the highway but still no start, and when i was putting the filters in I found a sand like substance in the upper fuel filter and that filter was all swelled up. Even the cap for the upper filter had visible water droplets in it after I took it off.
The driver told me that he put 2 bottles of drygas in it the night before it stalled also.
Since they don't want to bring it to the dealer yet until all the bad fuel is cleaned out I have it to clean out the fuel system try to fix. Obviously the dealer would void the warranty immediatly if they saw this fuel.
I'll be dropping the tank in the morning to empty it out and refill with fresh fuel. Anybody have any ides on where I should start with this thing?
I'll get a picture of the bottle of fuel tomorrow. Its NASTY!

[md18]

Well heres the picture of it, I decided I'd just take it tonight lol.
Fuel has a funny smell to it, the water settles out within a minute.

[Tick ST]

Did any one talk to the fuel station? For sand to make it from the pump filter ,2 truck filters is not good. Do you think the sand plugged the injectors?

[elibenson]

Originally Posted by md18

Well heres the picture of it, I decided I'd just take it tonight lol.
Fuel has a funny smell to it, the water settles out within a minute.

That's horrifying. Good luck there.. I have no useful suggestions.

[md18]

I sure hope it didn't plug the injectors! I really have no idea yet, actually, I forgot to say that its had a rough idle thats gotten progressivly worse since the fillup. I know what your thinking, why did he keep driving it, I have no idea. He just kept draining the water separator whenever the light came on for the past couple days.
I found the 6.4 bible with the fuel diagram that should help a lot. Another weird thing is that I just turned on the key to try to find a light when I was looking for that fuel bottle and I could hear bubbles gurgling in the tank? What's up with that?

I have a feeling this is gonna be a nightmare lol. Just gotta get that fuel out before it goes to ford. Seems like thats where this is heading lol

Anybody know what effects the drygas might have had? Would that explain the water in the upper filter?

Might be a dumb question but, does anybody know what the effects of water in a fuel system like this would be?

[Hardline]

Not sure what "dry gas" is but if it makes the water go through the fuel system that truck is going to be a night mare! I got ahold of some bad fuel and just kept draining the filter on the frame rail for a month or so. I did not put anything in it. Just let the separator catch it and have had no further problems. I had a customer that had put bad fuel in a Kobelco excavator two weeks ago. He added a couple bottles of alcohol then all kinds of "in a bottle" fixes. Ended up costing him around 3K for a complete injection pump rebuild. Ruined just about everything in the pump.Metering rod stuck, P and Bs, on and on. JJ

[md18]

Drygas is basically alcohol. This doesn't sound like its going to end well lol.
Dry gas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Its a construction company whose equipment I work on, so naturally I was the first one that they called when they knew it was bad fuel and ford would void the warranty.

It really scares me that there were water droplets in the secondary filter though!

I'll let you know what I find.

[elibenson]

Okay, I guess I do have a few ideas about this, now that you mention it.. I am guessing "Dry Gas" is an alcohol additive that is used to (hopefully) make the water in the fuel flammable enough to be burned in the combustion chamber. It works well enough in a gasoline engine. I can't imagine that injecting water/alcohol is a good idea at all. Water really needs to be separated before it gets into the injection system. Even that fuel that you showed ought not be in the injection system.

The fuel systems on the 6.4l are very touchy when it comes to water. I have heard from people on here that didn't drain the filters enough, and had damage. Ford voided their warranty due to water in high pressure side of the system. I forget the exact circumstances, but suffice to say, there was water where it should not be, and Ford found it. Even if you flush the lines and tank and change the filters, there may still be water in the high pressure side. That's not pretty. I think the guy that I heard on here paid for a new high pressure pump, new injectors, new fuel rail, and other stuff. Major bad.

I hope it's not like that...

[Tick ST]

Holy crap......... I just went out and drained my 6.4. Dont wont any problems.

[Zytek_Fan]

I'd try to get the station to pay if they had bad fuel.
It's their job to make sure the fuel is the utmost quality, which they obviously didn't do.