Water in fuel light

[Grunnsetning]

So it got to where my WIF light would constantly stay on.
I would drain it and a few miles later, like clockwork, it would come back on.
After reading around I found this article.
Diesel Technician Society
It made perfect sense.
Keep in mind, I bought my truck in june of 2008 and it has 20,000 miles on it.
It has been brought in to ford for every service interval. Until now that is.
Due to my lack of reading I never knew you had to drain the fuel/water separator so often. The more the better I say now.
The fuel filters were just changed about 5,000 miles ago. And somehow this was NOT spotted and to be honest I don't think the lower filter was ever changed.
On every other vehicle I have owned I did all of my own maintenance work and have very few, if any, problems. Could this have been due to my lack of knowledge, of course. But I guess i put too much faith in my dealership to be a little more thorough. There is no way that all happened in 5,000 miles and it was very noticeable from the filter side.
Here's a few pictures.









Are any of yalls filter that dirty after 5,000 miles?
Big pictures I know but it helps see exactly what's there.

[tjbrowder]

Sorry, but I am only getting the red x's.....no pics.

[j21black]

Good to know, I never get anything out of mine when I attempt to drain it. The first couple times I drained it, it flowed fine, now nothing. My light has never came on. Have to chnage the fuel filters in about 1,000miles. I will check it out then.

[01clj]

I don't think I would get fuel where you have been anymore that is a terrible amount of water to have in system with that few of miles on the truck. I am not sure if you keep the tank full or not but that helps to keep moisture out of the fuel system.

[NRHS Sales]

Wow!! Looks like you have gotten some relly crappy fuel!!

[6.4turbo]

I had the same problem with my 08 a couple of times. I took the bottom filter out and wiped it off and wiped the mess out of the HCFM. That seemed to fix it for a good while, until I got some more crappy fuel.

Now I know how to fix it better. I just wish the HCFM was easier to take off.

[Grunnsetning]

I used to purchase my fuel at a new shell between my house and work, about 2 miles.
I guess i'll be switching to the cracker barrel down the road since I know we at least purchase a few hundred gallons a week there with our work trucks.

You should be able to stick your finger into that bottom portion from the filter side for a quick check instead of having to pull everything apart.

[sinner6.0L]

that is really bad, get all that out of there and i'd recommend checking it often. water and 6.4s do not mix

warning, whatever you do! NEVER take your truck into a dealership for warranty work with all that **** in the hfcm

btw, if you don't do so already, run a fuel additive with a de-emulsifier in it to keep that water down there

[Tsgs69400]

I started getting my light on now and then even after I would drain it. I will have to check into this. Problem is that the weather here sucks and I cant get it inside.

[Grunnsetning]

I run the diesel kleen w/ cetane stuff now. Not sure if that helps with this problem but now I know to what it carefully.
I am not blaming ford.
That is routine maintenance that i didn't know about originally but any half *** mechanic I would think would've seen. Had I been changing my own filters i know for sure I would've caught it.
Time to save up for a air dog IMO.