At least once a month just to be sure.

 

Ok thanks buddy I will start doing that!! I was wondering. Specially I live on Vancouver island and it rains a lot

 

I used to do monthly. Admittedly I have become lazy. I always fill at the same place and never had more than a pinhead sized drop. So maybe every other month now. Even so, I never have any water to speak of.

 

When you drain the water out. Do you have to re prime the fuel into system or does it just let water out?

 

Keep a spare plastic OEM drain on hand, or get the aluminum replacement drain knob from Snyder.

 

How'd new member,
I was looking up info on this got a '20 F350 Diesel Tremor in Sept last year, 7mo and 10,000mi "8k towing 30ft TT" haven't touched the yellow drain plug on the water/fuel separator?
With the new 6.7L the owners manual makes no mention of having to try to drain water from the separator at all. The older 7.3's maybe you guys could actually drain water. But with the new design I believe you're only draining diesel from the housing the actual white plastic thing is the filter the water is in. Correct me if I'm wrong? It says to replace both engine and frame mounted fuel filter every 30K. And it also say in the manual you'll be notified on screen to if it needs changing sooner. 2020-2021 Ford F350 Super Duty Fuel Filter - Motorcraft FD-4641 - - PartsGeek.com I'm a mechanic but not a diesel one. 2020 POWERSTROKE SUPERDUTY FUEL FILTER CHANGE HOW TO - YouTube

 

How'd new member,
I was looking up info on this got a '20 F350 Diesel Tremor in Sept last year, 7mo and 10,000mi "8k towing 30ft TT" haven't touched the yellow drain plug on the water/fuel separator?
With the new 6.7L the owners manual makes no mention of having to try to drain water from the separator at all. The older 7.3's maybe you guys could actually drain water. But with the new design I believe you're only draining diesel from the housing the actual white plastic thing is the filter the water is in. Correct me if I'm wrong? It says to replace both engine and frame mounted fuel filter every 30K.

The manual has a section that talks about draining the water separator(the frame mounted filter housing). It doesn't address it from a preventive maintenance standpoint, but many owners choose to do so anyway. Its safer than waiting for the warning light to come on, by that time it may be too late. The idea is that the filter seperates the water, not hold it in the filter, water would then accumulate at the bottom of that housing, so when the yellow knob is opened the water will drain out. That's if there is water ofcourse. I have never seen a drop in the diesel I have drained out of there.

As far as the 30k filter change interval, that is for normal duty. Severe service is 15k intervals I believe. It's hard not to fall under the severe service definition in one way or another.

 

Better to learn now, then pay to learn the hard way down the road.

 

Some say to drain it every couple weeks, others once a month, some have never touched it and don't even know what you're talking about. I try to drain my '16 once a month but I know it has been at least 3 months since i did it last. I have had my truck for almost 20k miles now, got it at 65k and just under 85k at the moment and I did fuel filters at 75k just because I feel like good clean filters on that should help prevent fuel system failures on this more sensitive fuel system.

 

I used to do mine every 2 weeks. It's easy and takes 10 minutes for peace of mind.

 

Yes the manual says to drain when the WIF light comes on. However, history has shown that that is too late and water has likely already passed to the high pressure fuel system. This results in fuel system failure and a denial of warranty claim from Ford.

Drain it periodically to safeguard your fuel system. Fixing water contaminated fuel system will cost you upwards of $10,000.

So, good maintenance habits will safeguard your wallet.

 

I don't think you guys understand what I was informing you of. I think you guys are wasting perfectly good diesel fuel. The water is encased in the white tank inside the frame mount. You are not draining any water opening the that yellow vlv weekly, monthly, just wasting diesel.

 

I understand what you are saying, but don't agree with it, in fact I would say you are misinformed and spreading false information.

Maybe if you could elaborate it would be helpful. Here is a photo of the frame mounted filter for reference.

 

I think it's you not understanding. Not sure what "white" tank you're talking about. The yellow valve is where you drain it. Maybe you're the only one who wants to keep water in there since you think you're wasting perfectly good fuel if you've never touched this. This is a Ford tech's video:

 

The minimal amount of fuel equaling out to $0.50ish to a dollar a drain to keep the water out and prevent a $10k failure seems reasonable. Seems to me that you're assumption of "wasting good fuel" is asinine.

 

On what page in the owners manual does it tell you. That you need to do this monthly? If it's so important it'd be in there, don't you think?

 

I don't drain mine monthly. Here in the Northwest I have never seen more than a drop or 3 of water in my fuel after draining. Usually after letting it set and settle out for a day or 3 the amount of water is negligible like grain of sand type stuff, or none at all. So after checking frequently initially, I start to check it less as time goes on. But depending on how much I drive, I'm going to do it at least every oil change.

I think this is just something that people do to stave off issues. Sorta like wearing a rubber vs the pullout method. The system, pullout method/trusting the WIF sensor, may work pretty well. But wearing a rubber/draining the water separator, is a little more proactive and might save you a ton a cash

Not a perfect analogy, but amusing.

 

So if you drain into a clean container, and there is no water, can you pour it back into the tank? I am not really keen on collecting jars of diesel fuel in my garage.

 

So what do you do with the drained fuel? I don't have a diesel burning heater, need to see if the county recycling center has something for it.
Thanks Gary325

Fire pit, charcoal lighter, etc.... I mean, 3 or 4 ounces once a month is nothing. I have been known to drain the water separator because I need fire starter and not because I want to check for water. Win-win!

 

On what page in the owners manual does it tell you. That you need to do this monthly? If it's so important it'd be in there, don't you think?

In my 2020 Owners Manual, the maintenance is described on page 351. Location of the filter location (p351) and how to drain (p351-352)
There is no regular period for this maintenance

You should drain water from the module assembly whenever the warning light illuminates or a message appears in the information display advising you to drain the water separator. This occurs when approximately 6.76 fl oz (200 ml) of water accumulates in the module. If you allow the water level to exceed this level, the water may pass through to the engine and may cause fuel
injection equipment damage.

 

In my 2020 Owners Manual p351-352 explains how to change the air filter. I actually found the info on p356-357. Of course there was no mention of the water separator in the Index under "Fuel"? So what do you do with the drained fuel? I don't have a diesel burning heater, need to see if the county recycling center has something for it.
Thanks Gary325

 

In most cases you don't drain even close to a gallon out of it. Hell probably not even close to half a gallon.

 

Yeah you don't need to drain the tank through the spigot

 

https://static.oemdtc.com/GSB/G0000035.pdf

Monthly.

FAQ1; Pg11.

 

https://static.oemdtc.com/GSB/G0000035.pdf

Monthly.

FAQ1; Pg11.

I considered sharing that too, but since it's for the previous gen trucks I figured it would get discounted. To me the same should apply to the 17-21 trucks.

 

New 06 6.0 owner here. I have to replace the entire housing because the plug is just so rusted and stripped. Is there a way to go about replacing it without getting diesel all over the place. I can’t seem to find a video or anything of the actual housimg getting replaced

 

You might get a faster answer down in the 6.0l section.