Contaminated diesel!

When I built up this Hilux for overland travel, one of the first things I added was a Fuel Manager 100 diesel pre-filter with water trap and alarm.

Today, 6½ years later, the alarm went off for the first time.

Luckily it was just down the road from home and even more luckily I had just missed the special on the diesel at Gull, so hadn’t filled up. The vehicle has a steel Longranger 140L tank so that would have been a massive irritation. I reckon there’s still at least 60L in there. Hopefully I won’t need to drain everything out of the tank, just whatever contaminants are in the bottom. We’ll see.

Anyway here’s a couple of pictures of what was in the water trap, demonstrating that these excellent Fuel Manager products really do work. When the alarm went off we knew exactly what it was because it goes off every time you start the vehicle to test for circuit continuity. Bloody pleased this shit didn’t make it into the factory filter or even worse into the fuel pump and injectors…

Attachment 212467

Attachment 212468

Bloody hell that is some messy looking contaminant.

years back we bought a triton, after a few months it spluttered like hell, diesel filter was 1/2 full of water

great you got to it in time...we filled up at lake brumner a couple of years back and terrano spluttered and farted all the way home,no power,lots of smoke and drank fuel...refilled tank at smithfield and it pretty much came right...filters were replaced and injectors etc cleaned...yip full of crap.

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Originally Posted by Rushy

Bloody hell that is some messy looking contaminant.

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Geeze Rushy, this looks close to your favourite beer?

Don't get him started lol. At least it's not diesel bug. The trap did what it's supposed to do.

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Originally Posted by Maca49

Geeze Rushy, this looks close to your favourite beer?

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No mate it looks like some sissy lager not a real beer like I drink.

fuel doctor that milky mess - dont worry about draining or removing if its to much of a faf around - fuel doctor does the trick - its what aussie truckers use for tainted fuel in the outback
https://www.supercheapauto.co.nz/p/f...002880#start=2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmA-ymsKHxE

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Originally Posted by Carbine

fuel doctor that milky mess - dont worry about draining or removing if its to much of a faf around - fuel doctor does the trick - its what aussie truckers use for tainted fuel in the outback
https://www.supercheapauto.co.nz/p/f...002880#start=2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmA-ymsKHxE

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Not a faf around at all. 80L container is ready, two jacks, axle stands, 6mm Allen socket, long 3/8” drive bar, Permatex gasket maker and a new 10mm fibre washer. All set and ready to go. That shit is coming out!

Got the injectors replaced in my truck, now needing an injector pump too. Most likely shit diesel they reckon. Not a pleasant bill.

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Originally Posted by Flyblown

Not a faf around at all. 80L container is ready, two jacks, axle stands, 6mm Allen socket, long 3/8” drive bar, Permatex gasket maker and a new 10mm fibre washer. All set and ready to go. That shit is coming out!

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find some gorse and/or wasp nests and use that diesel to make the world a better place.

So is this a recent batch of contaminated diesel being sold thru gas stations up & down the country??? And if so, why has the public not been informed??

Fark, lucky. I put one in a hilux when I bought it at 60,000km. Unfortunately too late, a few tanks later buggered injectors and cracked pistons. Tank had a lot of water and crap in it. Dump it and flush the tank if you can.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by chainsaw

So is this a recent batch of contaminated diesel being sold thru gas stations up & down the country??? And if so, why has the public not been informed??

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Because they'll require a sample to test, full volume measurements, itemised receipts to indicate that the entire time period in question was filled up at their outlet and if it's outlets not just one they'll shrug at you, as well as that they'll require a full service history including when the fuel filter and tank was last serviced and even with all of that they'll likely tell you that no one else has complained and that they turn over their entire service station stock in three days so it doesn't hang around long enough to develop bug.

In my case the tank had recently been out to change out the lift pump/sender and they still denied it...

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Originally Posted by Maca49

Geeze Rushy, this looks close to your favourite beer?

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@Maca49, no religious discussion on the forum, please.

@Flyblown, what year is your hilux and does it have the factory water sensor on the bottom of the filter housing.

Given the delicate nature of modern high pressure diesel injector systems, the factory fuel filters are really a joke. Especially in a country like NZ where you may from time to time fill up from a back of beyond ma and pa fuel station. 3-5 hundy fitting a more comprehensive filtration system makes economic sense...where a load of shit fuel will easily cost a 15 grand injector system replacement to get you back on the road.

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Originally Posted by RUMPY

@Flyblown, what year is your hilux and does it have the factory water sensor on the bottom of the filter housing.

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2014

Yes it has the water sensor on the factory filter.

The pre-filter / water trap has done it’s job, the factory final filter is clean as a whistle with no sign of sediment or water. I drained the factory filter and it was all crystal clear diesel.

Sounds like I had better put one in my ute when it turns up

Good news. I've got to add a prefilter to mine, had a dose of water and bug BUT the testing shows it appears to have not been damaged as yet. This is the one with the weird flaw where after a long run on power up a hill, going off throttle like over the top or into a corner and then power back on and it goes into limp mode - fuel rail pressure out of specification P0089. It appears to be a case that the fuel pressure modulation valve is not closing correctly, so that the pressure in the rail stays high and doesn't follow the commanded pressure down leading to the out of specification error when you put your foot back down. Clear as day on the telemetry and running better than the other two vehicles it was compared with. Of course I can't make it fault with the telemetry on recording the data...

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Originally Posted by JoshC

Fark, lucky. I put one in a hilux when I bought it at 60,000km. Unfortunately too late, a few tanks later buggered injectors and cracked pistons. Tank had a lot of water and crap in it. Dump it and flush the tank if you can.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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My 2009 Rodeo, dirty diesel from BP, bugger injectors, about $4k fix. I’ve never bought BP fuel again as a protest, cancelled my card, Rsoles.

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Originally Posted by Flyblown

When I built up this Hilux for overland travel, one of the first things I added was a Fuel Manager 100 diesel pre-filter with water trap and alarm.

Today, 6½ years later, the alarm went off for the first time.

Luckily it was just down the road from home and even more luckily I had just missed the special on the diesel at Gull, so hadn’t filled up. The vehicle has a steel Longranger 140L tank so that would have been a massive irritation. I reckon there’s still at least 60L in there. Hopefully I won’t need to drain everything out of the tank, just whatever contaminants are in the bottom. We’ll see.

Anyway here’s a couple of pictures of what was in the water trap, demonstrating that these excellent Fuel Manager products really do work. When the alarm went off we knew exactly what it was because it goes off every time you start the vehicle to test for circuit continuity. Bloody pleased this shit didn’t make it into the factory filter or even worse into the fuel pump and injectors…

Attachment 212467

Attachment 212468

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now could be out here but we had a bad dose of diesel bug when I was at Lake Waikaremoana - hi lux stopped etc did look a little different - more like melting tapioca in the diesel - our supplier blamed a winter additive

So the fuel tank was crystal clear. When I pulled the bung out I was expecting a horror show but got nothing more then clean diesel. What I drained out has been sitting for a couple of hours in a glass jar and there’s nothing in it other than what’s supposed to be in it. No point emptying the whole thing.

So looks like the fuel pre-filter crud was a buildup over time and I just hadn’t noticed, which isn’t very good. When the alarm went off I was driving the truck through a S-bend dip with a lot of weight in the back and I think the additional tilting was just enough to get the sensor to touch the water and sound the alarm. It was two very short beeps.

I’ll keep a very close eye on the filter bowl over the next little while. New filters will turn up next week.

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Originally Posted by Flyblown

So the fuel tank was crystal clear. When I pulled the bung out I was expecting a horror show but got nothing more then clean diesel. What I drained out has been sitting for a couple of hours in a glass jar and there’s nothing in it other than what’s supposed to be in it. No point emptying the whole thing.

So looks like the fuel pre-filter crud was a buildup over time and I just hadn’t noticed, which isn’t very good. When the alarm went off I was driving the truck through a S-bend dip with a lot of weight in the back and I think the additional tilting was just enough to get the sensor to touch the water and sound the alarm. It was two very short beeps.

I’ll keep a very close eye on the filter bowl over the next little while. New filters will turn up next week.

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Wondered about a slow build up over time, I always use an additive recommended by someone yesteryear who reconditioned injectors and pumps, still don't know what fixes water though.

I got a load of water in some diesel. I suspect it was my 'storage facilities' (44's). I am anal now about checking and rechecking before filling and decanting out of 44's by pump. It took draining the fuel tank, putting a heater under it for a day, refilling, and carrying around the tools and spare fuel filters for a change over, for about 2 MONTHS before the water in fuel light stopped coming on. I am absolutely buggered if I know where the water hung out inside my fuel tank on the Nissan, but 4 filters later it was gone.
A torch shone in through one bung on a full 44 and with your eye focusing through the other bung the entire contents of a 44 should look see through greeny gold. Even the smallest water pocket sitting on the bottom of the drum shows up like dogs balls.

I suspect a delicate wee princess of a common rail diesel would not take to such treatment as kindly as the agricultural TD42T:cool:

the piece of crap IVECO sowing truck I used to drive,just died on me in flat paddock one afternoon...going along fine ,turned corner and it was like my knee had turned off key....it just stopped.and wouldnt restart. mechanic came out with a 6" cresent and small flat screwdriver..undid filter by fuel tank,poked out wee filter thing and removed a blob of fuel bug,looked just like didimo/cottonwool. poked filter back together,few pumps on priming pump and it roared back into life....lesson learnt to keep tank full to prevent condensation.

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Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

now could be out here but we had a bad dose of diesel bug when I was at Lake Waikaremoana - hi lux stopped etc did look a little different - more like melting tapioca in the diesel - our supplier blamed a winter additive

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Sudden cold hit in winter? Wax distillate dropping out of suspension? If that's the case it's 'summer diesel' with all the waxes left in suspension ending up in too cold an area, the wax drops out plugging everything. Pain in the arse, expensive on filters and the companies deny deny deny as when tested the diesel is fine - all excess wax has dropped out already!

yep No 3 that sounds very familiar

Common rail diesels produce extremely high pressures. As a result the diesel gets very warm. Most have coolers in the return line to reduce the fuel temps. Due to all that condensation is created. Perfect world scenario you always run a full tank never running off the bottom of the tank.
And short runs are never ideal for a diesel.
Realistically using a biocide in the fuel tank every so often is prob the best you can do and never filling from an unfiltered fuel supply.

"Laughs in 1HD-T"

And carries on.

Slowly.

Had a racor 230r pre filter 10 micron fitted to my. 2009; defender with alarm saved me three times so far .. Fuel rails 7k plus as my friend found out.....
With all the dodgy fuel in Russia and African days we used to use a version of this and poured petrol and diesel through a version of these into tank captured dirt and water well.
Advantage very mobile
Still advertised on Overland Forums I see
https://slavensracing.com/shop/gas-t...splitstream-2/

A promising, easy way to clean oil, which includes diesel. Easy separation of both water and particulates.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZg6hirk9r0

Diesel contamination happens more often than you think!

Including fuel system checks and drains in your service schedule and an annual dose of biocide + fuel doctor keeps things ticking along nicely.

the diesel bug looks like a brown sludge and once it gets a good foothold you're in for a tear down and clean!

You still end up with long chain esters, instead of the short chain esters of biodiesel. Long chain are harder on injector pumps as they are thicker. Many alternative fuel setups get around this by running a heating coil in the oil tank and don't change over from diesel to cooking oil till its up to 30-35 degrees.

But that's a good way to get rid of all the shit in the cooking oil