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Water in fuel issue

D

dsatexas651

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Messages
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Location
Fort Worth
Hey...kinda bummed. I pick up a practically new 2022 Laramie DRW back in March. Week or so later, I was rear ended while driving my other truck, a 2012 RAM 1500. That truck is destroyed and I have multiple fractures, in neck brace and cant drive the new truck. Its literally a driveway queen now. Ive had my wife drive it once locally, just to get it used once in awhile.

Today, I was showing the wife again how to start the truck...it had been awhile...truck is idling a bit while we talk, when we both notice the water in fuel light came on. Within a minute,es the truck started to run rough and i had wife shut engine off immediately.

Yes, im a newbie diesel owner but i know the water in fuel is bad and am aware of the basics on diesels and the maintenance that is required. I have a friend coming over tomorrow who is well familiar with diesel trucks and is going to change out my fuel filter and fuel/water separator filter. I would do it, but again, im in a neck brace. So he offered.

My question to the forum, am i already screwed with how the engine was already starting to run rough? Thoughts?
Yes, truck still under warranty, so there's also the issue of doing my own work on it....am i gonna get slammed if i dont use an exact Mopar OEM filter?

Also kinda pissed. The tank is still on a 3/4 full 50 gal of fuel that the dealer filled up. I havent even had the truck long enough to need to even fill the tank yet! My friend says it was probably filled with bad gas. ugh.

Anyways...hoping for the best tomorrow. I saw one guy on here say he drains his water/fuel separator once a month?? Thats just stupid that we cant trust the diesel that we buy?

Thanks all
 
dsatexas651 said:
Hey...kinda bummed. I pick up a practically new 2022 Laramie DRW back in March. Week or so later, I was rear ended while driving my other truck, a 2012 RAM 1500. That truck is destroyed and I have multiple fractures, in neck brace and cant drive the new truck. Its literally a driveway queen now. Ive had my wife drive it once locally, just to get it used once in awhile.

Today, I was showing the wife again how to start the truck...it had been awhile...truck is idling a bit while we talk, when we both notice the water in fuel light came on. Within a minute,es the truck started to run rough and i had wife shut engine off immediately.

Yes, im a newbie diesel owner but i know the water in fuel is bad and am aware of the basics on diesels and the maintenance that is required. I have a friend coming over tomorrow who is well familiar with diesel trucks and is going to change out my fuel filter and fuel/water separator filter. I would do it, but again, im in a neck brace. So he offered.

My question to the forum, am i already screwed with how the engine was already starting to run rough? Thoughts?
Yes, truck still under warranty, so there's also the issue of doing my own work on it....am i gonna get slammed if i dont use an exact Mopar OEM filter?

Also kinda pissed. The tank is still on a 3/4 full 50 gal of fuel that the dealer filled up. I havent even had the truck long enough to need to even fill the tank yet! My friend says it was probably filled with bad gas. ugh.

Anyways...hoping for the best tomorrow. I saw one guy on here say he drains his water/fuel separator once a month?? Thats just stupid that we cant trust the diesel that we buy?

Thanks all
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear about your misfortune. The water in fuel light (if it just came on) triggers with very little moisture in the bottom of the filter. The rear filter will catch it first, I’d drain a small sample and see what your actually dealing with before getting too crazy. Since the truck was rear ended pretty seriously there may be wire or sensor damage causing the light. Start off small and let us know what you find out!
 
flan said:
Sorry to hear about your misfortune. The water in fuel light (if it just came on) triggers with very little moisture in the bottom of the filter. The rear filter will catch it first, I’d drain a small sample and see what your actually dealing with before getting too crazy. Since the truck was rear ended pretty seriously there may be wire or sensor damage causing the light. Start off small and let us know what you find out!
Click to expand...
Thank you. It was the 1500 that was rear ended. My everyday truck. The 3500 is sitting pretty in the driveway looking beautiful as ever lol. I will mention it to my friend about draining a little bit and seeing what we find.
 
Drain the water separator into a bottle then close the drain, switch the truck to run with your foot off the brake wait 30 seconds for the pump to prime, do that 3 times then start the truck the WIF light should be out. The sample you drain out if there is a lot of water i would be calling the dealer to come puck up the truck on a flat bed and they can drain/ fill the tank with fresh diesel.
 
dsatexas651 said:
Hey...kinda bummed. I pick up a practically new 2022 Laramie DRW back in March. Week or so later, I was rear ended while driving my other truck, a 2012 RAM 1500. That truck is destroyed and I have multiple fractures, in neck brace and cant drive the new truck. Its literally a driveway queen now. Ive had my wife drive it once locally, just to get it used once in awhile.

Today, I was showing the wife again how to start the truck...it had been awhile...truck is idling a bit while we talk, when we both notice the water in fuel light came on. Within a minute,es the truck started to run rough and i had wife shut engine off immediately.

Yes, im a newbie diesel owner but i know the water in fuel is bad and am aware of the basics on diesels and the maintenance that is required. I have a friend coming over tomorrow who is well familiar with diesel trucks and is going to change out my fuel filter and fuel/water separator filter. I would do it, but again, im in a neck brace. So he offered.

My question to the forum, am i already screwed with how the engine was already starting to run rough? Thoughts?
Yes, truck still under warranty, so there's also the issue of doing my own work on it....am i gonna get slammed if i dont use an exact Mopar OEM filter?

Also kinda pissed. The tank is still on a 3/4 full 50 gal of fuel that the dealer filled up. I havent even had the truck long enough to need to even fill the tank yet! My friend says it was probably filled with bad gas. ugh.

Anyways...hoping for the best tomorrow. I saw one guy on here say he drains his water/fuel separator once a month?? Thats just stupid that we cant trust the diesel that we buy?

Thanks all
Click to expand...
The once a month thing comes from Ford. My 3017 my manual said the WIF separator had to be drained once per month. I always figured they were setting owners up for a voided warranty if there was a CP4 catastrophe

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dsatexas651 said:
Thank you. It was the 1500 that was rear ended. My everyday truck. The 3500 is sitting pretty in the driveway looking beautiful as ever lol. I will mention it to my friend about draining a little bit and seeing what we find.
Click to expand...
I gotcha, misread that part.
 
Don't have time to post the pics but you are not gonna believe how much water came out of the filters. Unbelievable. Truck won't start. Next step...battle with the dealer. Remember...I'm still on a tank that they filled. I barely put any miles on it. That tank has to be emptied and cleaned out.
 
dsatexas651 said:
Don't have time to post the pics but you are not gonna believe how much water came out of the filters. Unbelievable. Truck won't start. Next step...battle with the dealer. Remember...I'm still on a tank that they filled. I barely put any miles on it. That tank has to be emptied and cleaned out.
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I really hope your dealer is going to play nice.

If its not running and water got to the HPFP and injectors they may need to be replaced aswell. I hope its not that bad but you wont know until they get in to it. Drain the front filter to see if water made it that far in
 
H3LZSN1P3R said:
I really hope your dealer is going to play nice.

If its not running and water got to the HPFP and injectors they may need to be replaced aswell. I hope its not that bad but you wont know until they get in to it. Drain the front filter to see if water made it that far in
Click to expand...
Hopefully injectors are ok. My friend said he thought they sounded ok so far but unsure. Front filter looked the worst! Our first drain on the front one was 100% water! Back one was about 80% water and a thin line of fuel. New filters...primed three times then start attempt...engine turned and seemed like it came close to starting but we didn't want to press our luck. Went and drained the back filter again...100% water!!
 
dsatexas651 said:
Hopefully injectors are ok. My friend said he thought they sounded ok so far but unsure. Front filter looked the worst! Our first drain on the front one was 100% water! Back one was about 80% water and a thin line of fuel. New filters...primed three times then start attempt...engine turned and seemed like it came close to starting but we didn't want to press our luck. Went and drained the back filter again...100% water!!
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Do not run it at all water was clearly into your CP3 and injectors if the front filter had that much water… how long has the truck been sitting? Any chance its been tampered with?
 
Last time it was driven was about 2 weeks ago. Out to dinner, just to get it driven. No issues then. Doubt it's been tampered with. Have security cams and have never seen anything suspicious. I plan on getting it towed to a dealer.
 
dsatexas651 said:
Don't have time to post the pics but you are not gonna believe how much water came out of the filters. Unbelievable. Truck won't start. Next step...battle with the dealer. Remember...I'm still on a tank that they filled. I barely put any miles on it. That tank has to be emptied and cleaned out.
Click to expand...
Yea that’s a bad load of fuel. Not too common, whatever tank they are using must of got contaminated. Hopefully whoever fuels the trucks at the dealer didn’t mix up the def/fuel openings....
 
flan said:
Yea that’s a bad load of fuel. Not too common, whatever tank they are using must of got contaminated. Hopefully whoever fuels the trucks at the dealer didn’t mix up the def/fuel openings....
Click to expand...
What's suspicious about this is that they should have had that problem driving off the lot if the tank really had bad fuel in it. Sure, it now had two weeks to separate and for the water to collect at the bottom of the tank, but if it's that much water, that should have happened earlier.
 
DrTron said:
What's suspicious about this is that they should have had that problem driving off the lot if the tank really had bad fuel in it. Sure, it now had two weeks to separate and for the water to collect at the bottom of the tank, but if it's that much water, that should have happened earlier.
Click to expand...
Agree. No problems driving it back from dealer in central Texas, drove it to work once, then got in the accident in the other truck (mini-me), then wife drove the diesel (beast) once to dinner. That's it. No issues till now. Tampered with? Dunno. Condensation accumulation while sitting? No clue. I'm stuck now with how to proceed here. Betting dealer in central Texas is probably gonna tell me to pound sand. Advice and thoughts very much appreciated. Thanks.
 
dsatexas651 said:
Condensation accumulation while sitting?
Click to expand...
Certainly a thing in Central TX, but not to that extent. Otherwise almost everyone not refueling every two weeks would have that problem.
How much water did you drain exactly? Are we talking a few ounces or a few quarts?
 
dsatexas651 said:
Agree. No problems driving it back from dealer in central Texas, drove it to work once, then got in the accident in the other truck (mini-me), then wife drove the diesel (beast) once to dinner. That's it. No issues till now. Tampered with? Dunno. Condensation accumulation while sitting? No clue. I'm stuck now with how to proceed here. Betting dealer in central Texas is probably gonna tell me to pound sand. Advice and thoughts very much appreciated. Thanks.
Click to expand...
I would attempt to deal with the dealer if they dont play ball i would call your insurance…. Condensation is very unlikely bordering on almost impossible to that extent.
 
Definitively bad fuel. You might have gotten lucky in the beginning that it was still emulsified in the fuel, so it wasn't noticeable.
 
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