Water in Diesel

[CeeJay]

At the end of the week I have to visit UK for about 6 days. As it happened I had already filled my car up in anticipation of the current fuel shortage.The car computer shows that the journey from home in France to Calais is 621 miles and the anticipated mileage on a full tank is 651 miles. So far so good, except that in Northern France we have to make a little detour for an overnight stop.

So my cunning plan was to fill up 2x 20 litre plastic bidons to ensure we got, at least to Dover, with no problem. My local SuperU has no restriction on jerry cans, or the like, so I duly filled up the two bidons. Unfortunately I didn't realise until too late that there was about a tablespoon full of water in each bidon.

Does any kind soul know if this is a major problem

My fuel tank is 80litres so if I top up with 1 x 20 litres bidon, when available,there will be at least 60 litres swilling around plus the 20 topped up, would this be sufficient to alter the situation?

Sorry to be so long winded!!!

[Bob T]

Water will sit at the bottom of the cans under the diesel. Just tip the cans in your car and leave the last bit, with the water, in the can.

[Chancer]

You wont have ant problem at all even if it did find its way into your tank (but if you follow the advice before it wont) as a small volume like that even if it did get sucked up would be caught by your fuel filter, there is usually a drain tap on them, when I rdain mine it is always water that comes out.

I chucked a gallon of 95% petrol/5% diesel on top of my last fill up to eke things out a bit further, it came from when I had to drain someones tank who had mistakenly filled with petrol instead of diesel.

[Anton Redman II]

There should be an arrangement on the fuel tank to drain water leaving the fuel intact. Only one cold start and cruising at under 60 MPH / 100 KPH plus never touching the brakes should enable you to beat te range on the onboard PC

[woolybanana]

2000 rpm max?

[Chancer]

[quote user="Anton Redman II"]There should be an arrangement on the fuel tank to drain water leaving the fuel intact. Only one cold start and cruising at under 60 MPH / 100 KPH plus never touching the brakes should enable you to beat te range on the onboard PC[/quote]

There is indeed usually a small well in the bottom of the tank for this purpose but it cannot drain any accumulation of water.

My fuel computer always starts out optimistic showing a range of 700 miles on a full 50 litre tank but initially both this and the fuel guage drop sharply and if you look at the miles remaining and add the miles done fom the trip meter it levels out to show a range of around 575 miles, it remains steady at this figure and the low fuel light will come on when the fuel computer shows about 65 miles remaining.

In fact it must be configured to hold back a fuel reserve of I estimate around 9 litres, I dont know exactly as despite always driving for up to another 100 miles after the computer shows zero miles remaining I have yet to have une panne seche.

The modern common rail HDI diesels can sustain expensive fuel pump and injector damage if they are run dry (or misfuelled with petrol) my friend has a new Duratorq diesel Transit and he tells me that when it is nearly bone dry the engine management makes the vehicle surge or kangaroo as a warning, initially you think you have run of fuel but it is in fact able to travel several miles further in search of a filling station although he does not want to push it to its limits like me as it  is so darn uncomfortable to drive like that.

 

[Gluestick]

Never a good idea to run either diesels or petrol fueled cars to a very low tank.

Particularly so with older vehicles.

The system sucks in the inevitable muck and particles sitting in the bottom of the tank and clogs up fuel pumps, filters and injectors.

Or carburetor jets if it's an old enough car!

An empty tank also encourages the formation of condensed water (From the water-saturated air): that's why Avgas fueled piston-engined airplane pilots operating in the tropics "Top Off" their tanks at every available opportunity.

Mean car dealers are the very worst for running sales cars and part exchanges around on fumes!

[:)]

[CeeJay]

Thanks for all the replies, I am much happier now.

Having said that, I heard from a friend of mine this morning (Tuesday) who travelled back to UK from St.Tropez area yesterday, and he found no problems filling up on the autoroutes.

Anton, I think you are right about the car's computer calculations, but the bit I like best is when one travels down a slight incline and the computer shows 99.9 mpg. brilliant!

[powerdesal]

[quote user="Gluestick"]Never a good idea to run either diesels or petrol fueled cars to a very low tank.

Particularly so with older vehicles.

The system sucks in the inevitable muck and particles sitting in the bottom of the tank and clogs up fuel pumps, filters and injectors.

Or carburetor jets if it's an old enough car!

An empty tank also encourages the formation of condensed water (From the water-saturated air): that's why Avgas fueled piston-engined airplane pilots operating in the tropics "Top Off" their tanks at every available opportunity.

Mean car dealers are the very worst for running sales cars and part exchanges around on fumes!

[:)]

[/quote]

Not just a problem for Avgas fuel. The same applies to Avtur which, if water accumulates can lead to the growth of Cladosporium Resinae (spelling) which does not do any good at all.

[Iceni]

Something to remember if you have a "glass bowl water filter" on your diesel machine - water freezes and has been known to crack glass.

John