Offroad-Express

Gidday ORE,

So, to the point, how hard is it to drain my whole tank? is there a bung on the tank?

Seems that my Safari's got around a 1/3 tank of water in the fuel department, had it just below half facing uphill, she started but spluttered, made no power and was spewing white steam/diesel out the tail.

Managed to turn it around and face it downhill and she went back up to full power/no smoke. Went straight to the station and fulled with Diesel.

I've done a couple of top ups since (never run it below 1/2 tank) but am wanting to do some touring and make use of the full tank.

I know I'll need to take the fuel filter bung out and drain whatever water is in the catch.

Cheers,
CLUMZ1

yep there is a bung on the bottom of the tank. Just take off the bash plate and you should see it. Drained mine before I pulled it out.

Cheers, Tom.

CLUMZ1 wrote:Seems that my Safari's got around a 1/3 tank of water in the fuel department,

I'm a thinking that you've got it a bit wrong. And that your biggest problem is an inaccurate fuel guage...

If you had that much water in your tank it would be all sucked up (fuel floats on water, so water is always at bottom of the tank, therefore around the pickup). Which in turn, would turn on your filter warning light after filling filter housing. Then go right through to pump, quickly destroying pump & injectors...

Check your fuel filter without delay if you suspect water in the fuel. If theres no water in there, then theres probably minimal (hopefully none) in the tank.
So I'm suspecting that at "half tank" you had actually started to run out of fuel, and smoking was result of aerated fuel.
My 2cents anyways,
Nath

what does water do to your pump and injectors i just drowned mine but still managed to drive it home. i emptyed the fuel filter every time the light came on on the way home wich was about 3 times

ains wrote:what does water do to your pump and injectors i just drowned mine but still managed to drive it home. i emptyed the fuel filter every time the light came on on the way home wich was about 3 times

Start planing the funeral for the pump and injectors The longer it is left the more damage is done. A diesel pump and injectors can run millions of litres of fuel through them in a lifetime, but can be severely damaged with just a tablespoon of water. Injector tips can quench and get brittle, breaking off and fall into the combustion chamber and getting mashed into the piston, head and valves. Injector pumps can run ok for quite a while before they seize a plunger or the fuel rack. But on the lighter side some have got away with it with out any issues. I have seen lots of contaminated fuel systems in boats due to lack of use and immense amounts of condensation in the tanks.

Cheers,

Cheers,

Well thanks for putting the scare into me Sibain!

As for the "its the needle reading wrong" - I disagree, I always top up to full and the bill is on average: 271k/fuel up & $54.46/fuel up. (source: http://www.fuelly.com/driver/adimw/patrol)

I should be getting many, many more km out of a FULL tank. So - think I'll drain the tank and toss the fuel filter and replace. Bugger... money I didnt' want to be spending!

Cheers for all the input

wont do any harm to drain and flush your fuel tank but somehow I dont think you'll find you've got a 1/3 of a tank of water in there and its still running

Then why does it only occur after the truck has been parked uphill for atleast an hour? (it happened again tonight) fuel at 3/4 full. Rolled back whilst idling like shit, headed downhill and about 200metres down the road it came back to normal.

Im no diesel expert but just thought id ask the question.
Its not maby that by the time you have turned your vehicle around its had time to warm up and start running properly? i.e. you may have another issue that only shows itself wh the engine cold.
Does it still do it if you park up facing downhill?

A leak in the fuel system somewhere under the bonnet?, parking uphill allows fuel to drain back to the tank and draws air into the fuel line, which gives you the rough running til you turn around???
stabbing in the dark here mind you

ladeda wrote:Im no diesel expert but just thought id ask the question.
Its not maby that by the time you have turned your vehicle around its had time to warm up and start running properly? i.e. you may have another issue that only shows itself wh the engine cold.
Does it still do it if you park up facing downhill?

If its parked on the flat (my normal park) then its fine, downhill also seems fine.

Smurf wrote:A leak in the fuel system somewhere under the bonnet?, parking uphill allows fuel to drain back to the tank and draws air into the fuel line, which gives you the rough running til you turn around???
stabbing in the dark here mind you

Thats worth a thought, I'm going to drain the diesel tomorrow and see how it goes. Its a good thought, Stinky said he thought he smelt unburnt diesel in my engine bay (though it drops nothing on the drive).

I'd be looking for a leak in the engine bay then, Check for wetness around your injectors, loose hoses, the return hose from the injector rail, loose banjo fittings etc

After reading the whole thread again, it sounds like the injector pump has a air leak or the lift pump side of it isn't too well. Just a guess. Park it on a hill to make it play up. Prime the plunger on the filter housing before you start it and see if it still happens.

Cheers,

question to those that know.
how common is a leak in the manual primer diaphram? and would it suck air into the system or would it just stop the primer from working?

clumz1 I would check what smurf was saying before you go throwing away ya diesel when It may not be needed. its alwase been a messy job every time ive done it. But if it will make ya feel better, do it anyway

i know nothing about diesels but i do know my fathers old surf had very similar symptoms and it was eventually found that primer was stuffed. apparently quite common with surfs anyway,or so we were told.so from that i would back the don't drain fuel just yet,park to make it happen then prime before starting as suggested

Smurf wrote:A leak in the fuel system somewhere under the bonnet?, parking uphill allows fuel to drain back to the tank and draws air into the fuel line, which gives you the rough running til you turn around???
stabbing in the dark here mind you

I'd say you win the moro bar.

sibainmud wrote:After reading the whole thread again, it sounds like the injector pump has a air leak or the lift pump side of it isn't too well. Just a guess. Park it on a hill to make it play up. Prime the plunger on the filter housing before you start it and see if it still happens.

Down to around 1/3rd tank of Diesel now, having to prime it with manual pump even if its on the flat. Going to have to go in search of my air leak.

I'd be looking for airleaks in the feed pipe. Loose clamps, perished or damaged rubber pipes, pinhole in the pickup.
Problems with the lift pump itself.
It could be that by the time you get to a 3rd of a tank there's a little more effort required to drag fuel up the pipe vs. drag air into the pipe through a pinhole or something.
Doesn't sound like a fuel contamination thing by a long shot.

CLUMZ1 wrote:

Smurf wrote:A leak in the fuel system somewhere under the bonnet?, parking uphill allows fuel to drain back to the tank and draws air into the fuel line, which gives you the rough running til you turn around???
stabbing in the dark here mind you

I'd say you win the moro bar.

sibainmud wrote:After reading the whole thread again, it sounds like the injector pump has a air leak or the lift pump side of it isn't too well. Just a guess. Park it on a hill to make it play up. Prime the plunger on the filter housing before you start it and see if it still happens.

Down to around 1/3rd tank of Diesel now, having to prime it with manual pump even if its on the flat. Going to have to go in search of my air leak.

I'd prefer a mars bar really...

If you can prime it using the pump on top of the filter, I would hazard a guess that everything from the tank to the filter is ok.
I would be checking all the clamps on the fuel lines in the engine bay first, start at the filter and work your way along the line checking each clamp and join.

Solved, heard bubbling/sucking from near the fuel filter. adjusted the fuel hose clamps to a more intelligent posistion and she seems sweet.

Gotta love those cheap fixes. Good result