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Dirty diesel fuel

Scottintexas

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Staff member
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Location
Corinth, TX (DFW)
Boat Make
Yamaha
Year
2007
Boat Model
AR
Boat Length
23
I posted some of this on "show us what you see" but now I have a specific problem,

1994 F350 7.3L IDI ( International Harvester) with 155K miles.

10 years ago the "shower heads on the fuel lines in the tanks fell off. I've been running only on the top half of the tanks. On Monday we replaced them so now the fuel pickup is on the bottom of the tank.

If you notice the pickup tubes are discolored. I ran my finger on the tube and it had a fine sandy/grit that easily came off. The rest of the tank appeared ok so we put it all back together.

20200406_151251.jpg


This is all that we could find of the old shower head in the mid tank, the rear tank we couldn't find anything. We looked closely with a flashlight and the tank didn't appear to have any issues. The black pieces would easily crush in your fingers.

20200406_151322.jpg

After the shower head replacement I drove the truck about 100 miles and got the rear tank down to just under 1/4. The truck ran fine with no issues.

Yesterday I changed the oil and fuel filter. It has been 4 years since (3k miles) I replaced the fuel filter. I drained it 2 years ago (about 1k miles) per my notes and I think I drained it last year but didn't document it. Whenever I change or drain I always do it into a glass jar and the fuel has always been very good with no water, or sediment after it sits for a day.

This is the top of the filter, it's a layer of "sandy" type debris

20200407_182451.jpg

This is the water drain at the bottom of the filter. The drain clogged and I couldn't drain anything out of it. It's all a very fine sandy material.

20200407_183733.jpg



The next two pictures are of the fuel that was in the filter, there was no green it was a hideous red liquid.

20200409_084435.jpg20200409_084442.jpg

I drove the truck yesterday about 5 miles on the 1/2 full mid tank to put 7 gallons in the rear to help slosh stuff around. I tried to drain the fuel filter when I got home and nothing would come out (so I'm assuming I've already sucked up another load).

So my question is to anybody with some old equipment that might have seen something like this before.

What do I do?
1. new tanks are about $200. total, not bad for the money, just pulling the bed again and installing,
2. keep running it and draining / changing the fuel filter ? not what I prefer, how long before it clears up? I don't want to be draining/changing fuel filter (they cost $20.) for the next 9 months or 1k miles
3. what I don't want is if any of this goes to the IP or injectors to loose that component, I'm not sure how much of an issue/possibility that is.


@zipper @Babin Farms @PEARCE @djetok @Bruce (I know on the "farm" you must have seen some old equipment) @Murf'n'surf
 
If your keeping it, change the tanks. Injector can get expensive to even just rebuild them.
 
It does not look like rust in the tank. Did you see any signs in the tank during the sending unit/pickup fix? It looks like the same color of the material the prior pickup's "showerheads" were made from and they dissolved to the bottom where you are now picking up that fuel. Disconnect the lines and drain the tanks , possibly flush with a little fresh fuel. You will just keep plugging up that separator/filter until that fuel is out of there.
 
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Looks like the possibility that you've run Bio diesel that "cleaned" the tank and is giving you this sludge. The first time or 2 that Bio is introduced it takes all of the algae and other deposits that are stuck to the inside of the tank and breaks them loose resulting in a "sludge". The good thing for you is it's an older diesel so it has a lot looser tolerances parts are a lot less expensive. You can get some Diesel Kleen to try to clean the tanks and system or get new tanks. If you decide to clean, I would go on Rock auto and buy the cheapest filters you can find and just keep changing as needed.
 
Why not just pull the tanks and clean them out? TX truck shouldn't be TOO rusty, and since you just had the hats open all that should come apart easily enough. All it'll cost is a little labor and some extra diesel to slosh around and throw away. Then if for some reason they don't clean up you are halfway to replacing them anyway?
 
Off the wass suggestion, but try disconnecting it at the fuel filter and running a cleaning compound through it. You'd need to manually turn the fuel pump on the push it all through, but eventually it should go back to a clean liquid in it.

We just did a similar cleanup for a 911 with intermix in the cooling system.
 
Off road (untaxed) diesel is dyed red. Do you think the red might be from off road diesel having been in the tank at one point?

I have a friend who had a fuel tank coating business at one point. They would remove the tank, clean it, add a coating product and roll it around to coat everything.

But if a new tank is $200 it may be less trouble to replace it.
 
Looking closer at the pics it does look like there's a moisture problem as well. The pickup lines are rusted, float arm is rusted, might be rust on top of fuel filter and the bottom of the sending unit cap has rust. Either way the tank needs to be flushed and cleaned or totally replaced. IIRC they have steel tanks so I would look at the inside to see if the interior of the tank is rusting. Maybe use an inspection mirror & light to look inside especially on the interior top of the tank. How much is this truck drove??
 
Looking closer at the pics it does look like there's a moisture problem as well. The pickup lines are rusted, float arm is rusted, might be rust on top of fuel filter and the bottom of the sending unit cap has rust. Either way the tank needs to be flushed and cleaned or totally replaced. IIRC they have steel tanks so I would look at the inside to see if the interior of the tank is rusting. Maybe use an inspection mirror & light to look inside especially on the interior top of the tank. How much is this truck drove??
I totally agree. In my experience with fuel systems and diesel trucks. Most of the time its easier to replace than clean. Especially for a couple hundred bucks. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. I lost the other day when a 2018 Kenworth had an ac issue. I thought It was a high pressure switch and since it was a Friday we could just drop it at MHC Kenworth and have it back on Monday. Well 400 dollars later and a new pig tail for the high pressure switch it was fixed. Nope it was the switch because after the driver left with the truck it stopped working. It was 32 degree out so no big deal. Bought a high pressure switch and fixed it.

Moral of the story I spent 400 at MHC for them to fix it, - not fixed
Then I spent 80 dollars and 15 minutes to just fix it with a new part.
 
Looking closer at the pics it does look like there's a moisture problem as well. The pickup lines are rusted, float arm is rusted, might be rust on top of fuel filter and the bottom of the sending unit cap has rust. Either way the tank needs to be flushed and cleaned or totally replaced. IIRC they have steel tanks so I would look at the inside to see if the interior of the tank is rusting. Maybe use an inspection mirror & light to look inside especially on the interior top of the tank. How much is this truck drove??

It's not driven much but I usually keep the tanks full,

I don't think the red is from off-road diesel (although I'm not sure if I'd admit to it if it was :rolleyes: ) the sand/rust material at the bottom of the filter is definitely the cause of the color. The jar with the fuel has lightened in color as the debris settles on the bottom,

After thinking about it today I'm almost certain to get new tanks,
 
It's not driven much but I usually keep the tanks full,

I don't think the red is from off-road diesel (although I'm not sure if I'd admit to it if it was :rolleyes: ) the sand/rust material at the bottom of the filter is definitely the cause of the color. The jar with the fuel has lightened in color as the debris settles on the bottom,

After thinking about it today I'm almost certain to get new tanks,

I admit it! I have put off road diesel in the truck a couple of times when the low sulfer pump is out and I needed fuel. Most of my use is on the farm anyway.
 
I am pretty sure those tanks are Initially coated from the factory. Over time the coating breaks down. If the pick ups in the tank were never broke most of that coating would just have worked it's way through the fuel system a little at a time. With the pick ups broken it may have just collected at the bottom over the years. I remember reading somewhere the older coatings were bad about that.

Just a theory!
 
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20200414_155621.jpg20200414_155546.jpg

Round two of the bed off and two shiny new tanks are in,

glad I did it, the tanks had a fine rust that I would have been fighting for a long time and my front tank was more of an opaque red/white than translucent diesel green (not sure what's up with that because when we check it last time to pull the pieces out it was clear), anyways fuel filter after 100 miles had already had a layer of rust/debris on the bottom,

new tanks, new filter, new fuel (tomorrow) and then hopefully it will just be draining the filter a few times,


.
 
View attachment 116048View attachment 116049

Round two of the bed off and two shiny new tanks are in,

glad I did it, the tanks had a fine rust that I would have been fighting for a long time and my front tank was more of an opaque red/white than translucent diesel green (not sure what's up with that because when we check it last time to pull the pieces out it was clear), anyways fuel filter after 100 miles had already had a layer of rust/debris on the bottom,

new tanks, new filter, new fuel (tomorrow) and then hopefully it will just be draining the filter a few times,


.
Interesting how the tank is over to one side. How did they offset the weight to achieve a balanced load?
 
I don't know,
empty it was only 20-30 lbs, full it will be 150 lbs,
maybe having the muffler, steel tail pipe and pipe "hangers" on the other side makes it "close enough"

my old '88 F150 only had a single side saddle tank also,
 
View attachment 116048View attachment 116049

Round two of the bed off and two shiny new tanks are in,

glad I did it, the tanks had a fine rust that I would have been fighting for a long time and my front tank was more of an opaque red/white than translucent diesel green (not sure what's up with that because when we check it last time to pull the pieces out it was clear), anyways fuel filter after 100 miles had already had a layer of rust/debris on the bottom,

new tanks, new filter, new fuel (tomorrow) and then hopefully it will just be draining the filter a few times,


.
Changing tanks is a great call. At least you know it will all be clean to the motor. Clogged injectors get expensive, even to just rebuild them. Love it
 
On my 2007 Jeep Grand Chreokee CRD the fuel tank is on the driver side like yours.
 
A pickup will almost always have the tank to one side, exhaust on the other. As long as its inside the frame rails it’s not that big a deal.
 
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