Patrol 4.2TD: Water in Fuel Filter Warning
Submitted: Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 20:41
ThreadID:
27528
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Replies:
5
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MichaelN
Hi All,
The other night the '
Water in Fuel Filter' warning light came on in the ute. I'd never seen the warning before in the 18 months ive owned it but since its documented in the manual, I pulled over and followed the instructions to drain the
water from the fuel filter ( fun without a torch ). Since then the warning has'nt returned. Is there anything else i should check ? I havent done any off road work or
water crossings lately so im not sure whats happened. I have'nt been driving it too much lately so only filled up about 5 weeks ago. I've been told that diesel can absorb
water over time but i dont know if its true. Could it be a bad load of fuel maybe ? I last filled up at Woolies.
Any ideas or suggestions ?
Michael
Reply By: Sky Pilot - Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 20:45
Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 20:45
Not sure about how this works with diesel, but I have dealt with
water in petrol before by putting about 300mL of metho in the
tank. It dissolves the
water and gets rid of it.
AnswerID:
136100
Reply By: Grungle - Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 20:53
Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 20:53
It is not uncommen to get
water in the fuel when filling up from a servo - especially after heavy rain or real hot days where the servo storage tanks can sometime leak or suffer from condensation. This would be the only reason why you have
water in your fuel.
Your system has done what it is designed to do and you have done the right steps to rectify so all is good. I have a CAV fuel filter with glass bowl in my TD42T so I check for
water every weekend as part of my weekly checks.
Regards
David
AnswerID:
136103
Follow Up By: MichaelN - Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 21:01
Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 21:01
Ive heard of those. How much are they ?
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Grungle - Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 21:09
Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 21:09
The CAV filter adaptor, filter and glass bowl are around the $100 mark however filters are only $4 to buy when you have this setup as opposed to the mega bucks that Nissan charge.
FollowupID:
389923
Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 21:17
Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 21:17
I tend to agree, but would also add that it is best if you can keep a diesel's fuel
tank pretty full most of the time, especially if you don't drive around much. There is a heightened chance of condensation forming in your
tank in direct inverse proportion to the amount of fuel you have on board..........
tank full of fuel = little chance for condensation to form.........
tank with only quarter of fuel = big chance of condensation forming.
FollowupID:
389927
Follow Up By: F4Phantom - Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 21:29
Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 21:29
hey what is up with that cav adaptor thing, when my
water filter filled up i just replaced it with the same filter as the other fuel one. are these an after market more servicable option??
FollowupID:
389930
Follow Up By: joc45 - Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 22:25
Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 22:25
I used to have a Lucas CAV filter on my Mav, but an injector service co. in
Redcliffe (WA) told me that a further in-line filter to the existing one can restrict the flow of fuel when running a rotary injector pump, (like the Mav and the current 4.2TD GU Nissan had). He reckoned that with a rotary pump, 90% of the fuel was recirculated back to the
tank, and reducing that flow was not good for the pump or the performance. He reckoned that I should just run with the existing filter, which was good enough.
So, dear readers, was he talking cr@p?
Gerry
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 22:32
Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 22:32
G'day joc45,
I have the Lucas filter on my GU, but is as a replacement unit under the original hand-primer pump.....not an additional filter. Advantage is that the filters are under $10- (last lot I bought were $6- each). One downside (which has never affected me) is that the
water trap/switch that the original poster was talking about, is no longer in use. You need to keep an eye on the glass bowl. Suits me just fine as it's one less electrical gizmo I have to rely upon.
Roachie
FollowupID:
389940
Follow Up By: Truckster (Vic) - Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 23:28
Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 23:28
CAV filters are great. They are available from Denco Diesel who are sponsors of this site..
Give Paul a mail from this site.
FollowupID:
389959
Reply By: MichaelN - Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 21:19
Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 21:19
Sounds like a reasonable price. When I drained the fuel filter, i bled it into an empty coke bottle. There wasnt a distinct seperation of fuel and
water which suprised me. The only way i could think of checking for contamination was by comparing the smell against the open fuel cap. The liquid from the fuel filter definately had a weaker smell. Does the glass CAV filter give a clearer indication ?
Michael
AnswerID:
136119
Reply By: Member - 'Lucy' - Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 21:44
Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 21:44
Michael
A member of the pink Nissan Mafia on this
forum has one of those super dooper pooper 3.0L 2001 GU's that are always getting such fantastic feedback.
Anyway both he and I were travelling in our respective vehicles out the back of Warrigal not so long ago when he pulls over in shower of s h i t & bricks, jumps out, tears the bonnet open and proceeds to do the drain the
water from the filter trick.
Man! was I put p i s s e d, because he tells me that this a regular occurrence and I've never had this pleasure of draining
water from my 'old' 75 series ever.
Just can't figure out what I am doing wrong.
Anyway, he goes by the name of BONZ and I am sure he could advise you in this area as he has had heaps of practise apparently.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 22:34
Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 22:34
G'day Ken......tell the truth now....you go around peeeeeing in Bonz's
tank!!!!
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Follow Up By: Member - 'Lucy' - Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 22:46
Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 22:46
Aw! you've been spying again. (LOL)
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Member - 'Lucy' - Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 22:48
Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 22:48
Hey! Roachie
Did you know that BONZ doesn't ned a torch to his drain the
water trick.
He actually has a finger now (after he 'modified' it) that now glows very brightly, however it isn't much good for anything else.
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 23:05
Monday, Oct 24, 2005 at 23:05
I would have thought that a glowing finger could have come in handy for a couple of other uses......like finding your way around in dark, tight
places that have been de-foliated with the Schick or wax...hehehehe (not that I remember much about that sort of thing at my age....hahaha)
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Patrol2 - Tuesday, Oct 25, 2005 at 15:58
Tuesday, Oct 25, 2005 at 15:58
This may be of interest. Was told by both Nissan dealer and CAV distributer that was OK to put CAV BEFORE existing filter on 3.0ltr but not after and definitely as a replacement as it was not as fine as the existing. Will get around to doing this sometime; sort of a pre filter.
Mike
AnswerID:
136253