Diesel Fuel Issue..revisited..

I wonder how long it will take before there is a move away from CRD. If the CRD are so intolerant to dodgy fuel I am surprised that water watch technology isn't mandatory on these engines.

The fuel retailer needs to be held to some account. Of course proving it is another story. Perhaps the government needs to start doing regular testing of fuel samples from service stations (if they don't already) so that a servo can gain an accreditation or quality endorsement to minimise the likelihood of getting a dose of bad fuel.

It's simply not good enough that insurers, the manufacturer and the fuel distributor leave the purchaser of the fuel holding the baby with thousands of dollars worth of repairs.

Many insurance companies will cover this type of incident - worth a try.

Garry

This whole suceptability of common rail diesels to fuel contamination of all sorts has turned me right off them...I'll stick with my old school diesel TVM.

It occurs to me that the fuel filtratration on the pasenger cars is just piss poor.

there was a bloke posting on another forum that he had a near identical motor in his barnd new ute and his brand new excivator.

The difference was the excvator had a funky 3 stage fuel filtration and water seperation system and the ute had a single piss poor paper cartrige.

The car companies are plainly negligent in this matter...but there is bugger all chance of any come back.

If you have a common rail diesel you would have to consider some sort of aftermarket water seperator filter.....but the problem is getting one that will work at the line pressures involved.

One solution that I heard of is a bloke who always fills via this auxiluary tank and pumps acroos to the main via an top shelf aftermarket water sep filter.

If you have a common rail diesel....KEEP EVERY FUEL DOCKET.
As I may have said, A friend of ours has his hilux spit the dummy due to fuel contamination it was the fact that he baught all hsi fuel on a fuel card that saved him the thousnads the rebuild cost.

cheers

I think we can put this in some sort of perspective.

AFAIK every new diesel vehicle is CRD. Thats a huge number of vehicles.
How common are these contamination issues? I'd suggest the overall incidence is relatively low.

It also appears to me that fuel contamination is getting blamed with very little evidence. Its blame shifting in my opinion.

Now the rumour mill has it that the water detection systems on our CRDs don't work and the diesel shops want to sell us an aftermarket ststem that works all the time and is the best thing since sliced bread - might be profiteering on the gullable.

As for me, I now own two CRDs. I'll keep doing what I always have done
- only buy fuel from the BP (and other) truck stops because they turn over the quantity
- keep my tanks full to prevent condensation
- add an algicide when I'm not using the vehicle much.

In 18 years of diesel vehicle ownership where I change my own filters and check for water, I've never found water in my fuel system.

Cheers
Phil

If it was the injectors and the high pressure pump replaced the figure you mentioned is about double what is should be for parts and labour.

re garrycol -
Many insurance companies will cover this type of incident - worth a try.
Garry

Not so. I have been questioning a number of companies and have just changed companies because of this matter. I was with QBE and they, in writing, do not provide such cover. They said, 'contaminated fuel is not a claimable event with QBE, the service station would have to be sued for the damage'. A bit difficult when travelling!

I changed to AAMI who in writing said they do. (Not the only reason why I went to AAMI.)

Kevin

Those that have experienced a catastrophic failure due to poor fuel quality, and in particular water know the costs involved and frankly I would prefer to minimise this risk if nothing more than to avoid stuffing up a trip. Unfortunately some of the places I travel to only have fuel available from overhead tanks and I believe the risk of water is significant in this environment as the tanks breathe from hot to cold and build up condensation. There is no doubt a risk from those with remote underground tanks where turnover of fuel is low. On my Prado (CRD) I have set up a pre-filter that uses a Cat water sedimeter filter rated at 150 micron. Yep it will only filter the larger particles and catch algae but it also gives me a margin of safety should water be encountered and the alarm fitted to this filter goes off. My belief is that once the water has entered the OEM filter and the water alarm has gone off it is already game over. Using a 150 micron filter also ensures that fuel pressures are not diminished so as to not affect supply to the pump and permit sufficient bypass to cool the pump as the excess fuel returns to the tank. Those using less than a 30 micron filter should seek advice from a diesel expert in my view. All up I have assembled my kit for under $250, with alarm and wiring loom, and with the solid reputation of Caterpillar filters feel a bit more reassured about some of my outback travels.

Half the issue (like the prado photos posted above) is the water trap placement. Having a trap at the lowest part of the system where water naturally wants to separate from the oil is a real good start. Take a look at the last series colorado/Dmax. The water trap is at chassis level, lower than the fuel tank and the engine. How many of those have suffered engine failure from water in fuel? Toluene etc will go straight through any trap or filter/s so you can't stop it, but water is easy to get out of diesel, just find the lowest point and that's where the water will want to go. Then the only issue is knowing to empty the trap which is as easy as turning a tap in the engine bay. People were killing diesels with water long before CRDs came along, and I'm sure they'll continue to try in the future.