Water in Fuel - 2003 Ford Focus 2.0 CL

I would put a considerable amount of an ethanol dry-gas product designed to remove water from fuel. Keep in mind though if your gas is like ours in America, a blend of 10 to 15 percent ethanol you may exceed the suggested mixture of gas and ethanol which could lead to problems in your fuel system.

I wouldn't go past the recommended blend, but the added ethanol will absorb any water it comes in contact with and it can safely go through the engine. There probably is water pooled in places your mechanic didn't flush, this should get rid of it. I would ask the mechanic all the other parts that could have been affected by water and replace or inspect them. All I can think of off the top of my head is spark plugs, oxygen sensor and any other sensors that come in contact with fuel.

Good luck,

Drew

CR4 contributor PlbMak's solution is to tip a small bottle of methylated spirits (a.k.a. "denatured alcohol") into the fuel tank at intervals.

Methanol can destroy various components in the fuel system.

Bob

One thing you didn't mention is the fuel filter, you want to replace that also. It may take several fill ups with gas dryer/alcohol added. Bear in mind that the alcohol itself can throw off your sensors and cause it to run rough. If it's working fine now, you might be in the clear.

Any vehicle with a catalytic converter should use only isopropyl alcohol type dry gas in the fuel system. Ethanol has been known to clog the converters.

h

We have 10% ethanol in our fuels. Catalytic converters are not at all harmed by it.

Brave Sir Robin

You are absolutely correct! My post should have read methanol and not ethanol.

Thank you for the correction.

h

Have had experience with Shell Oil Co in the US. If their station was the cause for your problem with water in their fuel let the home office know. They have been known to compensate purchasers for the expense incurred form using their contaminated product.

In one case to which I am referring, there was a problem with one of the storage tanks and many loads went out with water in the fuel. As you can imagine there were all kinds of problems ,but Shell reimbursed every customer who purchased fuel from those stations involved not only for the fuel ,but also the tow and repair expenses incurred.

h

I have used a product "Heat" and the stuff in the yellow bottle works much better dispersing moisture than what is in the red bottle since it contains a higher level of methyl alcohol. Also, Berryman makes a product for this condition as well and they make some very good automotive additives or chemicals.

Hydroburn, from Cimtek is the only additive that won't make your problem worse. The only way to fix the problem (no band-aid) is to purge the impurity out of the system completely before you damage something.

Certainly notify Shell, if only to have them examine the operation of the station that sold the suspect fuel. As a Shell dealer in US, we checked the level of our tanks each day and had a paste that we smeared over an area of the stick. The paste would indicate any water in the tank.

Shell had a contractor who would then come out to remedy any problem. I expect that all good companies do something similar.

Do you still do this now that we use Ethanol fuel blends in the U.S.? You should find no water at all unless you find your fuel mixed with an amount of fuel greater than the ethanol it will blend with; at which point you will have a huge problem as up to 10% of your mixture precipitates out and collects on the bottom as a water/ethanol mix.

I was hoping there was another method where they test for water blended with ethanol mixed in fuel.

Drew

You can add alcohol to your fuel tank as it will absorb water and carry it through without harm to anything!

True, but as posted above somewhere, most gasoline in the U.S. already has methanol alcohol blended in up to an amount deemed safe by industry experts (10%). This methanol will absorb water up to it's saturation point then it will separate out with the water at which point up to 10% of the quantity in your tank will settle on the bottom as a water/ethanol mixture and will no longer burn.

Even if you drain that water out, the remaining gasoline will not be fit to burn in your modern engine. The ethanol increased the octane value up to the grade of gasoline you purchased (about 30 points).

If you are in America and you find water in your fuel you will need to drain the entire system, replace any and all filters and flush the entire system. Perhaps even replace fuel injectors or rebuild carburetors.

Drew

Go to WWW.FUEL-TESTERS.COM

Good information but very negative toward ethanol blends. With care, ethanol blended fuel can be a very good thing. It will clean your fuel system, it will remove any water in fuel and in small quantites prevent it to buildup to a volume that is problematic.

The biggest reason I like ethanol is that most of it comes from local farmers. Anything that makes more money for farmers is good. Farmers will spend more money in your local economy than any oil company importing most of its product.

I wish the U.S. would do the same as some have in South America and go to complete ethanol engines, it might increase the cost of fuel and some farm products, but at least we would stop exporting so much money. The more money we keep in the U.S. the more money everyone has, it gets spread around as people buy stuff. It starts with the farmers and ethanol industry spending their money in local businesses then they pay their employees more from the extra business and they in turn go spend more in other places. Of course it is the elite businessmen at the top of the economic food chain that will get the most (despite needing it the least).

Drew

Drew

That bike in the pic have an enhanced engine? Go put some Hi test in it from a gas station that doesn't have a good turn over and tell me what you think. My Beamer is 28 years old, and doesn't like phase out at all. I would bet there are better alt.'s than burning our food. Meanwhile the engine manufacturers will have to conform first and make the product (tier 8 maybe) engines avail. in the U.S. The vehicles all need to shrink in weight and mass.We need to stand in line like the 70's for awhile to jog our memory! Sorry about the additional trail!

Stock engine, I regular unleaded and don't have any trouble with pre-detonation (pinging) I do usually go for higher volume gas stations (usually because they are cheaper). Bikes can be set up to run pure ethanol. Here is an example of a Triumphthat was set up for speed not economy.

The best solution will not burn food, but algae or other non edible foods. I like algae because it can be made to grow in tanks in desert areas with lots of sun but limited agriculture (even better if they grow in salt water).

I believe eventually the sun will be the primary source of energy in our world. Actually, it is now, oil comes from plants that absorbed sunlight. We just need to get better at refining it from newer sunlight.

Electric vehicles are something I will work on more after I graduate as a mechanical Engineer because I believe they are more inherently effecient than internal combustion.

I plan on doing something like this to my truck (lost the better example).

Drew

Yeah, that's cool! Check this out!

http://www.hdtusa.com/vehicle-m1030-m2.php

http://www.indycar.com All these cars run on 100% ethanol. 650HP, 10500RPM limited, ~2mpg. Ethanol has low energy density = poor fuel economy when extracting maximum power. Bob

Low energy density? I wouldn't consider approx 80% exactly low, we just need to get more efficient in it's extraction. If Stanly Steamer had become the primary locomotive power-plant in cars and trucks we would be looking at a much different situation now a hundred years later.

Drew

And many more dead bodies from steam explosions was the public has proven we can hardly turn on a light bulb without injury so I suppose operating a mobile steam plant would be out of the question?

With the technology and materials of today and a hundred years of progress controlling the pressure of steam would be no more dangerous than filling a car with petrol. Many people underestimate the danger of filling their cars, I see people getting in and out of their cars without a thought to static buildup that has caused many filling station fires.

I am fairly certain that boiler technology would have developed into smaller boilers and more efficient engines than we see today, perhaps even electric hybrid steam vehicles. I plan on doing some research along those lines in the future.

Drew

There is a charcoal filter connected between the fuel tank & the engine for absorbing unutilised fumes in the engine. I disconnected this line & now the car runs perfectly. However this is considered illegal in Australia . Could the filter be defective & in need of replacement? I am unable to contact the R & D dept of Ford Manufacturing Co as the Customer service dept say I should contact a dealership who really are useless apart from fixing normal problems. Caltex have denied any contamination in the Unleaded petrol ( 95 Octane)they supply though it is a well accepted fact that water does seep into the underground storage tanks of retail outlets.

ANY IDEAS or SUGGESTIONS ?

I am not certain about a charcoal filter for absorbing fumes between the tank and the engine. Between the tank and the engine there should be several filters but designed for liquid only. I am not the strongest in chemistry, but I would tend to think any charcoal filter would be rendered ineffective quickly by fuel vapors.

There is a return line from the engine back to the tank on most fuel injected vehicles so a flow of fuel is ready as needed, the engine uses what it needs and the rest is dumped back in the tank. It is possible you disconnected this?

Australia is one country I have not visited yet so I could be wrong on the filter. If you could check on that and provide pictures of the line you removed I might be able to help more.

Drew

Update:

Ok, did a quick search on charcoal fuel filter, now I think I know what it is for. But that doesn't mean I know how to fix your problem. Perhaps these guys do, they are talking about fuel smell coming from the charcoal filter and associated hoses.

Have you tried replacing that filter? Perhaps it is clogged or something is wrong with the system it is connected to.

Drew