What to do about Water in Fuel Tank (not just moisture)

[Defender]

I have a Bobcat 863 and foolishly filled up the tank from a drum of diesel that "looked" like it was "still good", but apparently it had water in the bottom of the drum. After starting up and running for about 2 minutes, the Deutz engine began to falter and belched out a bunch of white smoke. Restarting was unsuccessful.

Upon inspection of my see-through fuel filter, I could see water in the bottom. Clearly I sucked up water with the fuel when I refueled.

Here is my question: What should I do to clear the system? I am guessing that I need to do the following, but I don't want to do something that would cause damage. (1) drain tank of fuel (I assume that there is a drain on the bottom?); (2) Drain and refill the fuel filter; (3) purge and refill my see-through fuel filter (before the Bobcat fuel filter) and the hoses; (4) refill tank with certified "good" fuel. Also, I assume that there will be some air in the system but by using the squeeze bulb between the fuel tank and the pump, I should be able to purge air.

Is the the correct procedure, or am I missing something? Further is anything listed above NOT the right thing to do?
Thanks!

 

[funwithfuel]

Being a bobcat, you might have to remove the tank. I dont remember there being a drain. I hope im wrong. Lets not push a drop more of water through that injection pump. Take your return line off the pump. Pump clean fuel through the pump, key on, engine off. Loosen the high pressure lines at the injection nozzles. Continue pumping close them up one by one. This should minimize the further damage. Water etches and erodes the finely finished mating surfaces. You don't want to push any more than has already found its way in there.
Good luck

 

[Welder Dave]

Not sure what you mean about draining and refilling fuel filter. If it's a clear bowl drain it. If it's a fuel filter it needs to be changed.

 

[Defender]

Funwithfuel and Welder Dave,
My manuals show no fuel drain on the tank, so this afternoon I made a siphon hose with a brass "klunk" to get the hose right at the bottom of the tank without it curling up (its ½" tygon tubing). The klunk-end of the siphon will place the tube within ¾ inch of the tank bottom and since the machine quit on a gentle incline, I hope to get the klunk situated on the "deep end" to capture as much of the water as I can. I plan to siphon out the (unfortunately) full tank. I will do it into some clear glass gallon jugs a gallon at a time so I can inspect the fuel coming out for water at the bottom. Those will be dumped back into the "bad" drum after allowing it to settle and separating. I expect at some point I'll be getting what looks like pure diesel fuel w/o water. Nonetheless, I will drain the entire tank and discard the fuel. The glass jug test is just for curiosity about how much water get into the tank.

I have 2 fuel filters. One is the screw-on unit with a bottom purge that is part of the engine's fuel system. In addition, I added a clear glass in-line fuel filter (about 3 inches long) that I added myself between the fuel tank and the lift pump when I replaced all of the fuel system hoses when I bought the 863 Bobcat used several years ago (2000 hours on it at that time). I have purchased a replacement for the screw-on fuel filter and will just replace that. The in-line see-through fuel filter is easy to clean out and I'll do that (it looks clean but is ⅓ full of water).

Thanks for the comments on the purging procedure (e.g., running the pump and purging the metal lines up to the injectors)-- I will do that. If anyone else has suggestions, please chime in.

 

[Delmer]

If there's any inspection port on the injection pump, open that up and rinse it out with diesel. Or open the fitting closest to the bottom as long as you can figure out what it is, that is, it's not messing up an adjustment. The return fittings are on the top of the pump to purge air, you want to rinse the water out of the bottom, and not pump it through the pump in the process.

If you can't get all the water out by siphoning, a "suck bucket" is the tool to do it. Even if you have to hook up a vacuum hose to the air intake of another engine to make it work. Or rinse some more diesel into the tank and continue siphoning until all the gunk and water is gone. If you're lucky, it was crud in the old diesel that plugged stuff up, instead of water getting into the injection pump.

 

[Welder Dave]

I think an air blow gun with a siphon tube for cleaning would get the water out if you had a compressor to use it with.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-Siphon-Spray-Blow-Gun-9045734/203153526

 

[thepumpguysc]

As the others have stated, the water will settle ON THE BOTTOM..
I've pulled "plugs" & drained 5 gallons out, before diesel started to flow, put the plug back in, topped off the tank & sent'um out the door..

 

[Defender]

OK, here's where we stand... I swapped out the main fuel filter (which was 90% full of water!!) with a brand new one, I cleaned the lift pump out and blew out all of the hoses (below the lift pump) with compressed air. Then, with the primer bulb, I pumped clean diesel from a bottle up through all the hoses, filters, and lift pump (this then dumped back into the fuel tank). Having done that to purge the system of water everywhere except from the high pressure pumps to the cylinders, I took a hose and connected it between the primer bulb and a bottle of clean diesel. I cranked the engine and after about 10 seconds, it started. With my wife carrying the bottle of clean diesel to feed the fuel pump, I walked the Bobcat from the place that it had died back into my workshop.

So far so good, but I tried to put a siphon hose down the filling tube, and found that it was blocked by something about 2 feet in. I suspect that there is a filter screen at the end of the filling tube. I took a look at my unreadable .pdf version of the Bobcat 863 manual and noted that there should be a drain plug under some plate on the bottom of the Bobcat. The picture in my .pdf manual is so bad that I can't really tell where this plate is on the bottom of the Bobcat and whether it is the right or left drain plug that goes to the fuel tank. One drain plug goes to the fuel tank and the other drains the chassis chain oil, but from the picture it is not clear. On the bottom rear (behind rear axel) I have located a plate that is about 12 inches wide and 4 inches front-to-back with 3 bolts in it. QUESTION: Am I correct to assume that this is the plate covering the drain ports, and does anyone know when looking from the rear of the Bobcat 863 if it is the right or left drain plug that drains the fuel? (I haven't removed this plate yet as the head on one of the bolts is sheared, so it may be difficult to remove-- that's for tomorrow).

 

[Defender]

CONTINUEING: I pulled the plate that is behind the real axel (it is actually a 2.75 x 9 inch plate with 3 bolts) and found that there is what "may be" the fuel drain plug on the right when viewed from the rear. Can anyone confirm that this IS in fact the fuel tank drain plug? Thanks.

 

[Delmer]

Loosen it a few turns and see what drips out, if it's water you'll want to drain it either way

 

[Graham1]

I know it is a bit late now, but I had about 200lt of diesel in old cans and was worried about it. Bought a Mr Funnel filter funnel (http://www.mrfunnel.com/Mr._Funnel/Home.html). Really does work removing water and crap. If you regularly get dodgy cans it would be a good investment.
Graham

 

[HTRN]

So, called a bobcat guy i know and .............. He says some of those models did and some didn't have drains, if there's an inspection plate under the machine basically directly under the oil pan area, it should have a drain plug. If it doesn't you can hook up a 12v fuel pump *cheapo from napa, autozone,etc* inline just past the primer ball, and put some hose out to a catch can, pump a couple times then fire it up.v It will drain it pretty low then just top the tank off with good fuel and it should be diluted enough.

 

[Defender]

HAPPY ENDING: OK, here is the resolution. There is indeed an inspection plate at the rear of my Bobcat 863 just behind the real axel and there are two grommets with metal plugs, one of the right and one on the left when viewed from the rear of the machine. The one on the left is the drain for the chain oil, but the one on the right is the fuel tank drain. I pulled the plug and diverted the flow into 5-gallon buckets, the first of which would have caught the water in the tank before the full tank of diesel drained.

I siphoned the fuel from each 5-gallon bucket into clear glass jugs and found that indeed (as expected), the denser water came out first. I was able to reclaim all of the fuel and replaced it with an additional bottle of "Sea Foam" added to help emulsify remaining moisture. See the attached pictures where two full jugs of water were captured. I am sure a lot of this came from my bad fuel fill, but it occurred to me that there could have been water sloshing around in the tank from the time I bought the Bobcat (second hand) about 6 years ago. There is no telling what the previous owner had or had not done. All I knew was that the machine had been used mainly with a backhoe attachment, had special lift points welded onto it for lifting by a crane to the roof of a building or down into a pit, and that the machine had 2000 hours on it. Also, condensation over the past 6 years of my ownership could have contributed to the two jugs of water that I removed. I am thinking that it is probably not a bad idea to routinely drain the tank every few years to remove condensation and water ingested without my knowledge. Lesson learned-- and now I've got a clean (dry) start. The engine runs smooth now that I'm not trying to turn it into a "steam engine". (Thanks for all of the help offered above by the forum members. Hopefully this thread is of use to others in the future).

 

[thepumpguysc]

WOW.. that's a lot of water.. thanks for the pictures..
Glad you gott'r going..