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 Post subject: Fuel / Water Separator
PostPosted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 10:59 pm 
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The owner's manual of my 05 CRD makes it sound like it is possible to drain water from the fuel / water separator. Does it actually have a drain plug or do I just replace the filter? If there is a drain plug, where is it?

I'm new to diesels, so any help is appreciated.


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 Post subject: Re: Fuel / Water Separator
PostPosted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 11:10 pm 
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Clark wrote:
The owner's manual of my 05 CRD makes it sound like it is possible to drain water from the fuel / water separator. Does it actually have a drain plug or do I just replace the filter? If there is a drain plug, where is it?

I'm new to diesels, so any help is appreciated.
The odd's that you will need to drain water from the filter prior to replacement at the 20,000 mile mark is real slim. I have never had anything but a few drops in a filter or any of the dozens I've seen checked for water. Most likely if you get enought water in the filter too drain any out you need to change fuel supplier after have you tank drained.

Almost forgot the drain is on the bottom of the filter and is fragile so be careful. Seen several broken trying to bleed them and what a mess.

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 3:28 pm 
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This may help; I had the same question a few months ago :

http://www.jeepkj.com/forums/viewtopic. ... +separator

Greg

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 8:09 pm 
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Talked with a diesel tech at the dealership today and ask how often he has seen water in fuel filters when changing them out on the Cummins and he said in the 8 years he has been working on Cummin's diesels he has only seen one with water contamination and it was a farm truck that filled from a tank on the farm and had the red fuel and was not licienced for street use.

In the VW diesel community only newbie's ever do the water drain check, heck my '83 MB diesel didn't even have a drain. I never drained any of our VW's and probably never will do anything on the CRD but replace the filter.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 10:03 pm 
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oldnavy wrote:
In the VW diesel community only newbie's ever do the water drain check, heck my '83 MB diesel didn't even have a drain. I never drained any of our VW's and probably never will do anything on the CRD but replace the filter.


Given the complexities of the HPCR diesel engines, draining the fuel filter every fillup is not a bad idea and cheap insurance as well. Have you by chance priced any CP3's, fuel injectors, etc. on a Liberty CRD or a RAM w/CTD ? I drain my separator on the '03 RAM 2500 CTD every fillup; the CRD about every other fillup.
Greg

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 10:10 pm 
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gsbrockman wrote:
oldnavy wrote:
In the VW diesel community only newbie's ever do the water drain check, heck my '83 MB diesel didn't even have a drain. I never drained any of our VW's and probably never will do anything on the CRD but replace the filter.


Given the complexities of the HPCR diesel engines, draining the fuel filter every fillup is not a bad idea and cheap insurance as well. Have you by chance priced any CP3's, fuel injectors, etc. on a Liberty CRD or a RAM w/CTD ? I drain my separator on the '03 RAM 2500 CTD every fillup; the CRD about every other fillup.
Greg

Can't be any more sensitive then a PumpDuse running 29,000 psi on individual injector pumps, there are $1600 each on a VW. The filter catches the water and should plug and fuel starve the engine as do the VW filter & Cat 2 micron filters.

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 Post subject: water idiot light
PostPosted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 4:16 pm 
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Forgive my diesel newbiness but the CRD has an idiot light for the fuel/water seperator. Why wouldn't you just wait until it told you there was water in there and then drain it?

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 Post subject: Re: water idiot light
PostPosted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 4:38 pm 
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grywlfbg wrote:
Forgive my diesel newbiness but the CRD has an idiot light for the fuel/water seperator. Why wouldn't you just wait until it told you there was water in there and then drain it?
SOmeone buy this man a drink. He's made more sence then most here.

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 Post subject: Re: water idiot light
PostPosted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 7:45 pm 
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oldnavy wrote:
grywlfbg wrote:
Forgive my diesel newbiness but the CRD has an idiot light for the fuel/water seperator. Why wouldn't you just wait until it told you there was water in there and then drain it?
SOmeone buy this man a drink. He's made more sence then most here.


Two Words : Preventive Maintenance.

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 Post subject: water in fuel idiot light etc.
PostPosted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 12:37 am 
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Some wise man told me once that idiot lights are only provided to confirm your worst suspicion ! :shock:
This man had me supplement all idiot lights in his car by full instrumentation - he meant what he said. :)
I don't think anybody on this forum would want to wait for the (loss off)oil pressure light to come before checking your oil level? :roll:
I rest my case.........

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 2:42 am 
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People, if you check the owners manual (and it's obvious some of us here haven't), the only time it recommends checking the filter for the presence of water is at the normally scheduled oil change - every 6000 miles. This is on page 379 under Maintenance Schedules.

As far as draining the CRD's fuel filter at every fillup, four words - Complete Waste Of Time.

Now, if you're draining the filter at each fillup and you ARE getting significant amounts of water each time, here's a tip - your gas station is selling you contaminated diesel. Instead of spending your time draining down the filter, find another place to buy fuel.

But hey, it's your vehicle, your time, and your money. If you still feel the need to drain the filter down at every fillup, knock yourself out.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 7:24 am 
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retmil46 said it like it is and I could not have said it better.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 1:52 pm 
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Isn't it possible some condensation could occur after the fuel is pumped into the tank due to temperature differences ? Contaminated fuel is not the only source of "water in fuel".

Great post, KJ79.

Greg

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 2:47 pm 
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Yeah, the CRD has only been out for one model year and I have already heard of issues with the "water in fuel" light on the dash not working properly on some. Not to mention, if having water in your fuel was NOT likely, they wouldn't bother putting the filter there in the first place. Why don't gasoline engines have them? Diesel fuel is just notorious for having small amounts of water in it regardless of whether it's "good" fuel or not.

So yeah, I agree that checking it every fillup would be a waste of time and rather annoying I might add. That would get old real quick. But I also wouldn't wait 20,000 miles before checking things out either. I plan to check mine pretty soon to see how it's going in there. Checking it with every oil change seems like the best policy to me as well.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 6:14 pm 
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I wasn't asking about checking for water at every fill up, just in general. I have about 9k miles and hadn't checked it yet, so I just wanted to know the procedure


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 8:34 pm 
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[quote="LibertyCRD"]Yeah, the CRD has only been out for one model year and I have already heard of issues with the "water in fuel" light on the dash not working properly on some. Not to mention, if having water in your fuel was NOT likely, they wouldn't bother putting the filter there in the first place. Why don't gasoline engines have them? Diesel fuel is just notorious for having small amounts of water in it regardless of whether it's "good" fuel or not.quote]

The filter is "BOTH" a fliter of trash & water because the fuel can contain both. Both are problems in US fuel supply and the gasoline car will be seen more often in the dealership for water in the tank problem then diesels, mainly because there are more gassers then diesels. The local Dodge dealership will see an average of about two cars a month with water in the fuel and about one diesel truck every three months. The main problem with diesel fuel will be trash, not water, depending on where they are buying fuel. The problem seems to come from how the fuel is transported to the station or stored locally at the station. Lots of the problems occur with the transport trucks that are not cleaned properly after sitting for extended period or after transporting some other type of fluid. Then there is the stations with underground tanks that often get water into them several different ways (to many to go into here) and stations with under ground tanks that will dump waste engine oil into the tanks. I have seen this done many times over the years to diesel tanks at stations that do oil changes, even local stations that don't sell diesel will dump used oil into their gas tanks just prior to tanker arriving. Dumping used motor oil into the diesel fuel bunkers didn't use to be illegel and it still might not be. I have gotten fuel twice like this in the last 5 years, and let me tell you the car did smoke, and both ocassions the car was driven with no apparrent ill effects other then needing a fuel filter replaced.

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