(800) 853-2651
SHOP NOW

remove water from fuel??

A

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member
Ok here is teh question,,,, short of draining the tank , how can water be removed from the diesel fuel tank on my neighbor newholland TC45 , I think that really doenst matter,, it has a plastic tank, dont they all...

any way a few weeks ago the sediment bowl had 3/4 full of ice,, a few hrs later after thawing the tractor out with a salamnader, adding 911, and new fuel it ran good,,

well today I went to borrow it again and it started and drove for a while than stopped, again checked the sediment bowl and its iced,, I got it in the barn now thawing again,,

I know with gas you can put drygas in it and help it a bit, but wasnt sure if you could do that with diesel,, I am going to put another bottle of 911 in there but I thkink that is basically for gelled fuel, not so much water in teh fuel..

he uses a differnt fuel source than I do,, I have to get him to change that, my tn55 hasnt been started in a few weeks and it started right up today,,, same weather same conditions,, any help out there? thanks pat,

I looked and there is no drain plug and the "pipe" that goes into the tank on the bottom is plastic as well, I am sure it will break upon remaval, pat
 
Anybody checked the owner's manual to see if it tells how to drain the tank?
 
If there's that much water, it would be best to drain the tank. It would be a good idea to also change the fuel filters. If there isn,t a drain, use a cheap hand pump. Water in diesel, especially in the winter, is just going to cause problems. Dave
 
Don't use any type of alcohol in it. Alcohol will just carry the water thru the system into the pump and injectors causing big $$$ damage. Only thing to do is drain the system or pump out the system and replace the filters. I think that tractor has the old mechanical pump so its not as touchy as the common rail electric injector setups. Water will blow the tips off electric injectors and they can run $1000+ each. That's why alcohol based fuel additives like Power Service are not recommended in common rail engines. I know in the Duramax diesel engines if the injectors show water damage a fuel sample is collected and if alcohol is found over a certain percent GM can deny warranty coverage.
 
Not only do you need to get the water out, you need to figure out how it got in there in the first place. Either you introduced it when you filled the tank, or you have a filler cap seal fail and letting the rain enter. Either way, you are going to need to solve the problem before you make a career out of draining water.
 
Diesel can suspend some water,but when it gets saturated it falls out to the low spot, the bowl.
You have to get most of the water out though.A little water will always be there,but it is no problem suspended. Dry gas will help a little.

fuelsandlubestechnologies.org
 
We have available, from our co-op in the area, water absorbing tank socks. You place them into the tank-usually used in your storage tank- and leave them there until they swell up from the water they have absorbed, up to 20 oz per sock. Then they are removed and disposed of. They work nice. Some will expand in a couple of days and some it takes 2 weeks or so. If they do not expand leave them in the tank until they do. They cost $5.00 or so. well worth the money.
 
MN Scott is right on! Adding alcohol based products to diesel is bad news. Alcohol has no lubricating properties so why add it to fuel that is already low in lubricity from low sulfur content? Like some of the others have said, you need to figure out where the water got in and fix that on the supply tank, then drain the tractor tank fully and refill with fresh fuel. You will want to test the fuel for microbes. If you find microbes, time to add some bio-cide. If you have a BG Products distributor in your area, they can help you solve your fuel problems.
 
Are you sure it's really ice and that it isn't the fuel that's gelling? If there's that much water in the tank, I would expect that it wouldn't run any better once you thawed it out. I'll bet if he starts buying his fuel where you get yours the problem will disappear.
 
I heard about somebody doing this,take a piece of that clear tubing for a sprayer, put it in the tank all the way to the bottom and siphon a couple of gallons off of the bottom.Really needs to be at the lowest part of the tank too.Water will settle out after a while and you can get some of it like that.Then if you are lucky the filter might get the rest.The other way is pump it out into a barrel,clean out the tank,put in new fuel.
 
The sediment bulb is the method for removing the water. Just have to pull it and make sure all water is out before putting it back on. Need to do it every day in high moisture, heavy condensation times.

Then keep the tank full every night so that there isn't room for condensation in the top of the tank. The condensation forms overnight with the cooling temperatures.

This is what we do for airplane tanks. In lieu of a sediment bulb it has a drain valve that you stick a tester into to drain off the bottom.

Might have to get your wife's hair dryer out there every morning for a while to melt any ice.
 
If there is a drain plug in the bottom of his supply tank it should be loosened just a couple of turns till liquid flows around the threads this will drain off the water if it is warm enough to not have turned to ice. We do this every fall before winter to help prevent just this problem. If you drain the tank on the loader and let the fuel set the water will either settle to the bottom and freeze which you can just pluck it out or you can pour the top off and use the rest to wash parts with.
 
What I would probably do at this point it remove the bowl and clean the ice out, then change the filter(s). I'm not familiar with the TC45...
Then I'd find a way to apply air pressure to the line from the bowl to the tank and blow it back. That should dislodge whatever's in the line and tank strainer.
Provided it's frozen now, and you don't warm it up, it should more or less stay frozen. Watch the bowl and filter and drain/change as you see water.

The only real solution is draining the tank and removing the water from the tank. Beyond that you're taking your chances.

Rod
 
When I did lawn mower service. water in the gas tank was a big problem.You could look in the tanks and see big blobs of water in the bottom of the tank.Dry gas works but wont mix with water.I used to shake the mower to make it mix.Methanol is very corrosive to zinc carbs so I would use the mower to cut my grass until the gas ran out.You can get water out of gas by straining it thru a milk filter.Wet the filter with gas first and it will block water ,never tried it with diesel.Years ago a chamois skin was used to filter gas.
 
yea < i probably knew that prior to asking the question, I was just hoping there may have been a voodoo potion to get it out,,

I will get the plastic fitting first , because i know murphy will step in if I dont,,

I am going to try to run it lower on fuel first, I put 5 gals in before I started it,, I wish they were smart enought o put a drain plug on there , especially it being a diesel,, oh well,,, My older units have a drain plug some have two,,

as far as ice and not gelling,, it was ice, I had to remove the bowl and there was 3/4 of teh bowl was a chunk of ice, I put it on teh wood stove and thawed it out,, ,,uh oh the safety police are going to get me for that one,, it was ice, I put the bowl in a pot and it evaporated,,

well tere is another project for me,, the neighbor works away during teh week, and I can use the loader any time I want to, add it to my list,,
thanks guys pat
 
The problem with fuel jelling is that it tends to do it just above the point in the system that is lowest. There is something about the interface line between water and fuel, that causes blockages to form. I have an Asv RC30 that has a small cat diesel powering it that, when fuel gels, it is always in the fuel filter, you can take off the filter and see the gelled fuel, and the scummy mess above the small amount of water in the filter. I have seen a filter heater being sold as a remedy, that uses engine heat from heater hoses to warm the filter, but I have found that using a little fuel drier and regular filter changes, works for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

super99
What a Mess!!!
Replies
15
Views
2K
sonnythomas
S
super99
Disappointing afternoon
Replies
10
Views
2K
Tgrasher
Tgrasher
P
water in fuel
Replies
0
Views
138
Pilot199
P
T
FNH TS 100 fuel line
Replies
2
Views
219
tomturkey
T
F
Plastic fuel tank
Replies
6
Views
884
MJMJ
M
Tractor Parts Tractor Manuals

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Copyright © 1997-2024 Yesterday's Tractor Co.

All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.

Yesterday's Tractors - Antique Tractor Headquarters
Website Accessibility Policy

Back
Top