In the last week I purchased a pickup to carry out farm work and driving around town. It has an 5.9L inline six cylinder 24v diesel engine. It is quite the special generation to me, and I am glad I bought it. Though recently a little light came on in the dash board, shortly after filling up the tank. BTW it has a 30 gallon tank, hah learned that as well recently. My Jeep has a 15 gallon tank I believe so double.
Driving home from the gas station there was no troubles, I parked it thinking nothing and it rained most of the night. Not sure if that has anything to do with it but figured I should mention it. But when I turned the engine on the next morning I saw a red "water in fuel" light come on. Thinking maybe it was a stuck sensor I tried cycling it a few times to no avail.
So I got on the internet and started researching and found there is a "water separator by the driver side of the engine. I found a diagram for a 12v Cummins. Hoping the 24v was not that different. In the diagram we can see it on the upper right hand side. By that red hose. Looking around with a flashlight I could not find it, seems like it was deleted. So where is it now?
Source: dieseltruckresource.com
Well I got poking around the underside of the truck and found this thing called an "AirdogII-4G" googling it I found this is the new fuel filter / water separator.
Those two white can looking things are the fuel filter and the water separator. The fuel filter is on the left and the water separator is on the right with the twist knob.
Before just unscrewing things I found a video that would help me in servicing the trucks water in fuel warning.
Source: Thoroughbred Diesel
The video above was very useful and I was surprised to hear the tech in the video say this should be done with every refueling. I have owned a diesel truck for over 10 years and never had to do this, but it is a much newer model. So maybe this is the nature of the beast. Not a big deal but good to know, learning about my truck and all.
After unscrewing the water separator knob I saw liquid coming out. At first it was very thin and "watery" but after a few seconds I got pure fuel. I could tell as its more thick and oily.. not by much but it was noticeable. At this point I closed the knob and hand tightened it. I had an old glass tea bottle laying around, so I used that.. Only filled it up about a 1/4 way.. honestly I could have drained less, was just not sure if more water was going to come out. Seems it only comes out first for a second or two.
With that all done I closed up the truck, in the end I did not even need to pop the hood. Still enjoying looking at its setup, I will need to get to know it better soon.
Cranking the truck up I could see the light stayed on, so I drove it about a mile and the link blinked off.. Good to know, will need to do this every fill up looks like. I guess this is just part of owning an older diesel. Eventually I will need to replace that fuel filter as well.
Next up is to fix the A-pillar gauge clusters.. I have three, one for pyro (exhaust temps), transmission temp and boost pressure. I was told by the dealer that the gauges are toasted so I bought some Autometers that should be here soon.
The truck also has a little rust, I will see if I can restore it. Will need to locate it all and figure out what can be easily removed. Otherwise some cutting may be involved, hope not. But being a 20 year old truck it surely has some, and I do not want that to be the death of such a great truck. But for now the fuel is now water free and my truck is happy again.
