Ford Focus - Water in Fuel

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Thu 15 Dec 2011 11:52
Ford Focus - Water in Fuel - lilley

My TDCi has just had to have the fuel tank drained and lines cleared due to water in the diesel. Most of it will have been bought in Poole, Dorset. Has anybody else had a similar problem recently?

The Shell Garage, Darby's Corner Poole is currently being rebuilt with new tanks. Anybody know if there is a connection?

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Thu 15 Dec 2011 19:40
Ford Focus - Water in Fuel - MikeTorque

What happened to the TDCi ? How did the problem show itself ?

I've never had water in diesel before but it's concerning you've encountered a problem. If the water can be traced to the Shell station you could try for compensation if you've been left out of pocket but you may need the pressure of a legal person to get anywhere.
Also Trading Standards would be interested to hear about this one as other motorists need warning.

It could be the fuel storage tank had some water in it, how it got there is anyone's guess. Usually fuel new tanks arrive dry on the inside prior to being installed.

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Sun 18 Dec 2011 09:45
Ford Focus - Water in Fuel - lilley

Starting problems, poor running. Water in fuel filter cartridge, more than 10%. Garage dropped tank, plenty of water in residual fuel. Main problem is that I do not know how long the water has been in the tank. This I do know, I paid £1-37/litre for water!

I am making my own investigations along the lines you suggest. I thought more people might come out of the woodwork for a class action.

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Sun 18 Dec 2011 10:17
Ford Focus - Water in Fuel - RT

We do, of course, all get water naturally in our car fuel tanks - it comes from ambient moisture in the space above the fuel and then condenses on the side of the tank and runs down into the fuel - modern plastic tanks are better than older metal tanks but not immune from condensation - there's less moisture in cold winter air than warm summer air but the winter cold condenses it more quickly.

I thought that all diesel fuel filters were designed to trap water and that removing it was a regular scheduled job at annual service - it certainly is on our family Vauxhall and Hyundai diesels.

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Thu 22 Dec 2011 12:25
Ford Focus - Water in Fuel - lilley

Our Focus TDCi Mk 1 and MondeoTDCi Mk 3 uniformly have their tanks kept more full than half empty. The Bosch fuel filter cartridges do not filter out all the water, they are changed at a maximum of annuallly - Ford's service schedule states three yearly!

I am keen find out whether others in the BH area have had/are having similar problems and the link is the same garage?

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Thu 22 Dec 2011 19:11
Ford Focus - Water in Fuel - unthrottled

I think we need to take a reality check on the potential for water vapour in the atmosphere to contaminate fuel.

At 15C, the saturation pressure of water vapour is 12.8mm Hg. which equates to 12.8g/m^3

Assuming 75% humidity level gives 9.6g/m^3

Now a 55 litre tank, on average 3/4 empty gives a volume of 0.0385m^3

So the total water mass held in the air above the fuel is 0.37g

ie 3.7ml

Not that much really.

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Tue 3 Jan 2012 17:08
Ford Focus - Water in Fuel - lilley

10% of 55 litres is 5.5 litres! My mechanic is not impressed with the quantities involved, he also thinks that it got in from an underground tank via a hose. I am not talking trivial. Both tanks are plastic.

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Tue 3 Jan 2012 17:24
Ford Focus - Water in Fuel - RT

The fallacy with that suggestion is that it's not over one tankful, it's over many.

Every time the fuel is used, air is drawn in, moisture condenses and runs into the fuel - this process is repeated for each fill of fuel - over say 10,000 miles that can amount to a lot of moisture.

Edited by RT on 03/01/2012 at 17:24

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Wed 4 Jan 2012 12:35
Ford Focus - Water in Fuel - Huon.cloutier

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.

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Thu 5 Jan 2012 08:08
Ford Focus - Water in Fuel - thunderbird

I would suggest that if no one else on Poole has had problems with that garage and both your Mondeo and Focus have been affected someone has tampered with both your cars.

Edited by thunderbird on 05/01/2012 at 08:09

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Thu 5 Jan 2012 08:55
Ford Focus - Water in Fuel - RT

I would suggest that if no one else on Poole has had problems with that garage and both your Mondeo and Focus have been affected someone has tampered with both your cars.

In my mis-spent youth it was fashionable for the other yobbos (not me honest) to pee into car fuel tanks on the way home from the pub - before the days of locking fuel caps of course - is something similar still happening?

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Thu 5 Jan 2012 15:16
Ford Focus - Water in Fuel - lilley

Both have screw-in caps covered with locking flaps. The Focus does not go far and is garaged at home. The Mondeo goes to France etc, it stands on the drive at home. With both having the same problem, identified at the same time and both having to have the same work done to remedy I still think the problem stems from a local underground tank. Against, nobody else is coming formward and Trading Standards have not identified a problem.

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