Water in diesel.

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runner911

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Launched my Merry Fisher 655 on 29th March after winter lay up.

The boat is fitted with a Volvo Penta D3 110.

The fuel tank was topped to the brim over the winter months when the boat was ashore.

I moor the boat at Yachthaven in Plymouth.

My first trip this year was last Friday when I steamed down to the Brendons Reef and then on to Hatt Rock near Fowey ( had a few reasonable pollack and one small cod which I put back ).

To the point. About 2 miles off Rame Head the digital alarm sounded with the message " Water in fuel ".

I limped back to Plymouth, and switched off to fill up the tank again at Yachthaven.

Started the engine again , and the message had disappeared and all seemed normal.

I drained the pre-fuel filter bowl twice and have fitted a new pre-fuel filter.

I noted that the filter I took out , even though it had only 6 hours use was black with dirt on the bottom half.

All seems to be running smoothly now.

The boat is 5 years old and I've never had the fuel tank out to give it a good clean as it's a real b***t**d to remove.

Anyone know of a procedure whereby the tank can be effectively cleaned in position ?
 
runner911 said:
Launched my Merry Fisher 655 on 29th March after winter lay up.

The boat is fitted with a Volvo Penta D3 110.

The fuel tank was topped to the brim over the winter months when the boat was ashore.

I moor the boat at Yachthaven in Plymouth.

My first trip this year was last Friday when I steamed down to the Brendons Reef and then on to Hatt Rock near Fowey ( had a few reasonable pollack and one small cod which I put back ).

To the point. About 2 miles off Rame Head the digital alarm sounded with the message " Water in fuel ".

I limped back to Plymouth, and switched off to fill up the tank again at Yachthaven.

Started the engine again , and the message had disappeared and all seemed normal.

I drained the pre-fuel filter bowl twice and have fitted a new pre-fuel filter.

I noted that the filter I took out , even though it had only 6 hours use was black with dirt on the bottom half.

All seems to be running smoothly now.

The boat is 5 years old and I've never had the fuel tank out to give it a good clean as it's a real b***t**d to remove.

Anyone know of a procedure whereby the tank can be effectively cleaned in position ?
Click to expand...
there are people that will be able to flush, filter and clean the fuel, usually pretty cheap aswell. i know that the merry fishers are a nightmare to work on anything to do with the fuel tank. the other thing that you could do is to give the tank a 'shock dose' of diesel treatment such as grotamar or something similar, make sure that you dont add too much though, it should all be labelled up on the bottle when you get it.
 
There are companies who will siphon out and "clean" the fuel. If you get pretty much everything out you should be OK. Sounds like you have a bit of the dreaded diesel bug.
 
runner911 said:
Launched my Merry Fisher 655 on 29th March after winter lay up.

The boat is fitted with a Volvo Penta D3 110.

The fuel tank was topped to the brim over the winter months when the boat was ashore.

I moor the boat at Yachthaven in Plymouth.

My first trip this year was last Friday when I steamed down to the Brendons Reef and then on to Hatt Rock near Fowey ( had a few reasonable pollack and one small cod which I put back ).

To the point. About 2 miles off Rame Head the digital alarm sounded with the message " Water in fuel ".



I limped back to Plymouth, and switched off to fill up the tank again at Yachthaven.

Started the engine again , and the message had disappeared and all seemed normal.

I drained the pre-fuel filter bowl twice and have fitted a new pre-fuel filter.

I noted that the filter I took out , even though it had only 6 hours use was black with dirt on the bottom half.

All seems to be running smoothly now.

The boat is 5 years old and I've never had the fuel tank out to give it a good clean as it's a real b***t**d to remove.

Anyone know of a procedure whereby the tank can be effectively cleaned in position ?
Click to expand...


Firstly, are you sure that the engines sensors are not playing up, both our cars regularly do that.

Second. Yacht Haven used to put Soltron in their tanks to avoid this. Are they still doing it?

I've had over five gallons of water in the diesel at one time. I've also had the bug quite often.

It's not that big a deal, to get rid of water or the bug.

First, make sure you have plenty of spare filters.

When we had inadvertently started to fill the fuel tank with water, we took the drain plug out till it ran red.

Then I replaced the bung, with a tap, then a clear pipe on it, down to the bilge, and another tap. Open the top tap and any water left in the tank, will find its way down the pipe. (better when the boat is moving). So when you see water in the pipe, close the top tap and open the bottom one, till it's gone.

Repeat this until all the water is gone, or just keep it as standard practice.

Make sure your filters have a drain at the bottom. Open the drain and put a clear glass under it. The diesel in the glass should look like a fine wine, no cloudiness or black bits.

Add a double dose of Soltron, or maybe another make and use the boat as much as possible. Doseing the tank with each fill.

We've had the probems when cruising for a few weeks, but it never stopped us.

Worse thing you can do, is leave the boat stood.

Hence your problems after winter storage.
 
Dont mess about, if you get water into the fuel pump of a D3 you are talking thousands.

If you can do it fine, remove water from the tank, filter fuel and treat with a proprietary diesel bug biocide such as Grotamar 82. Afterwards check the pre filter every time and check/change the cartridge.

If you are not comfortable get professional help.

The way I understand it Soltron emulsified the water and burns it, i dont want emulsified water anywhere near my fuel pumps, water will not go away of its own accord it needs to be removed.
 
I have been attempting to explain filters and their inadequacy against soltron fuel for several months now.

I have herd of a D4 engine with the exact same symptoms after being run on soltron fuel.

Traditional water separating fuel filters are cellulose based.
They are effective at removing free water.

Once an additive is introduced the water is emulsified and no longer free, cellulose water separators as supplied by Volvo Penta are useless.

Water separator pre filters like Raccor are also made of cellulose and only designed to separate free water.

Everyone needs to add a water separating pre filter which is designed and effective at removing free water AND emulsified water.

Fleetguard FS1000 (among others ) include Stratapore as a filter base and not cellulose.

Fuel supplied to us has changed significantly in the last 2 years.

a) Regulations are changing
b) fuel pump turn over is significantly lower and fuel is older
c) emulsifiers are been added before we put the fuel in our tanks.

Everyone needs to wake up and upgrade their fuel filters.
 
edit, oooooooops :o

;)


The advice on the fishing forum was good sound advice for boats with older engines that are happy burning small amounts of emulsified water .

The OP has D3 engines which along with D4 and other modern engines have water sensor alarms that detect emulsified water in fuel. Modern engines are not so happy burning any water which includes water disguised by emulsifiers.

The OP and most of us need to upgrade pre filters for filters that are designed to remove emulsified water.

In many cases its a simple matter to change the type of filter inserted in the filter housing, in other installations it may be necessary to remove the old filter housing and replace with a new one or add a second prefilter, this is inorder to prevent water/emulsified water from getting anywhere near his alarm sensors and or injectors.

Otherwise the op will continue to buy fuel with emulsified water in it and his alarms will keep sounding.
 
Last edited:
Water will damage injectors and fuel pumps in any diesel engine.

Common rail diesels such as D3 or D4/D6 etc have water alarms and will be seriously damaged by water.

When is bought my last boat it had benn hardly used for several years and had the Fleetguard steel cartridge filters with a glass bowl on the bottom.

Never saw any dirt in the glass bown at all, clear as a bell, then i had a fuel starvation problem, bowl clear, the filters aparently clear to look at then we cut the top off full of black gunk, yes they did their job but no unless you hacksawed the top off you would not know you had a problem.

Cleaned tanks, drained tank sumps and treated with Grotamar 71 then job done.

Changed to Racor/Volvo Penta filters with the removable element, the fuel drops into the bowl and is drawn up into the filter element , you see in the bowl any crud or water and when you lift out the element you imediately see if there is contamination.

For the OP.

Drain bottom of tank or suck out water, filter contents fully, treat with a propietary biocide that is formulated for biodiesel and ordinary diesel such as Grotamar 82, give it a shock dose and then regular preventative doses for ever, carry spare filter elements and check your filters every trip and change if required.

If sealed cartridge elements such as above when you change them cut the top off and see whets inside.
 
I had a similar problem with a brand new engine, and the suppliers suggested that the "water in the diesel" must have come either from the tank or contaminated fuel.

As the supplier was Premier Marinas in Gosport they put me in contact withe suppliers, who sent a very nice man out who tested the fuel and declared a complete absense of water in the fuel.

( the water came from a faulty antisiphon valve - fitted by the supplier)

I would suggest therefore get the fuel tested, before you take other remedial action. It could just be a faulty sensor. The suppliers rep was very sure of his product and resented the idea of his fuel being contaminated. They did not charge, but he might have had a fews beers
 
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