water in fuel tank

[ddilman]

I feel pretty embarrassed saying that I put water in my diesel tank. When I realized it's the wrong tank, I had already put 2-3 cups in there.
I drained the water by opening the drain knob at the bottom of the fuel/water separator and then started the engine. It took about five minutes before the engine turned off and I can’t start it now.
What needs to be done to get the engine to start?

[Eleanna]

Bleed the fuel system.
This will take two guys to do being you have most likely gotten air past the injector pump.
Make sure you have all the water out then loosen up the fuel injectors, crank the engine until all the air is out of the fuel system (make sure you have the kill switch on) . Retighten the injectors and you should be good to go. Your fuel filter separator should have woided the water from going into the engine.

E.

E.

[Faster]

Agree with E, you probably put a large air bubble in your fuel lines when you drained the separator. Bleed this out and you should be good to go. However, with 2-3 cups of raw water in your system you will need to play close attention to your water separator until it is all worked out, meaning lots of draining and bleeding until the water is gone.
Imperative that you do not allow water to reach your injector pump!

[Gene T]

One way of avoiding getting air in your system is to install a pump before the water separator. That way you can drain the water out under pressure. A simple outboard bulb pump works and can also act as an indicator of a plugged pick up tube in the tank if it goes flat. You could also install an electric pump to pressurize the system and it can then also be used to polish your fuel.

[camaraderie]

Gene...Just a caution....putting an electric fuel pump BEFORE the separator generally voids the warranty on the pump since it is looking at unfiltered fuel which clogs and destroys the pump over time. I had a boat with interminiable problems with such a setup... replacing pumps and filters often...until reading the warranty on the pump and the "light" came on! Moved the pump to the other side of the filter so it sucked filtered fuel and the problem was solved. I think your idea about a bulb pump is even simpler and better!

[sailingdog]

Cam- I don't think he's talking about an electric pump...just something like the squeeze bulb off of a gas siphon or outboard motor fuel line, which should be more than adequate, given the amount it would be used.

[ddilman]

Originally Posted by Faster

Imperative that you do not allow water to reach your injector pump!

How is this accomplished?

[sailingdog]

Originally Posted by ddilman

How is this accomplished?

Fuel/water separator...