Re: [A/S] water in fuel/bad fuel?

[Jim Norman <hddecker@xxxxxxx>]

Dan...

Another place to look is the fuel filter and fuel lines. When was the 
filter changed last? Due you have a pinched fuel line? Both of these 
problems could allow enough fuel to be delivered, until you put the 
vehicle under load. Once under load you get the spitting and sputtering 
and to the extreme stalling. Even when towing you may find that the 
vehicle with run ok until you add that extra load like pulling out to 
pass or hit a small grade.

I have never had the problem with water in any of my fuel injected 
vehicles, but going back to the days of the carburetor, my experiences 
are different. Water problems in a carburetor a generally due to the 
fact that the water settles in the bowl, until it fills up far enough 
that there is as much or more water being delivered than fuel.  In that 
case you drained the float bowl and loaded up the gas tank with gas line 
anti-freeze to dry out the fuel.

If you have a friendly gas station operator ask him/her if they use the 
past that they pull on the end of their dip poles to check for water. 
This paste if memory serves me correctly is red and changes to blue if 
there is water in the fuel. If you can talk them out of a small bit of 
the paste, smear some on the end of a reasonably stiff, but flexible 
wire and feed this down into the fuel filler drag it around the bottom 
of the tank the withdraw it. If the paste has changed color, you have a 
water problem.

Hope this helps.

regards...
Jim