Aussiejack
Member
While on this subject a wire on the WIF sensor has broken on my 2002 313 sprinter. Just changed the filter and noticed it, dont know whether it was already broken or if i broke it today. Will this affect the running of the engine
No. Assuming that it is the WIF sensor wire.... Will this affect the running of the engine
My opinion is that we likely do get small amounts of WIF from condensation and slightly off grade fuel, but over time introducing good fresh fuel can help to get rid of those small amounts. The problem is when too much free water is in the fuel tank and it gets pulled into the injection system.A friend has a Vito, down on diesel, fills up at a local garage, 100m down the road his vehicle starts to splutter. Has it trayed to his mechanic and $4500 later paid for by his insurance company he is back on the road.
Saw the mixture in a soft drink bottle looked like a lemon drink.
I would have thought his MB Vito would have a water sensor/light.
Our Sprinter has the water sensor stuff under the Fuel filter I wonder if that/light/me, will save the engine, if I get a load of water in the diesel, rather than just a small bit of water over time.
Incidentally the Sprinter Insurance covers dirty Fuel, unlike the RAA with no cover for our Landcruiser ( not that I have ever needed it, but they have accidental damage that does not cover dirty fuel).
Peter
Clicking the blue arrow icon within any quote box will take you to the original thread.That's my understanding too. In extreme cases water in fuel can even crack injector bodies and nozzles....
My understanding is that the problems with water in fuel are not so much related to the affects on combustion as they are on the fuel system itself. Particularly the latter end of the fuel system - the injectors and high pressure pump.
These have very tight tolerances and depend on the fuel itself for lubrication. Water, or a water and fuel emulsification, make lousy lubricants. So get too much water (whatever that "too much" is according to the engineers), and you have fuel system problems and failures.
That's my discussion here. Water doesn't seem to automatically build up in our tanks. Are we all always getting perfectly dry top quality fuel? That seems pretty doubtful. ALL diesel fuel can carry a bit of water. Some types (biodiesel/blends) can carry more. Temperature affects the water capability. I would expect that the heat/cool cycles that most tanks see would tend to precipitate out the water at one time or other.
The fuel in our Sprinters is heated and circulated back to the tank. The heated fuel will hold more water than cold fuel. Assuming that the fuel we pump into our tank is not very "wet", does that heat and circulation process help to keep the free water from accumulating in our tanks by taking the moisture away in very small doses?
The OEM filter membrane is designed to trap free water. As I mentioned earlier, it must not be trapping the "in range" amount of water in the fuel or else we would all be regularly draining our WIF filter system. Originally "dry" at lower temperature biodiesel when heated may be more efficient at water control than is heated dino diesel.
It would seem to me that the amount of water would need to be pretty high for that to become a real concern. Our WIF monitor should be warning us before that is a problem. I have no data.Granted, sufficient amounts of water in the combustion chamber can cause problems, too.
vic
My diesel mechanic advised me to always pay by card, always buy the same brand eg Caltex, BP and always write kms on receipt, this way you have come-back for dirty diesel.
Rob.
Interesting article. Thanks.Interesting thread. I own a 2016 Itasca Navion. I read a post saying to buy a Mahle fuel filter.
I have still not found the correct Mahle fuel filter but did see this Mahle article about their fuel-prefilters.
https://www.mahle.com/en/news-and-p...-for-diesel-engines-used-around-the-world-390
I don't have the drain hose (I guess it was replaced by the dealer from what I have read). Due to this, I basically drained it into some fluid absorbing pads. The light is back off. I'm going to drain some into a large bottle within the next hour or so to check the fuel quality. I'm kind of hoping it's just the sensor wiring at that tight mounting point.Did you see any water in the drained fuel? Did the fuel look cloudy? If so, you may still have water in the tank. If not, you may have a sensor or wiring issue.
It looks good visually to me too.Fuel looks good. No sign of contamination that I can see:
Thanks. I do have it in my sig It's a 2010, though the dealership had it listed as a 2011. VIN confirms it's a 2010 per my local MB rep.It looks good visually to me too.
I suppose that it is possible that the membrane could have separated out some water even in fuel that looks good. I don't know how much water it takes to trigger the dash light.
If all is running well, then maybe it is a harness or other problem that is triggering the warning.
Did you mention the MY of your Sprinter?
vic
Conclusion:
I have done one of the stupid things.
I originally checked all the fuses under the seat but bypassed the under the steering wheel fuse box.
That was a mistake, imagine my surprise when I got to #17 and found it open circuit/blown fuse.
According to the wiring diagram Fuse #17 just happens to control the Engine control Relay, see attached photo.
I chased a lot of red herrings following codes surrounding a lot of our vans quirks.
I skipped a very basic test and wasted a lot of time.
I assumed a lot of things because of the drivability issue (stumbling, misfire) with the WIF light indicator coming on and the CEL also.
The reading i got from the scanner showed a flat reading of 1.6 lbs/min from the MAF even when the van wasn’t running (should have been 0.0) Actual values range up to 24 lbs/min while driving (my numbers never changed from 1.6lbs/min while driving) This had me chasing my tail. (MAF error being one of the codes)
I believe I did have contaminated fuel. During one of the stumbling/misfire events while driving, something blew that fuse.
The error codes were all related to the Engine Control Relay fuse on my 2003 OM612.
I was able to verify that my wiring was in good shape and I cleaned up the wicking fuel in the wiring loom. (Caused by fuel filter draining over the years onto that section of the wiring loom)
The other lesson is that if the WIF sensor is connected outside the filter, the light should be out. There’s no water to make the connection. (Barring a shorted circuit)
I am happy the problem is resolved and back to code free driving. Thanks for the input.