Water in Gas

sucanache · Post by **sucanache** » 14 Feb 2018, 10:02

My 08 S80 quit - would try to crank and sometimes would but then would bog down and die. Codes read multiple cylinder misfire. Took fuel rail off and liquid poured out, part of which evaporated like normal gas and clear "bubbles" of liquid remained. I am thinking water. Blew out rail and reinstalled. Will crank and run with some misses. Will products like Heet clear this up? Our temps have been from single digets to very humid mid 60's so I am thinking condensation.

Post by **Rattnalle** » 14 Feb 2018, 12:56

Adding ethanol in some way will probably get rid of it in a less noticeable way than the current one. It'll mix evenly with the ethanol and burn without making a fuss. If you have access to petrol that's part ethanol a few litres of that will do the trick.

sucanache · Post by **sucanache** » 15 Feb 2018, 16:40

Thank you!

crlande · Post by **crlande** » 15 Feb 2018, 18:00

Ethanol (E10) blended gas at the pumps is the problem. Ethanol attracts water so if your tank is less than full you have moist air in rest of tank space.

Post by **Rattnalle** » 15 Feb 2018, 22:38

crlande wrote: ↑15 Feb 2018, 18:00 Ethanol (E10) blended gas at the pumps is the problem. Ethanol attracts water so if your tank is less than full you have moist air in rest of tank space.

Condensation will form either way to some degree. Less if the tank is kept mostly full. But water and ethanol is soluble so the water can go somewhere in a controlled fashion a little at a time.

But sure it means there can be water in the stuff to begin with as well since it will be mixed with condensation from tanks along the way as well.

Over here I barely think they sell gas with less than 5% ethanol except for boats and stuff where it might be sitting in a tank for months unused.

Post by **mrbrian200** » 16 Feb 2018, 07:29

How do vehicles that run on E85 deal with this problem?

I've seen water in my fuel filter-- one time last summer I disconnected and poured the contents of the filter into a glass jar. From the amount of water observed in the bottom of the jar it would seem that the bottom half of the filter below the inlet/outlet was full of water. For all I know, the bottom half of the filter is normally full of water 365.

Post by **June** » 16 Feb 2018, 08:10

I understand ethanol absorbs the water allowing it to pass. I do know acetone mixed with water alone will run a car engine no gasoline. I saw it on a tv program. On Coast to Coast radio program a good 15 years ago a guest stated that by adding a small amount af acetone to each tank will boost fuel economy, keep system cleaner, and remove moisture from tank. You may want to do a Google search about acetone added to gas. June

sucanache · Post by **sucanache** » 19 Feb 2018, 05:49

After taking off the fuel rail and dumping the water, etc. out, I reinstalled it and the car ran ok for a few minutes, with some misses, Now back to the same as it was. I have added a can of Heet. Planning to repeat the removal, dump process today. any suggestions beyond that? Can I take the rail off, put tubing on the gas line and use the fuel pump to pump some of the contaminated gas out of the lines/tank?

Post by **Rattnalle** » 19 Feb 2018, 06:56

The pump will do it for you if you just turn the ignition to 2 and put a tube in a good place, yes.

Heet seems to be mostly expensive methanol which does the same thing as adding ethanol. But if you have a lot of water, enough to make the var run poorly, I'm guessing you'd need a lot more to really make a difference.

sucanache · Post by **sucanache** » 19 Feb 2018, 07:02

Thank you!