Water in gas tank -- what to do?

[kjb]

Hi,

On my way to Thanksgiving, my daily driver broke down and was diagnosed as having water in the gas. The shop put some sort of fuel conditioner in the tank and all was well for another 150 miles.

Friday night, the car stuttered to a stop again, luckily only a block away from home. I put another bottle of fuel conditioner in the tank, and the car seems to run fine again.

I still don't trust that I won't get stuck somewhere again (good excuse to drive the 911 to work). Should I pay a mechanic to have the tank taken out and cleaned, or is this a problem that should go away with a few bottles of fuel conditioner?

Thanks for any input,

Johan

[Joeaksa]

Johan,

First, change where you are buying your gas! This is the usual source of bad fuel. One thing to mention is never fuel up your car when there is a tank truck refueling the gas station. When they pump new fuel in the underground tanks it stirs up sediment and crap from the bottom and the chances of bad gas are a lot higher.

Second check your gas cap seal and make sure that water is not getting inside this way.

You might also drain the fuel tank completely and then check the contents. Remember that water in fuel takes up to 8 hours if sitting without moving to be able to check, so drain it out, let it sit overnight in a closed container. Look at it after sitting and if there is any water in the fuel it will be at the bottom.

JoeA

[island911]

water shouldn't be a prob, this time of year. So-called "oxygenated fuels" have ~10% ethanol. Ethanol mixed with water can 'sponge-up' (mix into sol'n) about an equal part of water.

So-called "gas driers" are just ethanol in a bottle at ~50$/gal. .. . used by shops that don't know WTF their doing.

[kjb]

THanks for the feedback, guys!

Well, $5 worth of gas drier got my car back to civiliatation again, which was the best scenario I could have dreamed of after having the car stop in the middle of nowhere the night before Thanksgiving.

My gas tank cap seals well, since I passed the CA smog test last Friday.

Since my Ford does not have a drain plug on the gas tank, I'll need to have the whole tank pulled to drain it. I've decided to have this done tomorrow, since there seems to be too much water in my tank to be sponged up by any gas drier or ethanol in the gas.

Also, I'll stay away from the gas station where I bought the bad tank of gas.

/ Johan