i used some fuel from my slip tank after 20 miles my truck stalled then the water in fuel and engine light came on. it started right back up after about 10 secs of cranking and started hesitating until i gave it some pedal.then i opened up the valve at the front of the engine until clear fuel came out. the truck was now running sluggish more so under hard accelaration. i drained the fuel by opening up the same valve and changed the fuel filter.it still is hard to start and running very sluggish the engine light is still on but the water in fuel light is off. where do i start? thanks

need to see what code it tripped, if enough water or other contamination entered to pump in 20 miles to stall it, its possible you've done some internal damage to your pump/injectors. Optic sensors and Fuel Solenoids are particularly sensitive to water contamination, so you need to read the codes and see whats gone wrong, but you really have to drain those tanks out and flush your lines, fill her up with some fresh diesel and see how she runs/ what codes are present.

i am still driving because it is my only vehicle. the water in fuel light came on a few times i opened the valve each time this happened and fueled up a couple times. now the water light doesnt come on anymore but the truck still has only half the power. to drain the tank do i have to pull it out? how to drain lines? also when i checked the codes it gave about three but i cant remember which ones. i will check again tommorow. thanks for the help

I feel for you, I just went through this about 4 mos. ago, and it trashed my IP. Pull the tank, and clean it out or as I will do the next time, pay to have it done. It sucks, and was not very fun, took almost all day. I had to replace my lift pump, very simple to do, and after all of that I added a Fleetguard filter in line to prevent this from happening to me again. Here's hoping you didnt wipe out your IP. Good luck, the guys in here are a real blessing to those of us that don't know a lot about diesels.

So you've run a couple tanks through, and the WIF light is off, but what about the SES light? If both lights are off now, and you've had a couple full tanks through, then you've probably got most of the water out, but there's going to be some sitting in the bottom of your tank because its heavier than fuel. Dropping and flushing tank would be best, otherwise that residing water will get sucked up and cause continual problems and risk of expensive repairs, assuming major damage hasn't already been done. If the truck is permanently in limp mode now...its not looking good for your pump.

yes the engine light is still on and the truck is in limp mode seems to be starting and running a little better. when i drop the tank is there anything specific that i should do or just rinse with fresh diesel and fillup. i will also change the fuel filter at this time (fram). should i flush the lines at this time if so can you explain procedure. thanks

Was the code the low res. fault or cam pulse counter fault? That would indicate the Optical is not reading, tipical for water in fuel, in my case as well.

it gave 2 or 3 codes when i checked it last week but i cant remember which ones but i will check again today

today my truck seems to run a little better but still pretty limp especially at hi rpm and full throttle. these are the codes that i got today. po251 inj pump a rotor/cam problem. po370 timing ref a high res problem. p1216 fuel sol response time too short. tommorow i am going to drop the tank and get it steam cleaned and blow out my lines(is the steam cleaning needed?). also i will change the fuel filter again and fill up with a fresh tank with some injector cleaner. i have 2 treatments, can any body reccomend which one to use. 1. fppf fuel power no harmful alcohal contains glycol ether. 2.dsg canada diesel clean meets l-10 & n-14 specs. i have these choices for a fuel filter gki, hastings, fram, puralator, wix, ac delco which should i use? i am just a begginer to diesel trucks so any input would be grately appreciated thanks guys

Doug man, its not sounding good for the home team here bro. 0251 and 0370 is both pickups on your optic sensor, and problems with your FSOL too.... Are these 'hard' codes or history codes? did you clear them and they come right back? I don't know if tank cleaning will fix it now.

hey, if you will have the tank cleaned out by prof. and flush lines, then if you are under 120k miles on the truck the IP is under warranty. JUST DON"T MENTION WATER.

That's true, the water didn't cause the code 1216 response too short. That's the fuel solenoid. Edited by: quantum mechanic

Yeah, but all I'm saying is don't mention the WIF light and they will repair the IP without problem. You know more about this than I do, I was just suggesting a way to save Doug a bunch of money on his IP.

thats a good point, if your under warranty, flush the tank/lines out good and try to get your free pump. They should honor it as long as there's no blatantly obvious signs of water damage.

truck has 200k miles so ip is not under warranty. my mechanic said he tried clearing the codes but they come right back. he is not a very experianced and only a gas mechanic so i guess it is going to a fuel system shop. i am not very happy right now i just bot the truck 3 months ago. it ran almost like new when i got it. i thought it was the best investment ever ($7000cdn with mods). i guess at that price i can afford a costly repair. if anyone can reccomend a good shop in calgary alberta please post(a few people told me to try gcl fuel systems or harrison diesel. should i still drain the tank? anybody have any other suggestions please post thanks

Draining and cleaning your self will certainly save labor charges, don't know anybody out there. Drain your slip tank too and don't use it anymore ;) Sorry, and good luck.

Do you do much work on your own vehicles? Changing the pump yourself isn't really that big of a job.

Having just done it recently I'll second that. It's worth the $1000-1500 labor you'll save doing it yourself and it's not too bad, just a days work.

i dont know about anybody else, but i use the fram fuel filter. when i went to napa for a fuel filter they wanted over 20 bucks for one. tsc only wants 13 bucks for the fram. but its not really a fram. it has stanadyne stamped right on the bottom of it. i would have to bet that all the brands of fuel filters are really stanadynes in differnt boxes.

can anyone tell me if this is most likely the problem or should i try something else first. i can probably do it myself if someone can tell me how or where to get the info. also where is the pump located? i noticed that my cruise control stopped working when this happened is this because of the check engine light? where can i find a pump for reasonable price? po1216, do i change the fuel solenoid at this time or wait till after the ip? thanks for the help guys. http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Angry.gif

The pump is the heart of the engine and located accordingly. It sits in the lifter valley under the lower intake manifold. Remove the lower intake manifold and it's exposed enough to remove. You have to remove the oilfill and turn the crank to remove the last three bolts, note the placement of the three bolt holes and "key" so you can put the replacement in the same place for installation.


The fuel solenoid is part of the pump.


Cruise doesn't work without the optical sensor and has trouble with fuel solenoid worn out.


Pump will cost you $600-1000 USDEdited by: quantum mechanic

thanks qm. today when i started my truck in the morning it ran very loud. as i started to drive i noticed all my power was back but it was blowing a litle black and was very noisy. all of a sudden after about 10 miles it quieted down and ran terrible. it would hesitate at 1800 rpm and i couldnt get it to go over 2000 rpm. i turned it of and restarted it a few times it ran the same. after a couple more tries it ran noisy for 5 secs then quieted down and did not hesitate any more but now is in limp mode again seems to be running a bit better. does this shed any light on my problem or is still sound like a fuel pump problem? thanks for the feedback qm and tdg

Yes, I went through the same thing with my pump. I was able to make my optical limp along for a week by pulling out the encoder (low res. pickup attached by a wire to the inside the lid of the pump) and cleaning the optical with 99.5% EtOH (ethyl alchol) but my fuel solenoid went out also and it causes it's own problems, so I changed my pump.

I went through the exact same deal this spring. Water is death to the pump. I dropped my tank, had to rebuild the sending unit because the strain of dropping it caused the intake line to leak and suck air. The tank must be cleaned, it has too many peaks and valleys for water to settle in. I started my engine with the tank out using a temp fuel supply and caught the returning fuel separately to clear the lines. However, I had to replace the IP. Clean your tank and lines, change fuel filter, bite the bullet and replace your pump. I'm also going to install a water separator for piece of mind. I feel your pain. The lesson is expensive; always use quality fuel and even then, routinely bleed the filter assembly at the petcock to check for water. Sorry, wish I had better news.

Hopefully your pump is not in terrible terrible shape, make sure and get one exchange, If the water damage is very severe, they may try and charge you a core charge on top of the rebuild.

this evening when i started it while holding the pedal down a inch(i do this so it doesnt start to hesitate and bounce between 600-1000rpm) it started and was running real loud again but i had all the power back. when i take off it has alot of white smoke also when i would accelerate it has a bit of white smoke but had lots of power and was very noisy at idle(didnt do any of this before). when i replace the ip will the very loud rattle and the white smoke go away? or have i damaged something else because i still drive it all day. in limp mode it is very quiet all the time even at idle. where is a good place to buy a pump i only want to spend $700us i have read some people say their ip went again after 30000 miles i want something that is good for 80k+ miles. i think i am going to install a nicktane to prevent this it says on their website 01-04 duramax did not read anything about 6.5td.i guess it probably doesnt make a differance. thanks

I am planning to add a better pre-liftpump water/fuel seperator-filter. I don't care to change another injector pump because of water or bad fuel.

When I had white smoke billowing out the exhaust, my head gasket ruptured about 5 minutes later. White smoke is not a good sign. In fact, are you sure it is white smoke, or just steam?