My tank was at about half, and I fueled at a different station. About 200 miles later, the water in fuel message pops up. Tried to bleed the water separator and got a couple of drops out. Did this 4 or 5 times, and got only drops each time. Put in about 12 oz of Power Service 911, and all seems OK. Decided to run tank down before refueling, and at about 400 miles, truck starts running rough and starts quitting. The filter had less than 5k miles on it, but I changed it out anyway. Dumped the filter into a clear container, and after a while, about an once of water separated out. Installed new filter and bled, and truck starts right up and runs great; no problems. The big question: do I have to drop the tank and flush it out? Or should I try to syphon out what's left and just refill with fresh fuel? Also, been thinking of inquiring at the station where I last fueled to see if anyone else had problems, but he probably wouldn't say anyway. Am thinking that if the water came from there, it would have showed up right after fueling, not wait 200 miles. Any ideas? Thanks.

It kind of depends on your level of paranoia. I do not know how much water a bottle of 911 will remove.
If that one ounce of water is representative of the fuel in the tank, you have about 5 percent water in your fuel. Knowing that water will sink to the lowest part of the tank, you might try to siphon out the water in that area, and refill with fresh fuel. Otherwise, you will have to drain and flush the tank.
In the past, I just have not been very lucky, and ended up draining the tank.

If there was still water in the tank, wouldn't the water in fuel message come on again? Anyone else have any advice? Thanks.

The message would only come on if the water setteled out in the bottom of the filter. If the water remains in the bottom of your tank, all is OK. At least until it is deep enough to be sucked up by the fuel pickup.

This is the first hint of water trouble, and it happened when the tank was more than half full. The tank is probably less than a third now, and I haven't gotten the message again. Wouldn't the water show up again if there was alot in the tank, and the fuel level was that low?

Any techs want to jump in? Thanks.

Can one drill and tap the lowest point of the tank and install a plug so draining the tank would be quite easy?

If you have the time and energy to drop your tank, the knowledge gathered is well worth it.

I can tell you from my go around with tank removal, the factory pickup gets it's fuel from the absolute very bottom of the tank. If you run your fuel level below 1/3rd tank on the guage you are gauranteed to be sweeping the bottom of the tank.

So to think you fuel tank is harboring lots of sediment and debris on the bottom is a misnomer in most circumstances. I had once considered a bottom drain, but do to the tank being plastic it is difficult to install a reliable drain.

Now I am glad I never did. It is not nessacary. If you want to clean your tank, run some additve and bring your fuel level down to the yellow light. Your tank will be clean.

Alage is another story all together. Tank removal would be required.

BTW if siphoning is still of interest to you, park your truck so that is is facing slightly down hill. Install just enough hose to get past your filler neck by about 1 foot.So I would guess 3 feet of tube would put you right into the bottom front corner of the tank. One concern I have with siphoning is damaging the factory fuel gauge or fuel gauge wires. It could happen.

Thanks to hannaco, Doug, and Bronco for taking the time to respond. My latest thoughts were pretty much what Bronco had suggested. Dump some more PowerService 911 in and run the tank as close to empty as possible and stay close to home. I never thought that syphoning would be risky, just thought it would be smarter than running questionable fuel. Is the yellow light mentioned a low fuel warning? Never had it that low. Is it wishful thinking to surmise that if the truck is running OK at this point that the water that was picked up earlier when the tank was at 1/2 might be all that was in there? And that the 911 and the filter change had taken care of it? I also had thoughts about installing a drain plug, but was unaware that the tank was plastic, although that actually might make the install easier. I quess I don't understand why that might not be necessary; seems like a much better option than dropping a tank. I might still be back to what level of paranoia I'm comfortable with. Thanks again.

The yellow light is the low fuel warning. Just be close to a fuel supply or you might be stranded. Mine comes on with exactly 3 gallons left over.


I would go easy on the 911. It has alot of alchol and is for emergency only. Try some of there regualr additive. It disperses small amounts of water.

Assuming the water is at the very bottom rather than all stirred up, it will be sucked up by the factory pickup. If the water is all stired up, running the tank down to the yellow light a few times will suck it all up eventually. So either way the water is coming out.

You can siphon, just take a look under the truck at the filler neck length, this way you avoid feeding 5 or 6 feet of extra siphon hose into your tank. Thats when you could get in trouble. The chances are slim but possible.

I've changed the filter and treated with more additives, and am trying to run the tank down. So far, no more problems. Any opinions from the techs? Thanks.