Water in my Gas Tank..

[chinee]

Showed my intelligence tonight... went thru the car wash with the gas cap off and lid wide open. Water MUST have gotten into the tank, but there were no symptoms or problems in the three miles it took to get home.

Should I expect problems? Is there an additive to remove water from the tank? Anu suggestions anyone?

The Sequioa is my wife's daily driver, and I'd hate for her to get stranded on the tunrpike. How concerned should I be that there may be water in the gas tank? What sort of problems can I expect?

 

[Blue99]

Here, in the cold, snowy & windy midwest, the solution would be to buy a couple yellow bottles of Heet and add it to the gas tank. Heet is largely isopropanol alcohol and absorbes/combines with the water.

Possibly call an Auto Zone/Advanced Auto parts store & ask if they carry a water absorber product?

If not, many marine dealers will carry a water absorber such as the "Starbrite" brand.

Usually , the symptons of water in the gas are rough idle & stumbling at accleration, feels like the engine is trying to tear itself "loose" from the motor mounts.

 

[dwendt44]

Not sure that the yellow bottle of HEET is isopropyl; I'm sure the red bottle is.
Add gas dryer then fuel up to mix it well.

 

[psudaytona]

Yellow Heet is methyl (methanol) alcohol. The red bottle is iso alcohol.

Cheaper way is to buy the supertech premium gas line antifreeze. Same as the red heet, just a bit cheaper. Add a bottle or 2. If it causes severe problems though, I would suggest siphoning the gas and water mix out. Most likely it will just hurt your mileage for a little while. Hopefully only a few ounces got in there at most.

Best of luck.

 

[erikelvis]

good time to try some FP60

 

[Doc8404]

any good gasline antifreeze will work...and if you have 10% ethanol like we do in NY (in our lousy fuel) you won't need that either.

 

[doctorr]

Wish you were right, Rob, but any significant water in a 10% blend will make a bad situation worse - the ethanol gloms onto the water and separates out.
Now your pump is picking up 100% watery alcohol.....been there, T-shirt aquired.
.
.
doc

 

[chinee]

Guess I'll be heading over to Advanced Auto this morning. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[babyhuey]

redline makes rl 2{?},only purpose is water removal.It works well,a bit expensive but better than dropping tank.I used to use it in bikes and trucks that would sit for a while to get rid of condesation.

 

[Doc8404]

Quote:

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Wish you were right, Rob, but any significant water in a 10% blend will make a bad situation worse - the ethanol gloms onto the water and separates out.
Now your pump is picking up 100% watery alcohol.....been there, T-shirt aquired.
.
.
doc

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hmmmm, i got the advice from this site when i said i was running HEET.
was told in NY i didn't need it since we have 10% ethanol.

 

[Blue99]

Quote:

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Not sure that the yellow bottle of HEET is isopropyl; I'm sure the red bottle is.

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Quote:

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Yellow Heet is methyl (methanol) alcohol. The red bottle is iso alcohol.

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Yep, you guys were both pretty quick to get that straightened out.

Yellow bottle is methanol, red bottle is isopropyl.

Both products are listed together on the MSDS list I viewed - just didn't read far enough to realize that I had them mixed up.

 

[Blue99]

Quote:

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hmmmm, i got the advice from this site when i said i was running HEET.
was told in NY i didn't need it since we have 10% ethanol.

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The key word is significant water contamination, as the ethanol in E10 gasoline will readily absorb water until the point at which "phase separation" occurs and a puddle of alcohol & water forms at the bottom of the tank.

E10 gasoline is good for normal gas tank condensation, not good if say, a red 5 gal gas can is left out in the rain with the fill cap off - the story related to me last summer by an acquaintance with a lawn care business who suddenly was buying 2 new string trimmers!