Sand in fuel
 

Am I the only guy on this Forum that has had his truck at the dealer ship 3 time in 6 months for fuel contamination. I buy my fuel from a Valero truck stop whose pumps have filters that filter the fuel and are changed every 2 weeks. My truck is back at the dealership and they are finding grit and sand in the fuel filter and are now in the process to tear it down to see if it made it to the injectors. All was replaced in April for same thing. ($8300.00) I cant do this again.
Has anybody had this problem?

did you have your fuel tank cleaned out the first time?

try getting fuel from a different location

1st I think I would quit getting fuel from that station.
2nd I would dig up a receipt from there and take them to court. There should be a number on the pump for the dept of weights and measurements. Call them and get them to investigate.

The fuel company should pay for any and all repairs to your truck (both times).

Well s^*%, they found it all the way to the injectors, grit, sand, metal shavings, hair and paper. This is my third station I have switched to, it is a Valero Truck stop and their pumps even have filters on them.
I have talked to Valero and filed a complaint and I am just waiting for their investigator to call me back. I have solely bought from them in the last 4 mos. (since my truck was in the shop last) and have the credit card receipts to prove it.
They haven't given me an estimate yet and I have called my insurance to see if i can get all or some of this covered under the comprehensive side of it.
They did ask me if I would consider a FASS or AIRDOG and I told them that I was going with the AIRDOG when the warranty ran out because I did not want them to void it. They assured me and told me that neither the FASS or AIRDOG would void the warranty and that they were 1,000 time better than the stock. So I am going to have one overnighted and they will install it when they put everything back together. They will still put a new one in the tank in case I trade vehicles and want to take the airdog with me.

but the lift pump is the least of your worries.

What do you mean? They are also replacing Feed tubes and Injectors, and cleaning the entire fuel system.

How about your CP3?? I would be insisting on that.

If they found all that in your fuel then one of two thing is going on...

1. The dealer is full of it and you have a simple problem and they are trying to jack up the price. (I doubt this but it has happened)

2. Somebody is putting crap in your tank... I cant think of any other way hair and paper would get in your fuel...

I think you may have hit the nail on the head there Bobby.

All the particle we are talking about, you would need a good magnifier to see, and you can put them on paper with clear tape over them and can barely catch them with your nail. They have yet to replace the CP3 and whenever i have talked to them and the 2 other dealerships i have taken my truck to they run a test and tell me the pressure is fine. I would think it would have to be replaced also. But i have yet to get them to.

again, did they clean the tank out?
what about the breather on the top of the tank? wasnt there a recall on the 06+ trucks to extend the breather because of contamination?

How did they know if it was hair, metal, ect if it is that small? I think I would look at a different shop/dealer....

I have some good news, it looks like the insurance is going to pick up the tab for now and it is going to be a whole new fuel system from the tank to the injectors. This includes a new cp3. I am still going to pursue reimbursement from Valero. Also after everything is put back together they are going to check compression on each cylinder to make sure there is no damage there.

They know is hair and metal because they put it under a magnifier so you can see it. They did show it to me so i know it is there. They think some of the metal is from the in-tank pump breaking down/disintegrating from pumping trash. They are going to install my Airdog also and waive the labor.

You also might want to consider a locking fuel cap - you never know someone could be putting crap into your tank just to screw with you.

I am planning a locking gas cap, fuel door and alarm!

I would likw to know howb it got past your fuel filter?
When the lift pump failed , it sent metal shards and cut thru the filter? Somthing seems really odd here!

Yeah, theres NO way that sand should get past a fuel filter. Especially if you have an AirDog.

Im curious, whats happening with this?

Not sure how anything gets past the filter, but i did see it for myself. These were really fine particles that you probably could not feel or see them until it builds up. We were using a magnifying glass. They also showed me a rack in one of the bays where my truck was that had about 40 to 50 glass jars , each half full with diesel fuel. They said that those were samples of fuel they had pulled from peoples tanks that all had some sort of contamination. They said it had been real bad for over a year here in North Texas. One time I took my truck in and the sample they took would not float a hydometer.

I did get the truck back this past Monday. They did replace everything but the tank all the way to and including the injectors. They even installed the Air Dog for me and didn't charge me any extra labor. They also did the 100,000 mi. maintenance, changed the oil, greased all fittings, changed out the front and rear diff. fluids and even washed it, cleaned out the inside and gave me a full tank of gas!!!

All I can say is WOW!!! The truck runs better than it ever has,(which tells me the Injection pump was bad the whole time), and with the AirDog it runs 10 times quieter than I have ever heard it and it idles very smooth. very little vibration.
It is almost as quiet as the new 6.7L. And it seems to have more power. It picks up speed quicker and it is a lot easier to maintain speed on the freeway. I use very little skinny pedal when I hit inclines if at all.

Prior to all this work my overhead never registered over 18.0 and that wasn,t very often and only going down hill with a tail wind, and it would stay around 16.8. This usually hand calculated at each fill up to about 18 to 19 mpg at best. Since i have got the truck back the overhead is steady at 19+ and I have only drove it for 400 miles and not quite half a tank. This should hand calculate to 20+.

I am very pleased right now and cant wait to run a few more tanks through it to see if all this positive stuff stays around!!

Buy your fuel somewhere else eh...

Glad you got it fixed. :c: