Crap in the fuel?!
 

Ok guys, My truck was plugged like hell, and all the Howes I added just didn't seem to straighten it out, it wasn't even that cold yesterday...so I pulled off the filter to change it, and man I saw something not pretty - small grains of red material, almost like rust particles, very small, and the filter and water sensor had a whole crap load of them in there. It didn't look competely plugged, but there was a significant amount when I dumped the filter... I JUST had my fuel system completely pumped out about 4000miles ago...What the hell could have caused this? Was it bad fuel, or is something in my truck rapidly rusting? :humm: :madd:

sounds like red dye

Rust from the fuel tanks.

Where are you buying fuel? For some reason, diesel has all kinds of vcrap in it, including lots of water. This is why its important to have an aftermarket fuel filter - or at least change your stocker regularily.

The filter was only 5000 miles old, and I buy exclusively at the Flying J in Calgary, I figure they should be the safest place to buy considering the volumes they deal.

Yep... Sounds like rust to me too.

Rust from the underground storage tanks?

Should I just start filling somewhere else?

I buy fuel at Flying J as well. Wherever you buy fuel you have to be real careful and make sure they arent filling their tanks. If they are filling their tanks from a semi - it stirs up all kinds of crap from the bottom of the tank.

Also, just because you are buying fuel from a high volume seller, it doesnt automatically mean you cant/wont get a bad tank of fuel.

Watch out for bio-fuel in the summer. It has all kinds of crap in it.

Bio is way better stuff than the ULSD. B5 is such a good lubricant you don't need to run anything else like PS Diesel Kleen... It shouldn't have crap in it, but then again, pretty much any fuel CAN have crap in it.

OK, so I'm pretty sure it IS rust from the underground storage tanks.

Does anyone have any advice for a cheap filtration system?
I'm going to siphon my tank empty, and then filter it and fill my tank back up. Any ideas for a cheap way to filter my fuel? :c:

Go to Napa and get a clear (or windowed) fuel filter that'll splice in-line with the current fuel filter. You'll be able to see when its gummed up, then just replace it with a new one. You can get them for about $3.50 around here.

Yeah, I would suggest a filter head down on the framerail - but Im not familiar with Chevys. Someone, maybe Danny will chime in with a real answer.

pretty much there about 18 inches of flex hose with quick disconnects that go from the top of the tank to the steel lines that tun all the way up to the engine.

putting something inline there really isnt a quick fix (unless you have a lift pump down there with rubber hoses), and you have to remove the fuel cooler to get to the quick disconnect lines or lower the tank a bit to reach them. but i see in your sig u have an aftermarket tank. best thing to do would be to drop it if you want to make sure that all the rust gets out of it and not into the filter again plugging it up again real quick.

the window filter sounds good, but running all the rust through the system might cause a problem, especially with it running though the ficm

Ok cool, thanks for the tips guys. Fortunately I've got a second vehicle to use right now, but when I get the chance I'll try and rig something up.

After I got my filter back on last night I took it for a quick jaunt and it ran like a brand spankin' new truck again. I haven't had it feel that smooth and powerful since I last had it changed 5000 miles ago.

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PS My bad, I shouldn't have posted this in the distress section, it's not catastrophic :sadnow:

Well, your truck wasn't running too good. At least not enough to attempt going out of town.

Being you got it running again, be safe to close er down??

Yeah, go ahead, thanks Bill!

Welcome!! :U: