That wrecked fuel pump outside Amarillo taught me a hard lesson about water separators

I was hauling a load of cattle feed from Lubbock to Amarillo back in August when my truck started stumbling around mile marker 78. Pulled over and found water in the fuel sample I took from the separator. Turns out the drain valve on my Racor had been seizing up for months and I kept putting off replacing it because it was a pain to reach. Ended up stuck at a shop in Bushland for two days while they replaced the injectors and cleaned the whole system. Cost me about $1,400 plus lost time on the load. Now I replace those drain valves every year without fail and check the separator every morning before I roll. Anyone else had a water-in-fuel issue that cost them more than just a quick drain?

2 comments

2 Comments

robert6418h ago

That $1,400 bill at Bushland - did the shop give you a hard time about it being "preventable" or were they decent about it?

chen.james18h ago

Oh man, that reminds me @robert64, my buddy took his Ford to a dealer once for what he thought was a simple fix and walked out $2k lighter lol. Bushland sounds like they were decent if they didn't give you grief about it being preventable, but $1,400 is still brutal either way.