Water in a petrol car

Wig

No-one has mentioned this so far....

If it was my car, I would put a new fuel pump in the tank taken from a scrap yard, while you have the fuel pump off, you can use clean lint free rags (T shirts) to wipe up and remove whatever is inside the tank.

Once you have the tank clean and new fuel pump fitted you will need to fill with petrol and flush the petrol through the fuel pipes with the engine end of the fuel pipes disconnected from the fuel rail. Let the petrol come through and collect in a jar , allow to stand and check for any water (which will collect in the bottom of the jar). BTW you flush the pipes by removing the fuel pump relay and then bridge the two relevant terminals in the fuel pump relay socket, I think you will need to connect the '30' to the '87' You can check by looking at the diagram on the relay itself.

You will still have water in the fuel rail hopefully most of this will be able to flow out when you disconnect the fuel pipes. Reconnect, and then I agree. remove spark plugs and continue to turn over until the fuel is noticeably coming into the cylinders.

Re fit spark plugs & new fuel filter and hope for the best.

I don't think any damage will have been done except contamination as described above.

Wig

Reason you need a new fuel pump is

A) the contamination inside the fuel pump and
the fuel pump has an integral reservoir

so filling the tank without removing and changing or at least cleaning/emptying the fuel pump will be a waste of your time..

Wig

pgilc1 wrote: »

Well, i got two tins of the wynns dry fuel and 5 gallons of petrol.

Drained any water i could from the tank and replaced the fuel filter

Had the battery recharging overnight, and added the petrol and dry fuel

AND....

churn churn churn churn

Going to have to get it to a mechanics at the start of the week.

Will let you know how it pans out.

Thanks for your help so far.

Take that fuel out now and store it before letting the garage have it, there will be nothing wrong with it, but the garage may not let you see it that way.

When you remove it from the vehicle into 5 litre cans or better a 25 litre container, the water will go to the bottom and you can safely pour the petrol into the tank of a working vehicle.

What I did recently (last week actually) I had a 5 litre petrol can contaminated with a small amount of water, I put a funnel into the filler neck on the car and poured petrol from the can into a large glass jar if there was no dirt/water in the jar it went into the tank. Of course the dirt and water remained in the petrol can until the very end (because it sits at the bottom). In the last jar-full from the can the water came out, then I poured the petrol off the top of the jar back into the can to wash out the can some more.

Wig

pgilc1 wrote: »

Car was delivered to my house practically empty - not even registering on gauge. I had what i thought was half a can of petrol in the garage which would get the car the length of the petrol station 5 miles away. Checked contents and it seemed to be petrol - i thought it can only be either petrol or diesel and it smelt very strongly of petrol. It subsequently transpired to be water in a petrol can - with a small percentage of petrol remaining in the can, hence the petrol smell.

Why was there water in a petrol can?

I recenty vowed to make sure if I ever decant something from now on to make sure I date and label what is in the bottle with a permanent marker. I am forever putting oil/flushing oil/antifreeze/diluted antifreeze into containers and not knowing what I have got when I come back to it 6 - 12 months later. But water into a petrol can? That's something I would not normally do.

mikey72

The plugs will still be wet.
I'd crank it with the throttle wide open, to flush as much water out of the bores as possible, and flush petrol through.
The petrol will help dry out the damp plugs, then leave it a few hours, then retry the same method a few times later.

bigjl

The reason for damage to the engine is that even though petrol doesn't compress it does burn and so won't be there when the piston comes back up, if water is injected it will still be there, as it won't burn, it will heat up any become steam though, which will make it expand.

Don't try and start it with the plugs in, take them out and turn it over it till anything in there is gone, personally I would then drain the tank if possible, though I can't remember if the water will float on top of the petrol, though I am sure that I seen an experiment where water and petrol where mixed and the water was on top when they seperated, allowing it to be syphoned off, though somebody that works in a petrol station would know better than me.

Remember that some condensation can be expected to build up in a petrol tank over time.

After making sure no petrol is still in the cylinders, change the fuel filter, put your plugs back in and give it a go.

Don't just add petrol and turn it over as suggested, not worth the risk of bending something or worse the engine getting hydraulic lock.

Though I would never put water in a container designed for fuel, for the very reason you have experienced, with the residual petrol in the can it still smells like fuel when you sniff it.

Hopefully you have got away with it, the only risk factor is how long youtried to start it with the possibility of water being in the bores.

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

pgilc1 wrote: »

Well, i got two tins of the wynns dry fuel and 5 gallons of petrol.

Drained any water i could from the tank and replaced the fuel filter

Had the battery recharging overnight, and added the petrol and dry fuel

AND....

churn churn churn churn

Going to have to get it to a mechanics at the start of the week.

Will let you know how it pans out.

Thanks for your help so far.

Recharge the battery, and do it again. Max 10 seconds per key turn. It won't happen instantly but eventually the fuel will reach the engine. I'm betting you have a fuel pipe full of air. Did you fill the new fuel filter with petrol?

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

bigjl wrote: »

The reason for damage to the engine is that even though petrol doesn't compress it does burn and so won't be there when the piston comes back up, if water is injected it will still be there, as it won't burn, it will heat up any become steam though, which will make it expand.

No it won't, you're talking nonsense. The piston will force water out the exhaust valve, and there's nowhere near enough energy to create any steam - and even if there was, the steam would just go right out the exhaust.

bigjl

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers! wrote: »

No it won't, you're talking nonsense. The piston will force water out the exhaust valve, and there's nowhere near enough energy to create any steam - and even if there was, the steam would just go right out the exhaust.

Actually no, the water is more likely to force the exhaust valve shut, and the engine was running when the water would have been injected, you don't think that the temperatures in a running internal combustion engine are quite high do you, I do.

Have you ever heard of hydraulic lock, the most common case of this was in early DCI Clios, the air intake was very low to the ground, water was drawn up, through the air filter, into the engine, result bang, and no the water wasn't expelled out the exhaust valve in these cases either.

So, actually you are talking nonsense, please feel free to furnish us with your example of a car that ingested water, via the fuel system or induction system in the cylinders whilst running and not been damaged, as I have furnished you with an example that was well known at the time it happened, and yes Renault did try to pas the buck onto owners, even though the depth of the puddle which could cause damage wasn't actually that bad.

And don't mention"oliver" from topgear, though note they did expel any residual water by turning over with the plugs out.

bigjl

mikey72 wrote: »

The plugs will still be wet.
I'd crank it with the throttle wide open, to flush as much water out of the bores as possible, and flush petrol through.
The petrol will help dry out the damp plugs, then leave it a few hours, then retry the same method a few times later.

If petrol will dry the plugs out as you suggest then why would a cars "flood", and the plugs be removed from the engine only to be covered in petrol.

Not common these days, but very common in the days of carbs and a choke.

The fuel system is designed to cope with a certain amount of water, as there will always be some contamination, not much usually but some, hence why condensation sometimes builds up in a car that tends to be driven with only a small amount of petrol in it.