Help with possible water in fuel tank from car wash
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Junior Member
Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 33
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From: Fairfax County, VA
2008 R320, 2002 E320
Help with possible water in fuel tank from car wash
I hate to admit this, but today I filled the tank on the R320, then proceeded to go through a touchless (high powered water jets) car wash with the fuel door and gas cap completely open. We then drove off, no issues just yet. I'm pretty sure some water got in there, but have no idea how much. There's no flapper to prevent spray, it just goes straight into the tank. We drove about 5 miles to get back home after we discovered this, by way of the auto parts store.
So far all I've done is bought a bottle of Diesel 9-1-1 and added the appropriate amount for 20 gallons, hoping it will bind up the water in there. But what can I do to prevent a complete disaster at this point? Do I need to replace the fuel filter? Dump it out? It looks like maybe the fuel filter has a fuel/water separator, or at least a WIF sensor - the core down the center with some kind of screw-top up top, I think this is a "type 01" fuel filter, which I changed out when I got the vehicle about 20k miles ago. What would I do with this - take that whole core out and dump just that out? I see a few videos about Sprinter OM642 engines that have an add-on hose off the filter with a bleeder valve and then you run the fuel pump in key position 2 to bleed the fuel, but I don't think the R320 has this hose. Would I hook a hose to that screw-top on top of the WIF sensor, twist it open, and then try to bleed the fuel? I see nothing online about the point of this screw top.
What kind of problems would I be looking for, and if we had them, for how long should I be looking for them? Would running through a quarter of a tank and then refilling be a good indicator that we survived this accident, regardless of whatever measures I take to try to get the water out?
So far all I've done is bought a bottle of Diesel 9-1-1 and added the appropriate amount for 20 gallons, hoping it will bind up the water in there. But what can I do to prevent a complete disaster at this point? Do I need to replace the fuel filter? Dump it out? It looks like maybe the fuel filter has a fuel/water separator, or at least a WIF sensor - the core down the center with some kind of screw-top up top, I think this is a "type 01" fuel filter, which I changed out when I got the vehicle about 20k miles ago. What would I do with this - take that whole core out and dump just that out? I see a few videos about Sprinter OM642 engines that have an add-on hose off the filter with a bleeder valve and then you run the fuel pump in key position 2 to bleed the fuel, but I don't think the R320 has this hose. Would I hook a hose to that screw-top on top of the WIF sensor, twist it open, and then try to bleed the fuel? I see nothing online about the point of this screw top.
What kind of problems would I be looking for, and if we had them, for how long should I be looking for them? Would running through a quarter of a tank and then refilling be a good indicator that we survived this accident, regardless of whatever measures I take to try to get the water out?
Last edited by doctorroboto; Jan 16, 2023 at 07:32 PM.
