The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

Has anyone experience with what tolerance older tractors have for diesel that has absorbed water? In my work here we had a 1000 liter road tanker that sat for several months, when we used some it caused a Hilux vehicle to need workshop time to bleed clean fuel through. Some forums claim older tractors have a better tolerance. I have pumped the affected diesel into 200 L barrels and my employer says I am welcome to it.
Opinions?

I don't know if there is more tolerance for water, but I would definitely want to avoid water getting in anyway. I would drain that fuel slowly to avoid the water getting in, other than that I would go for it, and the water affected stuff can be used for other things. I suspect that Hilux took just about all the water anyway, as the water will sink to the very bottom of the tank. I would definitely get that if I were ever offered it, as then we wouldn't need to get any more for a very long time.
Sandy

Sounds sensible advice, the outlet for the tanker is as you would expect, at the bottom so the water would feed through first.

Slightly off topic but I've seen quite a lot of FB posts about E5 and E10 petrol affecting small engines as the Methanol additive affects older fuel lines. The idea is you add a litre of water to five litres of E grade petrol and as the Methanol is Hygroscopic it separates out of the petrol and goes into the water. If you use a clear container you can carefully then syphon off the top neat petrol and use that happily! IMHO
Cheers
Jerry

Handy trick to know, although we're all right in that sense at the moment.
Sandy

When re-fueling E27N Paraffin tractors from cans we used a fine funnel which wouldn't let water through. Are they still available. Would diesel get through the gauze?

I have a filter funnel made by "Mr Funnel" in the USA but they must be available in the UK as mine is marked £54 ex VAT !!! and yes it will filter out water from diesel and no I didn`t buy it I inherited it from a friend.
I would be inclined to siphon off the top 170 litres of a 200 L barrel and filter or bonfire the last 20 or 30 litres. A more likely problem with old diesel containing water is that it will have developed bacteria that clog up diesel lines and filters. You may also inherit all the s..t from the tank that held the diesel previously but if its free I`d give it a go..