| plastikman8 |
New to this forum, searched to no avail...
Please forgive the length!
Last Wed we got hit with a wet snow storm. I got my Legacy stuck in about 18" deep "wet concrete" snow. My wife had to bring the Pilot to help shovel (I Love my wife BTW!). My check engine light came on (I figured wet sensor somewhere...I was right.) Her CEL also came on, thought the same thing, though she wasn't that deep in the slush. She then drove 30 miles to work on all highway and her CEL and VTM-4 lights started flashing at a stop light in town and the truck died!
Had AAA tow it on a flatbed to the Honda Dealer to figure it out. Apparently HALF of what remained in the fueltank (so she had about 1/16th of a tank of water, she always runs it well into the fuel light)
They dropped the tank and flushed it and the lines out, and put about a 1/4 of a tank of gas in. $200...
She drove 30 miles to a 4-way stop, turned left and her CEL light flashed and then stayed on. It ran fine though.
She took it back in two days later and they asked where she fueled up this time the fuel is all brown and there is crap floating in it. It was still the 1/4 tank that they had put in the other day! They told her for another $200 they could drop the tank again, or we could just put a can of Seafoam in to see if that helps. Oh yeah the CEL code is a misfire, don't have the exact code yet though.
2 questions:
how the hell does she get THAT much water in the tank. Remember that gas floats on water and she had run an entire tank before hitting the water.
Where could the crap floating in the tank come from? I fear a leak in the system is letting contaminant in from the road. You would think that the service department would have noticed this when they dropped the tank though.
BTW our dealer is VERY reputable...if that means anything anymore.
Thanks,
Nic |
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| sjlee |
If your wife didn't fill up after they "fixed" it the first time, I'd have them drop it again for free. There's no reason for you to pay again, since they didn't fix it the first time around.
If there is a leak letting contaminants in, then I'd expect fuel to be leaking out as well. |
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| tfrain |
You paid them to fix it already. $200 is a bunch of cash to drop a tank and clean it out. I suspect they just cleaned the tank and did NOT flush out the lines. There is a return line that could have had crap in it and if they didn't flush it out it would have all returned to the tank. Be an ass and tell them to fix it right or you'll go to the BBB, call Honda America, etc.
They should have checked it but there is more than likely a couple of vent tubes somewhere on top of the tank - make sure they are actually there. |
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| e2e |
This has happened to me before (not with my Pilot). I doubt if there's a problem with your gas tank -- the problem is probably with a load of bad gas you purchased the last time you filled up. The underground tanks at gas stations sometimes get water in them, and if you happen to fill up when that underground tank is unusually low, you end up pumping water and sediment into your car. Technically, the gas station should be liable for the repairs, but it might be hard to prove.
I agree with the other posters that the dealer should have cleaned everything out properly the first time. I don't know if the Pilot has an in-line fuel filter or not, but if it does, that would be another item to replace. |
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| tangotango99 |
quote:
Originally posted by e2e
This has happened to me before (not with my Pilot). I doubt if there's a problem with your gas tank -- the problem is probably with a load of bad gas you purchased the last time you filled up. The underground tanks at gas stations sometimes get water in them, and if you happen to fill up when that underground tank is unusually low, you end up pumping water and sediment into your car. Technically, the gas station should be liable for the repairs, but it might be hard to prove.
I agree with the other posters that the dealer should have cleaned everything out properly the first time. I don't know if the Pilot has an in-line fuel filter or not, but if it does, that would be another item to replace.
May I suggest to skip a gas station when ever you see a gas tanker filling the underground tanks in the station. |
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| blb66 |
I used to work on a gas station and the gas tanks, holding gas use to have ¼ to ¾ inch of water in the tank, so that gas doesn't leaks in the ground. Water levels were monitor on a regular basis and whenever the level was close to an inch, it was brought down to ¼ ~ ½. The gas pumping motor is about 1 ~ 2 feet above ground inside the holding tank and if the water levels are high enough, it will suck water due to swirling action.
Try using dry gas on a regular basis when filling you'r SUV (every 4th fill-up should do it). Dry gas will absorb water and keeps the gas tank free of water. Hope this helps.
-BB |
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| weewu |
| what is dry gas i never heard of this before. |
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| N_Jay |
quote:
Originally posted by weewu
what is dry gas i never heard of this before.
Where do you live and how long have you been driving?:D :D
Any auto parts store, hardware store or even Walmart should have it.
It is Methyl alcohol. |
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| A6Pilot |
The best product to flush small quantities of water is any product that contains isopropanol, not methyl alcohol. Methyl alcohol will combine with water, but not with fuel. Isopropanol will combine both with the fuel and the water. Iso Heat is the brand name for this product.
Not a bad practice to put a bottle of Iso Heet in your tank in October, and February. That way you minimize the possibility of fuel system icing during the winter.
See this. |
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| N_Jay |
quote:
Originally posted by A6Pilot
The best product to flush small quantities of water is any product that contains isopropanol, not methyl alcohol. Methyl alcohol will combine with water, but not with fuel. Isopropanol will combine both with the fuel and the water. Iso Heat is the brand name for this product.
Not a bad practice to put a bottle of Iso Heet in your tank in October, and February. That way you minimize the possibility of fuel system icing during the winter.
See this.
Oops, guess I was wrong.
Seems it is either ethanol based or isopropyl based.
Since almost every area has some alcohol mixed with the gas these days it is usually not needed on a regular basis as it was in the past, |
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| plastikman8 |
Update:
I followed the Honda service advice and used Seafoam additive (works wonders in my snowblower and mover, why not.) The Pilot is running flawlessly again. For quite a few tanks worth. Also put it into my Legacy and actually gained a few MPG...could be the warmer weather though...
As for the Ethanol, 10% is all that has ever been run in it (My wife owns ethanol stock...) so we don't use Heet.
Thanks for all of your advice!
Nic |
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| bengelking |
| Great point on not filling up when the tanker is there. I have a friend that works at a station locally and he said that when the tanker is filling the tanks underground, all the "crap" gets stirred up and has a better chance of making it to your gas tank. |
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| sjlee |
quote:
Originally posted by bengelking
Great point on not filling up when the tanker is there. I have a friend that works at a station locally and he said that when the tanker is filling the tanks underground, all the "crap" gets stirred up and has a better chance of making it to your gas tank.
Don't all the pumps have filters to prevent that? |
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| nvasquez269 |
quote:
Originally posted by plastikman8
Update:
I followed the Honda service advice and used Seafoam additive (works wonders in my snowblower and mover, why not.) The Pilot is running flawlessly again. For quite a few tanks worth. Also put it into my Legacy and actually gained a few MPG...could be the warmer weather though...
As for the Ethanol, 10% is all that has ever been run in it (My wife owns ethanol stock...) so we don't use Heet.
Thanks for all of your advice!
Nic
Hello and sorry to bother you but i am in the process of buying seafoam, I also too heard good things about it, my question is where does it go, my understanding is that you need to pour about half or less through the manifold, i just want to make sure how did you go about doing this job. thank you and i will really appreciate your response. |
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| N_Jay |
quote:
Originally posted by nvasquez269
Hello and sorry to bother you but i am in the process of buying seafoam, I also too heard good things about it, my question is where does it go, my understanding is that you need to pour about half or less through the manifold, i just want to make sure how did you go about doing this job. thank you and i will really appreciate your response.
Just put some Techron or any other name brand fuel system cleaner and don't worry about it.
"Top End" cleaners dumped down the carb throat are old school. |
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| nvasquez269 |
| thank you for replying. the only reason why i was asking about this product was because i have try other, just like you suggested, but i don't feel the engine responding, so that's why i looked into this product and is supposed to really works. thank you. |
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| N_Jay |
quote:
Originally posted by nvasquez269
thank you for replying. the only reason why i was asking about this product was because i have try other, just like you suggested, but i don't feel the engine responding, so that's why i looked into this product and is supposed to really works. thank you.
You could have a bad injector or other problem. These products are not magic.
All they are is is oil and solvent.
Look up the Material Data Sheet (MDS) and you can see most of what is in it. |
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