water in diesel fuel

At 500ppm of water content, #2D fuel is considered clean to ASTM standards. That would be water held in suspension.

At 1000ppm of water then you will have water at the filter drain or in the bottom of the tank.

I would first confirm with a fuel filter sample that in fact you have water present. Just drain off a quart in a test jar and let sit for awhile and if there's water it will settle to the bottom of the container.

If water is present then you need to drain the tank. If the 97' has the electric fuel pump I would use that to drain the tank.

Pick a level spot then I would install a long line off the fuel filter drain into a fuel can, start engine and while at idle, then open the fuel filter drain and pump the tank dry. Careful as at idle it will pump about 1gpm excess into the can so have several cans ready.

When the engine quits then add about 2gal of clean #2D into the tank and then KOEO (key on engine off) every 20sec to pump the remaining 2gal out (line flush).

I would then change the fuel filter, add 5gal of clean #2D, KOEO until fuel comes out of filter drain air free, shut filter drain, start engine. Let idle for about 5min with the drain open until all air is purged and your done.

If you don't have a electric prepump (located on the frame rail at the drivers door area) then drop and clean the tank and install a new filter. Do the prepurge as discribed above.

Take the water contaminated #2 and dump it into a larger container with a 2x4 block on one side then add Howel's fuel additive, let sit, then pump off the clean diesel as the water will collect at the low point.

The Howel additive causes the water to fall out of suspension. Some fuel additives causes the water too stay into suspension, so make sure you get the correct additive.

If you own a vacuum pump you can also use a 55gal (metal) drum and pump the drum to a 25hg vacuum as water will start to boil at 70º under 25hg. At 28.5hg all water is removed from the oil. A old refrigeration compressor works well for a vacuum pump for this use. Depending one the vacuum pump used, it will take about 6hrs to remove the water.

Once the water is out of the fuel, pour it into your tank.

T_Bone

I have driven diesel pickups since 1978, and have only had water in the fuel once, from a gas station with a bad underground tank, on a later model Chevy. I took the tank down, and it was unbelievable the crud that was in there.

Checking the tank in not easy, but for the price of fuel system repairs, it's worth considering.

Generally that's not a problem unless you're in the habit of running around with 1/4 tank all the time. This will produce condensation on the top of the tank. We have two diesels and try to keep the fuel tanks above 1/2 full. If this was a one-time incident, could be you got a "slug" of water from the truck stop--pumping on a near-empty bulk tank. As for draining, besides disconnecting the supply line and draining there, you might have to pull the tank(s). We had to do that on our 6.5 Chevy once, but it was because of bad fuel pumped into the tank. One last thing--I try to bleed the filter on a regular basis and haven't seen the water-in-fuel light come on for either vehcle. Chevy-200K miles and the F350-85K miles.