TCBnc

When I get my truck back,,,, If ever???? I'm going to drain it once a week,, ,Plus once a Tank also.

Water in the Fuel ticks me off,,, but not as much as the local Dodge dealer not knowing of this problem and me paying $1100.00 to fix it once and then them calling me the second time and telling me the truck was ready for pickup for the tune of another 1100.00. The guy who worked on my truck said he called STAR twice and nobody told him about this. So it's like some people at STAR know about this and some don't.
I also have to wonder how many people have paid to have their tanks and lines flushed like I did, but will never find out the truth.
I think God for the internet and places like this.
TCB

ed paul

wonder if there would be a way to get ur money back? the problem was cause by their goof-up and was no fault of ur own

TCBnc

ed paul,
I'm working on getting my money back. Once U give it to them it's alot harder to get back. More Red Tape.
TCB

ed paul

i figuired it would be hard to get back,,but $2200. is alot of money,,i wouldn"t give up!,,did u show them the pics?
okay,,,,,now that the problem is out in the open,,,,u would think dc would aleast send out letters to owners to inform them of the problem,,,or maybe a recall,,,rubber hoses would be one of their cheaper recalls,,could be a saftey issue! STALLED IN TRAFFIC isn"t safe
good luck TCB,,hope u get ur money back

ed paul

was just out side checking the nipple thing on my truck,,,the back nipple is the same as the posted photos,,the indentation runs off the side of the tank,,so there appear to be enough drainage so as water wont get in the nipple,,,,,,,,the front nipple on my tank is not down in a indentation,,infact,,the nipple area is raised up higher than the tank, dc must have redesigned it,,,check out my profile for the build date

eswartz

What size tubing/hose is needed to vent this higher up. Is a special type of tubing/hose required, fuel line? Are hose clamps needed or with the barbs on the end of the nipple be sufficient to hold the tubing/hose.

Thanks for any info and thanks for all the photos, that clears it up real well.

Eric

B Proctor

Man I just couldn't believe they left these fittings open to the tank. I played h*ll with "water in fuel" problems on my '95 DC. Was a simple leaking fuel tank push-on connector.

THE DEALER NEVER COULD FIND & FIX PROBLEM.

Everytime there was water on the road I had a WATER IN FUEL light on!!! I fought that problem every time it rained on the interstate. No problem just running around locally, only in high speed with long run times. Water spray from the tires would accumulate ON TOP of the fuel tank and get into the fuel system. So take it for what it's worth, if something is left to chance then ....

I plugged the forward vent and made up a simple vent hose for the rear. I checked both fittings and believe that neither one use's p/u pipes, (tank full of fuel, blow through fitting, no bubbeling). I didn't plug off both tank fittings because I looked a the fuel cap and it is "checked" for vacume, not pressure.

Don't think for a second that water won't get in through those open fittings. I'ts a hurricane effect going on under your vehicle driving at 70 mph in the rain.

It's a easy fix to do with no need to drop the tank and would be worth it for peace of mind.

dchat

I am glad I found this thread. I have the same problem. My truck was in a flood back in May 2004, water went over top of fuel tank, I took to dealer and they replaced all the fluids and said only $1407 damage, my ins paid. Come to find out they never droped my fuel tank and drained the fuel. Now my truck started running bad last week I took it to a different dealer and this is the email they sent me as to what they found:

Due to water passing from the fuel tank, through the fuel lines, through the pumps and through the injectors the vehicle is now not running correctly. It has a bad knocking noise from the engine and also the engine is missing very badly. Since the vehicle has been in water it is possible that water can leak into the fuel tank through the vents at each end of the tank and would be passed through the system from there. Since the vehicle was in enough water to cover the top of the tank we <Royal Chrysler> would have removed the fuel tank for inspection. Here is an estimate for repairs to the vehicle. Also we <Royal Chrysler> have never seen injector tubes this rusty from normal moisture in the fuel system.

Total cost to repair = 6365.00

I called up the original dealer that neglected to drop my tank and they said there is no way water can get in the tank since its sealed, I begged to differ with the service mgr but he said he can't help me and I will have to try and get my insurance company to fix. I have the original invoice showing what they did and I think dodge should fix this truck for free. I am very upset. I will be showing all this excellent data everyone posted to the dodge dealer ( or my lawyer) if they won't fix. My truck has been down for 8 days, I am waiting on insurance adjuster to inspect truck but I want to burn the original dodge dealer on this one becasue they screwed this one up!

TCBnc

ed Paul,,,
I think this is a long bed issue, because from what I read on a long bed Diesel they use a gas tank. They use a different tank on the short bed which is what you have from your Sig. at the bottom under your posted message. Hope that helps.
TCB

B Proctor

Mine's a short bed 2500 and I had the open fittings.

ed paul

might be good to put hoses on no matter which tank u have huh?

TDIwyse

I've got the short bed and checked mine last night. The vent tubes locations are a bit different than the long bed pictures shown previously as there is no way standing water could cover the openings (the front one is on a high spot where water would roll off, and the rear has a grooved trench that would drain water off). However, they were not capped either. So I used some plastic tubing and routed it down between the heat shield and the tank just to be safe. I'ld actually like to cap the ends to minimize the breathing effect of the tank as the fuel cools down and pulls atmospheric air (i.e. humid air) into the tank when the truck is off and sitting overnight.

dchat

Mine is a long bed. The tank is currently dropped from my truck and the vent resides below the recess. It would definitely let water in. I think this is a design flaw. Since mine was in the flood in May 2004 I have a sneaking suspicion that enough water got in the tank to destroy the WIF sensor. That would explain why I did not get any WIF warning light the last 7 months. I am still perplexed why the truck never exhibited any signs of water in the fuel, ie: missing or bad mileage or some kind of symptom until 8 months later. As the dealer stated they have never seen rust accumulation inside the injector tubes like this before.


2003 HO 2500, 6spd, slt B&W turnover, long bed.

natstayl

OK so I was curious, I rolled under my 2003 to check the top of the tank. I have a short bed with the standard 34 gallon tank. My tank looks nothing like Welder's pic so I'm assuming his has the 36 gallon tank? Although mine has the black and white nipples without hoses, they're mounted on a mound instead of an indention which would explain why water is not a problem with mine. So I'm wondering if the problem is limited to the larger 36 gal tanks. Mine sounds just like TDIwyse's tank.
Nat

TAS05CTD610

Guys/Gals wanted to post an update. I looked under mine, on the 05 year. The front 90 degree fitting has a short piece of hose comming off of it, but is still angled down (if by some very hard means water got in the tube it would still go down) so I looped mine up, and then down to the fill hose, so at least if you put the end in water, it couldn't go up over the loop. On the tail end I just ran a piece of tube off the top down around behind the steel heat sheld and it actually holds the but in place. Dodge has seem to fixed the front one, now what about the back one?