The other day I filled the camper up with standard unleaded E5 from a well used Shell petrol station. (I have recently had all my fuel lines and filler tube changed to ethanol safe). About a day or so later the camper was running terribly. Down on power, kept missing, felt like it was misfiring and really didn’t think I’d get home. So back to the VW engine resto place (LVH - they are awesome), they pulled the top Off the carb and there was water in it ( you could clearly see it when you rocked the bus). They fitted a glass bowl fuel filter before the carb (I now have 2 filters inline) and it appears to be running great. I’m keeping an eye on the glass bowl for water and made the decision to only use super (this maybe daft and a waste of money, but hey ho) Anyone else had issues like this before Cheers Bod Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This problem has been around as long as petrol has been stored in underground storage tanks, made worse by panic buying. At the bottom of the storage tank there is all the rain, condensation and possibly ground water that has got into the tank. Because you bought the dregs of the storage tank, from the low sales volume E5 rather than the faster moving E10, you got water mixed up with the fuel. Dont buy fuel from that garage again, and consider buying E10 as it doesnt spend as long sitting in the storage tanks.... It could have been diesel and much more expensive .. Its why on my boat I have a water separator - basically the glass bowl from a filter assembly but without a filter - the fuel filter is on the engine. I can see the water build up and drain it with a tap at the bottom of the separator. On my boat it got to the point the fuel filter filled with water and the boat would stop after rocking on a wave, but restart immediately . This was more likely condensation in the fuel tank, although the marina fuel berth also sold very wet petrol - it destroyed the FI systems on our outboard motors at the sailing club, we now use Tescos as they use up their stored fuel faster.
Its alright any fool can can fix water in the carb. Turn it upside down.. ... but I would drain the tank through a water separator to get the water out of the tank too. Then use the fuel quickly.
If there is water in the fuel, I’d drain the tank. I can’t see what fitting another fuel filter will do.
The glass bowl filter acts as a nice water separator that lets you see how much water it has collected. When it goes milky you know you have fuel bug too... Quite a good idea if water in fuel from a garage is a likely problem.
They or he? If you’ve read TLB since you’d joined, you’d know the problems some have had. What engine do you have and what has LVH done for you?
Thank you all for the heads up. I did actually try to search for LVH on here but i cant as the search string is too short I have a Type 4 2L with twin carbs, they have done some general maintenance jobs for me (I struggle with somewhere to work on my van) also things like replaced the fuel filler pipe, changed to electronic points, fixed the fuel breather pipes (one was cut off and squashed (behind the spare wheel) , replaced some vacuum hoses, set up the carbs Can you recommend anyone in the north east for future stuff thanks Bod
It isn’t easy to search and many of the threads don’t mention the actual name so you need to know who it is. If you’re happy with LVH doing general maintenance jobs you might not find anyone else any better nearby. He used to post on TLB several times a day and years ago was well respected but things went wrong, and for some, very wrong.
Search mine and @Razzyh threads on here to do with engines, Oh and have a look a @paradox bust resto thread.
