Water in the gas?

[AustinM]

I've got a 93 explorer xlt and it recently started to die on me. It is incredibly random too, it will have a sudden loss of power and then cut out all together. It doesn't do it when there's a heavy load on the engine, normally when it's close to idle. When it does die, sometimes it will start right back up, and other times I will have to sit with it for 1-20 minutes for it to start back up. It'll have a rough idle and fluctuate rpms while it's idling. I just replaced the fuel filter hoping I was having a blockage there, and the gas that drained out doesn't look right, for one it had a bunch of particulates in it, and it also had what seemed like a white sludge or something that settled at the bottom of the glass. I'm thinking from looking at it that there might be water in the gas. Any advice on where to go from here? Can water in the gas cause this kind of stuff to happen? The thing that is irritating to me about this is how random it is and how the severity of it changes. Pictures of the gas are below.

 

[Mbrooks420]

Definitely looks like a separation. Looks like an awful lot though. I’d suspect if you had that percentage of water it’d not run. Try a water removing chemical and see if it improves.

 

[AustinM]

Definitely looks like a separation. Looks like an awful lot though. I’d suspect if you had that percentage of water it’d not run. Try a water removing chemical and see if it improves.

I was going to try and use some heet on it this morning and pray that works.

 

[Mbrooks420]

Could always run it low, siphon as much as you can and then fill it to the top.

 

[AustinM]

Could always run it low, siphon as much as you can and then fill it to the top.

I have over 3/4 a tank and I can't keep it running for long enough to drain it that low I don't think so I would just have so straight siphon it.

 

[Mbrooks420]

That might be tough. I think your tank is similar to the second gens. The filler neck goes in partway down the tank. Could always pull the filter again and pump it out with the fuel pump.