Yes. On a heavy-duty diesel engine like the Cummins X15, Detroit DD15, Volvo D13, or PACCAR MX-13, a fuel/water separator pays for itself many times over by preventing water from reaching the high-pressure common-rail injectors. Modern injection runs at 30,000+ PSI; water passing through an injector tip at that pressure causes cavitation and microscopic erosion that destroys the tip in tens of operating hours. A single contaminated fuel event without a separator can require replacing all six injectors. The cascade math: roughly $11,000 to install six replacement injectors on an X15 or DD15. A primary water separator and the discipline to drain its sediment bowl at every refuel stop costs under $50 per service interval. The arithmetic is not close.
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