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Diesel fuel in a gas car, any permanent damage....

bandit67

bandit67

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Somebody my brother works with put between 1 to 2 gallons of diesel fuel in their car before they caught it. He ask me if they filled up the tank , a 12 gallon tank, would it burn thru with no long term problems. I am not sure what all would be effected. Will the computer alter timing in order to burn it, will the catalytic converter stop up, will one get some trouble codes. I ASSUME the diluted mixture would be pumped thru the injectors as usual, but not sure of any long term troubles....anybody know about this....thanks....
 
Hell, I totally filled up a 76 Dodge Colt once with diesel. Got about a half a mile from the station when it nosed over and smoked like hell and quit lol. Luckily, the tank had a drain on it and filled it up with gas and kept on....Colting.
It should keep on running with only a couple of gallons of diesel fuel and topped off with gas. Might smoke some and if it's a newer car with a cat on it, the cat won't like it.....
 
A long time ago in the 50's we were on a Family trip to visit relatives in the South. My Father stooped for gas and the attendant filled us up with diesel. We started to leave the station and the owner came running out and stopped us. Told Dad what was up, pushed the car onto a rack, trained it completely, filled it with some gas and shook the car to agitate it and then drained it again. Filled it all up to full and closed everything up. No charge for any of it as the owner ate the cost of the inadvertent fill of diesel fuel. No problems with the rest of our trip so based on that experience I remember as a youngster, mu answer is absolutely no!!! Drain it, flush it, and then fill again and he should be good to go...cr8crshr/Bill:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::usflag::usflag::usflag:
 
See it all the time. It can plug the fuel filter, foul the plugs, damage the cats. I have seen it hydro cylinders on direct-injected engines.
In your case, two gallons maybe not. Is it running okay? If so, I would not worry. Just top it off every day.
If it is running bad....drain it.

Edit- top it off with high octane.
 
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Old carbureted vehicles were more forgiving about diesel... Fuel injector nozzles can't pass diesel fuel at the pressure provided by a gas fuel system.... Back in 94 I got a 4 cylinder truck in my stall that was barely running on two cylinders.. Customer didn't mention anything about what he'd done... I initially diagnosed it with two bad injectors & replaced them under warranty... The next day it was back on a hook... And I figured out the real problem... Dropped the tank & there was probably a quart of diesel mixed with sixteen gallons of gasoline.... Replaced all four injectors, both filters & flushed the tank/lines.... This time it was customer pay & he wasn't happy..... In the end I think his insurance picked up the bill....
 
cr8crshr said:
A long time ago in the 50's we were on a Family trip to visit relatives in the South. My Father stooped for gas and the attendant filled us up with diesel. We started to leave the station and the owner came running out and stopped us. Told Dad what was up, pushed the car onto a rack, trained it completely, filled it with some gas and shook the car to agitate it and then drained it again. Filled it all up to full and closed everything up. No charge for any of it as the owner ate the cost of the inadvertent fill of diesel fuel. No problems with the rest of our trip so based on that experience I remember as a youngster, mu answer is absolutely no!!! Drain it, flush it, and then fill again and he should be good to go...cr8crshr/Bill:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::usflag::usflag::usflag:
Click to expand...
Heck, didn't even flush that tank on the Colt.....

1 Wild R/T said:
Old carbureted vehicles were more forgiving about diesel... Fuel injector nozzles can't pass diesel fuel at the pressure provided by a gas fuel system.... Back in 94 I got a 4 cylinder truck in my stall that was barely running on two cylinders.. Customer didn't mention anything about what he'd done... I initially diagnosed it with two bad injectors & replaced them under warranty... The next day it was back on a hook... And I figured out the real problem... Dropped the tank & there was probably a quart of diesel mixed with sixteen gallons of gasoline.... Replaced all four injectors, both filters & flushed the tank/lines.... This time it was customer pay & he wasn't happy..... In the end I think his insurance picked up the bill....
Click to expand...
94....wasn't that before the diesel became almost gas?? I know the sulfur was pretty much pulled out after that point so maybe it won't be a problem for a newer car......?
 
bandit67 said:
Somebody my brother works with put between 1 to 2 gallons of diesel fuel in their car before they caught it.
Click to expand...


Xw02fZY.jpg
 
Personally I'd drain the tank and burn that gas in an old lawnmower or something like that. I definitely wouldn't run it through a modern fuel injected computer controlled engine unless you're planning on scrapping the car and taking the bus instead.
 
Back in the early 80s, I had a Chevy p/u with a straight 6 motor an d we were on a trip. Truck was getting low on gas and I pulled into a truck stop. There was an attendant at the pumps and I told him to fill it up. After a minute or two, I looked back and saw the guy pumping diesel. By the time I stopped him he had already pumped about half a tank. I told him to fill the rest with gas and we would see what happens.
I pulled out on the highway got maybe a quarter mile and the truck started smoking petty good, but the engine still ran ok, so I kept going. Stopped for more gas after about a quarter tank used and topped it off. After that, there was just a little smoke and I finnished the rest of the trip. I think that I got the best fuel mileage ever.
 
my buddies daughter did it. Drain gas and start over. All good.
 
The auto island diesel nozzles are smaller, so I can see how it could happen. As stated above - best to drain it, then just run gas through it - shouldn't be too bad.

Better than the other way around, though - running gas in a diesel. BOOM!:eek:
 
I worked with a guy that put Diesel in a mid 70's Ford station wagon and that car literally smoked till that got rid of it. Looked more like a 2 cycle engine running.
 
1 Wild R/T said:
Old carbureted vehicles were more forgiving about diesel... Fuel injector nozzles can't pass diesel fuel at the pressure provided by a gas fuel system.... Back in 94 I got a 4 cylinder truck in my stall that was barely running on two cylinders.. Customer didn't mention anything about what he'd done... I initially diagnosed it with two bad injectors & replaced them under warranty... The next day it was back on a hook... And I figured out the real problem... Dropped the tank & there was probably a quart of diesel mixed with sixteen gallons of gasoline.... Replaced all four injectors, both filters & flushed the tank/lines.... This time it was customer pay & he wasn't happy..... In the end I think his insurance picked up the bill....
Click to expand...
Now I have to hear how you determined the quart of diesel to the rest of the gasoline.
 
pnora said:
Now I have to hear how you determined the quart of diesel to the rest of the gasoline.
Click to expand...

I can't honestly say it was a quart or two quarts... It wasn't much... You could see it floating in the gasoline, they didn't mix, it was pretty obvious what was diesel & what was gasoline... And you could smell the diesel over the gas fumes....
 
Someone was stealing gas out of one of the backhoes on a construction site. We would find the pitcock removed from the bottom of the tank each time. After loosing quite a few gallons we decided to see who was actually doing this. We installed the pitcock and put 5 gal of diesel fuel in it. Told everyone on the site to not use the backhoe until further notice.

Two days later a young man who lived down the street was leaving right when we were going out for lunch. We followed him for several miles and sure enough his car started smoking. Bingo!

His car finally stopped and he pulled off to the side of the road. He popped the hood and stood there scratching his head. We walked up and offered our assistance. Removed the air cleaner and told him it smelled like diesel fuel. Should have seen the look on his face.

We stopped by his house on the way back and told his parents where he was and why he was sitting on the side of the road. They made good on the stolen gas and his car sat in the driveway for a couple of months after that.
 
Ok, so diesel floats on gas...learn something new every day. Will pass these comments to my brother, and see what happens. thanks all
 
bandit67 said:
Ok, so diesel floats on gas...learn something new every day. Will pass these comments to my brother, and see what happens. thanks all
Click to expand...

When sloshed around it will intermingle but never truly mix... When allowed to sit it will separate & the diesel floats..
 
1 Wild R/T said:
I can't honestly say it was a quart or two quarts... It wasn't much... You could see it floating in the gasoline, they didn't mix, it was pretty obvious what was diesel & what was gasoline... And you could smell the diesel over the gas fumes....
Click to expand...
Bull crap. Diesel fuel and gasoline are each a blend of hydrocarbon compounds derived from petroleum crude oil. If these compounds are mixed, they will remain mixed and will not separate unless they are subjected to a distillation process (heating and condensing the vapors at the appropriate temperatures
 
pnora said:
Bull crap. Diesel fuel and gasoline are each a blend of hydrocarbon compounds derived from petroleum crude oil. If these compounds are mixed, they will remain mixed and will not separate unless they are subjected to a distillation process (heating and condensing the vapors at the appropriate temperatures
Click to expand...

Just telling you what I actually experienced... But hey, don't let that get in the way of your opinion...

Just did a search and the results say you are correct.. However there was clearly something floating separate from the fuel.... Perhaps an additive in the diesel or the gasoline wouldn't mix... I don't know what... I only know what I saw/experienced...
 
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