What happens when you accidently put gasoline in a diesel engine?

[frankeng2003]

This is just a hypothetical question. We all know someone who's actually accidently put in diesel fuel in a gasoline powered engine. But what happens when someone accidently puts some gasoline in a diesel powered vehicle? How much can you put before there is serious problems. I've heard people injecting propane, methyl into their diesel engines to get more power. Thanks.

[tebore]

Propane and meth is usually fogged in like nitrous. It's an alternative to nitrous in the world of diesel.

My guess is if you used gasoline instead of diesel is it wouldn't start and if it was already running you'd hydrolock or damage your pistons pretty good.

[Spray]

Think it stalls and needs to have all fuel pumped out.

Seen it happen on amazing race a couple times :P

[laptop-tech]

You end up buying a new car.

[seftonm]

With modern high pressure DI engines, engine burns the fuel. After a few minutes of running, the fuel pump and injectors are damaged because of the lack of lubricity in gasoline. This causes the engine to stall and the fuel system has to be replaced for a few thousand dollars.

[mr_raider]

I thought the nozzles were different sizes which made it impossible to make this mistake?

[seftonm]

I thought the nozzles were different sizes which made it impossible to make this mistake?

Diesel nozzles are bigger, so gas nozzles fit in fine.

[jasonkason]

they should make diesel nozzels square, and keep the gasoline ones circles. to make sure neither fits in one another. im just saying..

[Shaner]

they should make diesel nozzels square, and keep the gasoline ones circles. to make sure neither fits in one another. im just saying..

Or people could simply pay attention to what they are doing. You can only protect people from their own stupidity for so long until it catches up to them.

If you stop morons from putting gasoline into their diesel engines, then they'll just end up pouring windshield washer fluid into the oil intake.

Stupid people are going to do stupid things, there's just no stopping them.

[CSK'sMom]

With modern high pressure DI engines, engine burns the fuel. After a few minutes of running, the fuel pump and injectors are damaged because of the lack of lubricity in gasoline. This causes the engine to stall and the fuel system has to be replaced for a few thousand dollars.

+1! Hubby's boss did it to his Western Star straight truck when it was just over a year old. It took from Niagara Falls to Toronto and half way back to Niagara Falls in his case before it finally stalled out. We all still get a good chuckle out of that one from time to time. IIRC, the repair bill was in the area of $8k. To be fair though it was a somewhat easy mistake to make in his case, they have their own fuel tanks and both the gas and diesel tanks sit side by side. Oh, and he's never done the favour of fueling guy's trucks up since.

[frankeng2003]

good to know. i always knew diesel engine were really tough, so they could handle the gasoline, its the injectors that give in. If i had the cash, i'd get a diesel SUV.

[Tijuana]

Or people could simply pay attention to what they are doing. You can only protect people from their own stupidity for so long until it catches up to them.

If you stop morons from putting gasoline into their diesel engines, then they'll just end up pouring windshield washer fluid into the oil intake.

Stupid people are going to do stupid things, there's just no stopping them.

+1

You can only protect people so much

[Pete_Coach]

I thought the nozzles were different sizes which made it impossible to make this mistake?

Correct. The gas nozzle is quite a bit smaller but, Murphy's Law says says that if there is a way, some bonehead will make it happen regardless of how many safeguards are in place.


"Since gasoline is designed to be resistant to self-ignition (octane), gasoline in a diesel engine either won't ignite or will ignite at the wrong time. Some diesel engines run leaner than gasoline engines (meaning that the air-fuel mix has a higher proportion of air than a gasoline engine). That increases the chances that the gasoline won't ignite and that unburnt fuel will be sent into the hot exhaust system--where, ironically, it could ignite, leading to possible exhaust damage. Even if you avoid that disaster, you can expect to pay $500 to drain the fuel tank, clean out the fuel lines, and refill the tank with diesel.

Some types of diesel engine use the diesel fuel as a lubricant for the fuel pump (remember, it's a fuel oil). It's said that running gasoline through such a pump could lead to serious damage or failure, turning a $500 repair into a $750-$1,250 one."

[GangStarr]

they should make diesel nozzels square, and keep the gasoline ones circles. to make sure neither fits in one another. im just saying..

If they changed the size of the knob, every single diesel vehicle operators would have to have their vehicle modified to fit the square peg.

[beerbaron105]

diesel vehicles have a yellow cap...match the yellow fuel cap to the yellow diesel fuel pump....wow....so hard to understand