With the new EPA rules, this may be a way for diesel truck engines to meet the new pollution and fuel economy requirements. If it works on the diesel truck engines, RV engines may soon follow, like they did with the DEF. The smell of diesel may soon be a thing of the past. Gasoline fueled diesel engines

Diesel engines have always ran perfectly well on gasoline but gasoline didn't have the necessary lubricants found in diesel fuel. This is likely still true so SOME sort of additive would still be required.

Now that sure throws a new wrench in the age-old Gas vs Diesel war machine.

skipnchar wrote:Diesel engines have always ran perfectly well on gasoline but gasoline didn't have the necessary lubricants found in diesel fuel. This is likely still true so SOME sort of additive would still be required.So if you ran gas in a regular diesel engine what would the result be? I had been told that since gas was more flammable than diesel that it could severely damage the engine. Is that not true?

With the newer engines and electronic control modules, you probably would not get too far with some gasoline mixed with your diesel fuel. The engines all have a bunch of sensors that would indicate a problem and may just shut things down with an expensive repair bill to follow. Gas in diesel fuel

There are two ways that a diesel engine can be damaged by using gasoline. The first is that "gasoline" has a completely different burn profile form diesel or any other fuel of that nature. The gasoline would be injected and start burning far sooner than a heavy fuel. This will cause extremely high cylinder pressures and higher temperatures.The second is that the high pressure injection equipment that diesel engines use needs the fuel to lubricate and cool it. Typical gasoline type motorfuels do not do this well at all and the injection equipment will not last very long. This is less true today than it once was. The new low sulfur diesel fuels also lack the lubricity that was once available. That is why a lot of old truck were for sale "cheap" in the late 90's. Matt

The new DP's may run on gasoline | Good Sam Community

32 Replies

pkunk
Explorer
Mar 10, 2014
Addendum: there have been several sawmills up here in my neck of the woods that ran their diesel run mills on propane for years. There is no dryer fuel than propane. I could buy a propane conversion for my '94 Cummins PU if I thought there was going to be a fuel shortage and fill up at home.
pkunk
Explorer
Mar 10, 2014
mowermech, I'm with you. We ran not only the deuce's but 5ton ammo trucks on anything that would flow out of a dispenser. 1965 in Germany some fuels were in short supply, but not for those trucks.
mowermech
Explorer II
Mar 10, 2014
There doesn't seem to be many Army Veterans from the 1960's on here.
In the early '60's, the Army got some new "deuce-and-a-halfs" that had a multi-fuel engine in them. IIRC, they were 6 cylinder engines made by REO, that would run on almost anything that would flow through a pipe and burn! Yep, #1 or #2 diesel, kerosene, JP-4, 80 octane mo-gas, AV-gas (other than 115/145, that stuff had too much lead in it), highly refined peanut oil, etc.
In fact, due to a lack of diesel fuel in the supply system, the one I drove had 80 octane Mo-Gas in the tank all the time. When we got to Vietnam, we had lots of diesel fuel.
So, can a diesel engine be run on gasoline, without damage? Based on my Army experience, I have to say "Absolutely YES!"
Of course, the engine has to be built to do that!
Koop
Explorer
Mar 10, 2014
Matt_Colie wrote:
There are two ways that a diesel engine can be damaged by using gasoline.

The first is that "gasoline" has a completely different burn profile form diesel or any other fuel of that nature. The gasoline would be injected and start burning far sooner than a heavy fuel. This will cause extremely high cylinder pressures and higher temperatures.

The second is that the high pressure injection equipment that diesel engines use needs the fuel to lubricate and cool it. Typical gasoline type motorfuels do not do this well at all and the injection equipment will not last very long. This is less true today than it once was. The new low sulfur diesel fuels also lack the lubricity that was once available. That is why a lot of old truck were for sale "cheap" in the late 90's.

True. Run gasoline in your diesel and it will stop in short order. The repair bill will be costly. High cylinder pressure temperature and pressure is putting it mildly.
Matt
dubdub07
Explorer
Mar 10, 2014
So, diesel fuel and the engines of the like create zero green house gasses and yet the soot is deemed a possible carcinogen so there is the DPF/EGR combo which creates breathable air from my coaches exhaust pipe. Running it on gas seems a step backwards and now will have to run a catalytic converter to remove hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides that are created from gasoline.

This makes little sense.

dub
C-Leigh_Racing
Explorer
Mar 10, 2014
It will be interesting to see the results of a diesel engine operating on gas. I guess they will fire the injectors after TDC, to keep from melting the pistons.

I can tell you from a gas tanker drivers stand point, when a load of gas is dropped in the diesel fuel holding tank, the tanker trucks owners, will be replacing a few car & diesel truck engines before the station operator catches up with the mix up.
Was not me, but I know some drivers it happened to, those that always got the good loads & not the peeons like me that always got the crapie loads.
Neil
Daveinet
Explorer
Mar 10, 2014
Propaganda. Consider the source. They put that stuff out there and then use it to promote new fuel efficiency regulations. Make an optimistic claim and then in the same article promote regulation. Always got to take that kind of stuff with a grain of salt.
Matt_Colie
Explorer II
Mar 10, 2014
There are two ways that a diesel engine can be damaged by using gasoline.

The first is that "gasoline" has a completely different burn profile form diesel or any other fuel of that nature. The gasoline would be injected and start burning far sooner than a heavy fuel. This will cause extremely high cylinder pressures and higher temperatures.

The second is that the high pressure injection equipment that diesel engines use needs the fuel to lubricate and cool it. Typical gasoline type motorfuels do not do this well at all and the injection equipment will not last very long. This is less true today than it once was. The new low sulfur diesel fuels also lack the lubricity that was once available. That is why a lot of old truck were for sale "cheap" in the late 90's.

Matt
rgatijnet1
Explorer III
Mar 10, 2014
With the newer engines and electronic control modules, you probably would not get too far with some gasoline mixed with your diesel fuel. The engines all have a bunch of sensors that would indicate a problem and may just shut things down with an expensive repair bill to follow. Gas in diesel fuel
msmith1199
Explorer II
Mar 10, 2014
skipnchar wrote:
Diesel engines have always ran perfectly well on gasoline but gasoline didn't have the necessary lubricants found in diesel fuel. This is likely still true so SOME sort of additive would still be required.

So if you ran gas in a regular diesel engine what would the result be? I had been told that since gas was more flammable than diesel that it could severely damage the engine. Is that not true?

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The new DP's may run on gasoline

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