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Luke_Porter's avatar
Luke_Porter
Explorer
Dec 15, 2016

Pumped Gas into my Diesel

I pumped about 15 gallons of gas into my diesel pickup. A State Trooper there at the station told of someone to call. They showed up in about 45 minutes. Pumped about 20 gallons of fuel out into a barrel in the back of his pickup. Filled up with 35 gallons of diesel and was on my way!

And he charged my only $250---best $250 I ever spent!

53 Replies

  • Been there...Done that! Noticed the nozzle was GAS after about 15g into an empty 37g tank! Went across the street to a hardware store, got three 6g fuel cans and a piece of hose. Siphoned out about 15g, filled truck with diesel and drove on. That was about 150,000 miles ago. No issues.

    I used the 15g of "mix" in my car in a 5g of mix to 10g of high test. Ran beautifully! Didn't even smoke...

    Won't ever do that again!
  • My good friend and his hunting partners were making their way back out of the Canadian bush in their diesel pickup truck when they realized they didn't have enough fuel to make it out. They concocted a mixture of gasoline and different oils to make the extra miles out. I know there was some seat puckering that night but all turned out well. They filled up at the first pump to be found and drove the rest of the way home.
    This was in a pre-DEF engine, a Ford. I don't know if you'd get away with that on a newer truck.
  • You better believe it!

    If you have a recent model, therefore common rail, diesel, running any amount of gasoline through it is potentially a major repair. I've a BMW X5 diesel, and have seen instances of folks making that mistake, and being given estimates of around $15,000. Your truck may be cheaper, maybe only $10,000. But don't count on it.

    Here's the deal. If you (or somebody else, for that matter) pumps gasoline into your diesel ride, DON'T START THE ENGINE. It is going to cost you a few hundred bucks because the contaminated fuel has to be disposed of as hazardous waste. But all they have to do is drain your tank and refill with good diesel. If you so much as start the engine, they will have to do that plus replace the fuel filter and flush the entire fuel system, thereby doubling the cost. If you run the vehicle at all, you may have to replace the fuel tank, fuel lines, fuel pump, high pressure fuel pump, and all the injectors. The reason is that gasoline does not lubricate the HPFP, so it will grind itself to death in an increasing death spiral, in the process distributing microscopic metal chips everywhere, chips that cannot be reliably flushed out, and that will cause a new HPFP to distruct in short order.

    Be careful out there, folks. NEVER let anybody with the smell of gasoline on their breath anyplace near your fuel filler.