Pumped Gas into my Diesel

[Luke_Porter]

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!

[down_home]

If you don't get too much gas mixed in the diesel, it'll run just not great.
Like others have done, when it was brutal cold and diesel was thick a gallon, of gas got things going. Lord help if we had biodiesel then, it would have been jello.
We've almost put diesel in our car and gas in our mh and saved couple of motorists from making that mistake, when BP took over.

[gwalter]

My sister accidentally put about 7 gal of gas in BILs 2011 Duramax. When she realized it she called their dealer and he said to fill it the rest of the way up with diesel and drive it. Until they had run about 3 tankfuls of fuel through it the check engine light would come on. They have never had any problems with it in the last year since then.

[gregirish1954]

Not exactly a gas in the take issue, but a big part of the high Sprint repair costs is the Mercedes policy of replace everything rather than do any actual repairs.

I had mud-daubers build a nest around the turbo inlet valve motor actuator linkage, which on my 2010 2500 6 cyl 3.0 is tucked way back there against the firewall and hard to see without a mirror. Mercedes wanted to replace the entire actuator motor assembly to the tune of nearly $2000 parts/labor. Now that I knew why the turbo was not boosting and where the actuator was, I paid the diagnosis charge, drove home, a little slow on acceleration since I was without turbo boost, got the hose out and washed the dauber nest away.

Been working just fine since.

A little education and an application of common sense saved me over $1500!

Sigh, one day my Sprinter will be old enough that Mercedes will license the codes and expand 'authorized repair' beyond the dealerships so the good old fashioned work-a-day shops will be able to take care of stuff like this at a reasonable price.

[dave17352]

I always wonder how many of these HPFP failures are due to those def and gasoline. Anybody could make the mistake. Especially DEF fluid and especially when it is right next to the gasoline filler. JMHO

[mlts22]

time2roll wrote:
Lots of "saved the truck" stories... any stories of actual damage or failure?

Yep, saw two Sprinter based class "C"s killed when RV-ing earlier this year:

The first one was due to the owner dumping DEF into the fuel tank.

The second one was someone topping off with gasoline, which created a mixture good enough to hit the engine and kill it.

Both Sprinters had to go to the Mercedes dealer, get new fuel injectors, a new high pressure fuel pump, and every single thing in between those and the fuel tank (as in all hoses) replaced. Five digits of cash for the repairs for one single derp moment.

Seeing this has made me to decide to just stick with gasoline for my next rig. A diesel nozzle won't go in, and if diesel winds up in the tank, the vehicle just won't move. A cost to fix is a drain and new gas, perhaps a MAF (costing a C-note) if it got fouled. Even with proper thinking and smelling of nozzles, not to mention proper fueling procedures, just going with a gasser vehicle seems easier.

[free_radical]

Fwiw
In Canada in every Petrocan station,all diesel pumps are located separately from gasoline ones,,gasoline have 3 grades,not sure what color handles but all have labels for octane content regular 78 etc.gas also has some kind of Tactrol cleaner aditive,,works good as my engine runs perfect in any weather..

Diesel pumps are yellow and far away from gas pumps,,not sure what color are these in other gas stations as Ive been using Petro Canada exclusively..

[time2roll]

Lots of "saved the truck" stories... any stories of actual damage or failure?

[wnjj]

JaxDad wrote:
But I for one hardly think 30+ years back qualifies as "a few years ago".

To be fair, he didn't say he bought one made a few years ago.

[Grit_dog]

JaxDad wrote:

Hammerboy wrote:

frankdamp wrote:
Bottom line - don't buy a diesel vehicle! They're noisy, vibrate like hell, smell bad, make a lot of smoke until they warm up and are often so gutless, someone on a bicycle can out-accelerate you!

I bought a Nissan diesel pick-up a few years ago, sold it within 6 months and vowed "Never again".

.

He must be messin with us. I tell my friends who are kicking the idea of a diesel around to be careful because once you go diesel you won't go back lol

I wouldn't exactly say he's 'messing' with us, but he's certainly being more than a little frugal in 'full disclosure' area.

If memory serves, prior to the current version, the last time Nissan made a diesel pickup was between 1980 and 1986.

In the early models, prior to 1983?, the engine produced ~63hp, the later models got the bigger engine which produced a whopping 75hp.


But I for one hardly think 30+ years back qualifies as "a few years ago".

Around here it probably does! This forum could be renamed "Grumpyoldmen.net" and not skip a beat!

[Campinfan]

JaxDad wrote:

Hammerboy wrote:

frankdamp wrote:
Bottom line - don't buy a diesel vehicle! They're noisy, vibrate like hell, smell bad, make a lot of smoke until they warm up and are often so gutless, someone on a bicycle can out-accelerate you!

I bought a Nissan diesel pick-up a few years ago, sold it within 6 months and vowed "Never again".

.

He must be messin with us. I tell my friends who are kicking the idea of a diesel around to be careful because once you go diesel you won't go back lol

I wouldn't exactly say he's 'messing' with us, but he's certainly being more than a little frugal in 'full disclosure' area.

If memory serves, prior to the current version, the last time Nissan made a diesel pickup was between 1980 and 1986.

In the early models, prior to 1983?, the engine produced ~63hp, the later models got the bigger engine which produced a whopping 75hp.


But I for one hardly think 30+ years back qualifies as "a few years ago".

Is that a garden tractor engine? :B

[JaxDad]

Hammerboy wrote:

frankdamp wrote:
Bottom line - don't buy a diesel vehicle! They're noisy, vibrate like hell, smell bad, make a lot of smoke until they warm up and are often so gutless, someone on a bicycle can out-accelerate you!

I bought a Nissan diesel pick-up a few years ago, sold it within 6 months and vowed "Never again".

.

He must be messin with us. I tell my friends who are kicking the idea of a diesel around to be careful because once you go diesel you won't go back lol

I wouldn't exactly say he's 'messing' with us, but he's certainly being more than a little frugal in 'full disclosure' area.

If memory serves, prior to the current version, the last time Nissan made a diesel pickup was between 1980 and 1986.

In the early models, prior to 1983?, the engine produced ~63hp, the later models got the bigger engine which produced a whopping 75hp.


But I for one hardly think 30+ years back qualifies as "a few years ago".

[GoPackGo]

If you rub a little diesel between 2 fingers and then do the same with some gasoline, you will easily be able to tell why one is an oil and the other is a much lighter petroleum product.

[Campinfan]

dave17352 wrote:
Because diesel is oil that doesn't evaporate and dry quickly like gasoline. So any diesel that sloshes up on the handle or anywhere is there for a long time and dust and dirt sticks to it. Same way if you don't clean the diesel that spills on the side of your truck when you fill.

Thanks for filling me in. Its funny because it looks pretty clear./clean from what I have seen but it makes sense that it doesn't evaporate. I am new to the diesel world but so far, I am loving it!

[Hammerboy]

frankdamp wrote:
Bottom line - don't buy a diesel vehicle! They're noisy, vibrate like hell, smell bad, make a lot of smoke until they warm up and are often so gutless, someone on a bicycle can out-accelerate you!

I bought a Nissan diesel pick-up a few years ago, sold it within 6 months and vowed "Never again".

He must be messin with us. I tell my friends who are kicking the idea of a diesel around to be careful because once you go diesel you won't go back lol