Running a diesel in gasoline

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John@Outfront

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a son of a friend of mine was driving his dads sprinter van. It had on 1/16 of a tank full of diesel. He was not going to make it home so he added $25 of gasoline. Not realizing it was a diesel. Probably 4 gallons. I assume it was about a 50/50 mix. Went 65miles that way. Cel came in but he thought it was for something else. It now has only a few gallons left. He said it smelt bad when he got home. Anyways the dad was going to fill up the whole tank with new diesel as is with the little bit of fuel left and run it. Is there short term or long term damage he will expect to anything like bearings, rings, injection pump, cat?
 
At an absolute minimum have them drain the rest of fuel in tank and purge fuel system. I assume the damage has been done at this point though. Have them check comprehensive policy, worth a shot. Gas will wash down injection system and cause pre detonation. It's a solvent, diesel is a lubricant. May get lucky with draining and purging...
 
Hardest on the pump and injectors due to a lack of needed lubrication that comes with the diesel.
I would drain it all out and toss it,then flush the system with new clean diesel and run it hoping nothing got too beat up on that drive home
some times you get lucky
 
Similar story from a client of mine. Same model Van. Total fuel system renew. Ins covered it less deductible.
 
My story...

Was parking the TH after a trip to G very low on fuel. Backing into my yard is up hill. Up hill enough that half way in it starved the engine of fuel. Truck blocking the street. All I had was gas. Poured in 5g. Primed it back up and finished the job. The ol' DMAX was real pleased with it, but it worked. Topper it up with diesel. 10s of thousands of miles without issue after.
 
The fuel pumps are the weak link...they will shred and send metal into the injectors....insurance does cover it.
 
thank for your replies, he did top it off and said its running fine but I told him to inform his insurance carrier for a future issue
 
At least put some lube in that gas.
 
the biggest problem is wear on the pump the fuel is the lubrication and next is the injectors they have very tight tolerances as well with out lube the can seize up as well. the smell you were smelling were probably from the scr and dpf the exhaust was probably running a lot hotter than normal. Diesel ha a octane around 40 an will detonate when the injector fires with the gas the higher octane is more resitant to detonation and most of the raw fuel was going into the exhaust. if you have good insurance you could bring it to a dealer they would more than likely make a big job out of it and replace everything. otherwize drain as much fuel out of it as you can pull the fuel filter out and you can use a evacuator to empty the tank from the fuel line refill and add some good lubricity additive to it and cross your fingers should be fine. the components used in the fuel systems have been getting better because the diesel has been getting worse very little lubricity in it. you could also throw a quart of trans oil or engine oil in the fuel hope this helps. eddited after i googled something Ai is crazy https://www.google.com/search?q=how...H6xzCBwkwLjQ5LjExLjHIB5MBgAgB&sclient=gws-wiz
 
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Had it happen to 2 of my work vehicles, we just drained the tank, changed the oil, and ran it. Never had any issues after that. One was a Duramax and the other was the 6.4 Ford. Currently the Duramax is over 250k miles, no idea on the Ford.
 
Cookie said:
Had it happen to 2 of my work vehicles, we just drained the tank, changed the oil, and ran it. Never had any issues after that. One was a Duramax and the other was the 6.4 Ford. Currently the Duramax is over 250k miles, no idea on the Ford.
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good to know!
 
My father in law did it going from Havasu to Powell.

We made it to the grade going into Kingman before it started cutting out and running rough.

Pulled into the ford dealer. Had them drain the gas, pull/replace filters, change oil/filters, flush, refill with diesel, and then dumped 2 bottles of ATF in the tank.

We ran it with ATF for the next few tanks and never had another issue.
 
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