I made the ultimate mistake. 27 gallons of gas in diesel. drove it about 15 miles. parked overnight. next day, started rough, shut it off and called tow truck. at dealers now. they want 7000 to put in new fuel system.

my question: what is chance engine is okay after they get the fuel system changed? what damage did it likely do to engine? their mechanic said he thought the engine would be okay, but could not be sure until he gets the whole fuel system changed first,.

I am on the road but have a place to stay while the work is done,

 

If I was facing your issue, I would have them purge the system of gasoline add a few gallons of diesel, some good 2 cycle oil and see what flies before I'd give some tinkerbell 7g's on his speculation. These engines are pretty tough and I would think Cummins would have designed for such pilot error to a point.

 

I knew a guy whose wife did this same thing in a 2nd gen. and were able to avoid what your talking about by extensively flushing the entire fuel system. That same truck was the reason I bought a diesel.

At $7k, I would get a second opinion at the very least

 

^^What he said!^^


That price must include everything up to the block itself.

 

Your about to get ripped off. Hopefully you haven't already. If you can, get your truck, drain the tank, fill it up with correct fuel, add some 2 cycle oil and drive it another 200,000 miles.

Remember to change the fuel filter, which will drain the gas out of that, and leave the water drain open until the lift pump pushes clean fuel out.

 

What is the purpose of the 2-stroke added to the new diesel? Thankfully I have not made this mistake yet myself.

 

The gas washes away lube. The injector pump gets it's lube from the diesel. The 2 cycle oil will lube help lube the pump and other fuel system parts. Alot of guys put in 2 cycle oil regularly, especially in older engines, that depended on the higher sulfur content of the fuel to keep things lubed. ULSD tag on every pump now. Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel. required on engines with EGR and Exhaust Particulate Filters.

 

Thank you. Would refueling with a bio blend be slippery enough be helpful, or would the detergent properties be counter-productive to re lubing the internals?

 

I would just refill with good fuel and add the 2 cycle oil

 

^^^^^ This

There have been several people here who have done the same mistake. After draining the gas and purging the system with diesel and adding the 2 stroke oil, they were good to go with no other issues. Keep that extra $6,700+ in your pocket!!

I would also continue to run 2 stroke (from wal mart) for the next several tanks of fuel too.

 

Howes Meaner Cleaner is some good stuff too. Maybe in a month or three, run some of that thru it. I need to get more. It made a instant noticeable improvement.

 

I did the same thing about 6 yrs back....gas in fuel. I drained the tank and changed the filter. Filled with diesel and added 1qt. 30w oil and haven't looked back. But I had only driven the truck @3 mi. before realizing what I had done. I think the truck had @50k at the time and now it has 325k.

Jim

 

Just out of curiosity, were you filling up at BP when you pumped in a full tank of gas?

 

to be honest, my B.I.L. did it once on his 7.3L PSD, and we didnt even drain it... Added approx 3 gallons of ATF, along with approx. 7 gallons of gas and the little bit of diesel that was left in that tank.... Had him get the truck back out on the highway on the untainted tank, then switched to the contaminated tank... burned it down about 1/2 way and refilled....

 

I know that incident is all in the past..but..it's really not a good idea to put trans fluid in your tank. 1-it's red. red fuel gets you a hefty fine. 2-it's designed to promote friction within the trans. Not something you want in a expensive fuel system. it is an oil though, so i guess it's better than nothing. I talked once about my milage with my mom and she decided she would fill her Tahoe up with diesel and see what kind of mileage she got. Luckily I was able to talk her out of it. I've seen people put that in gas engines, It'll smoke real bad for a time then not run at all.