It happened, I was fillin' up and a lady pulled up on the opposite side of the pump with a 3rd gen CTD. Red 2WD QC very nice. As I was topping off, the cashier came out and advised the lady she had just filled up with gasoline. She didn't say a thing, she put the nozzle back, started it up and drove away.

Question: How long could she drive before it blew up. I was ducking for cover when she started it but she drove off into the sunset and I never heard a BOOM.

Was the attendant wrong, could she have drove off. I would have paniced and had the thing towed but she was off before I could even turn around. Maybe the guy was wrong and she was upset? Just wonderin' what you guys thought.
Tom

 

Well, diesel fuel is not only a fuel, but a lubricant for the injector pump and injectors. If the engine doesn't quit before the tank is empty (very likely possibility) and she's lucky enough she might have only taken 300,000 miles of life from her engine! It'll still run w/o blowing up the engine...it'll just run like crap.

 

It may keep running if she didn't put too much gas in it. I know some of the older guys I know tell me they used to mix a little gas with their diesel years ago to keep it from gellin up in the winter. So it depends on how empty she was, and whether or not she filled it all the way up. But yeah she definitly is gonna regret having done this (or more likely her husband when he gets the truck back)!

 

I expected a giant boom, she could not have put more than 1/2 a tank in. I was fightin' foam when she started and she took off before I gave up.

Note to self: "Do not let wife put fuel in truck"

 

Had a guy bring his Econoline diesel into our shop. He had just put 3/4 tank of gas in it. Ran like crap, lotsa noise. I drained the tank, filled it with diesel, changed the fuel filter, and off he went. That was in '94, he still was driving it 2002. Took the gas/diesel mix and put it in the beater cars of other techs. Lotsa smoke and sputtering outa the gas engines..

 

have you ever seen a gas engine run on straight diesel?

when I was younger, I filled on of our antiques with diesel, and went to bushhogging.

Ran fine, a lot less power, and Smoked like a freight train. I don't think some of these trucks on this board could smoke like that little four cylinder.

 

I know that if you take a 7.3 or a 6.0L and put gas into it will blow dang near every injector apart. (I have not expreniced this) For some reason the newer ones dont like have gas in them.

 

About 2 years ago I stopped at a station near my house and topped off my tank about 1/2 full.....got 10 miles away and my truck started running bad then it started to smoke white and didn't have power and wouldn't stay running ended up towing my truck home......found I had gas in the diesel from that station....drained my tank pulled all the injectors and had them tested refilled with diesel its been running ok since then

"The station took a load of gas dumped into the diesel tank they payed all my costs for that mistake"

 

Here is a good one for ya, a young lady driving a camoflauged hummer and wearing her military fatigues pulls in at our local station and fills up the Hummer, not an H2, this is the real deal army hummer. The problem is this station doesnt even have deisel. She figured it out before she ever started it though and the army sent a crew of guys that drained it out into five gallon buckets and put enough diesel in it to get it to the station next door that does have diesel.

 

GAsoline in a diesel won't "blow up" - the fords don't like the lack of lubricant, hence possible injector issues... gasoline won't even light in a compression ignition motor.

 

I accidently put 1 gallon of gas in my '97 12v once. I didnt think twice, and kept on going.

I agree with Dieselgeek. The reason the lady drove off easily is proble because she was running on the diesel that was already in her lines, and filter.

 

You actually get less damage with the greater the concentration of gasoline in the diesel because the engine won't run.
It's the 10 - 50% gasoline range that does the most damage because the engine will continue to run with just lack of power and fuel system lubrication.
Some people just keep on going.

 

It's kind of embarassing, but I put diesel in my 440 crew cab once. Very little power, lots of smoke, but it ran!! I looked at it like this-I just lubricated the engine!!

 

I have seen gas put in a deutz diesel engine on a tractor, and it revved and blew. Nothing spectacular except a guy getting fired for doing it, but the bottom end did let loose into the oilpan. As a result, I would have expected the same from the lady who filled up a half tank.

Maybe the truck engine's computer controls prevent the engine from going out of control like that. Anyone have a theory on this? I would have expected a bunch of blown engine stories in this discussion.

 

Yes it will!

With a BANG!

Gas engines have a 7 to 10 :1 compression ratio.

Diesels have a 15-20:1 compression ratio

You inject that gasoline into the diesel cylinder at the typical 10* BTDC, and it ignites FAST- massive pre-ignition.
If the gas ratio is strong enough it'll blow the rods right out of the engine!