I filled mine up with gas a few years back, started down the freeway, and it started sputtering and coughing. I had to go about another 10 miles to a fuel pump. Pulled it over to the side of the road, drained the gas, got it up to the pump, filled it with diesel and put in a quart of ATF, turned it over with the water purge valve open on the filter canister until clean diesel came out. Started it, and drove 200 miles home with no problems. And that was a Duramax. Never had any lingering effects or problems afterwards. You are about to get ripped off if you let the monkeys screw around with your fuel system needlessly.

 

Nate, no it ws a Mobil with a green handle on the regular gas pume. Here in Mi. most of the diesel pumps have a green handle and there in lies the problem.

Jim

 

THis truck was 4 states away at about 10pm on a Saturday night... My B.I.L. called saying he had accidentally did this... The place he was at was some small gas station in Kentucky. My 1st choice would have been to drain the tank, my second choice would have been to dump a couple of gallons of 2 stroke oil in it, but, it being my B.I.L. with absolutely no mechanical ability and so far away, he was able to buy up a bunch of ATF from the little store where he purchased the gas..
The ATF friction in the older lower pressure engines, while not ideal, isnt as detrimental as it is on the CR engines.
The TxDOT guys can tell the difference between non-taxed fuel and on-highway with ATF or MMO..

 

I'm a fllet mechanic in the oil sands. We just paid Ford $35K to put a whole new Scorpion engine and fuel system in a 2011 Ford F450 that was run on gas till it wouldn't run anymore.

I purged and purged that fuel system and changed the filters twice, burnt out the starter(it was almost toast when it came in). Dealer replaced the fuel system and still no go. Ended up having to swap out the engine.

As said the diesel fuel lubes the pump and injectors, gas is a slovent and does the opposite, drive it long enough and the injectors and pump will be toast. The new stuff is WAY more sensitive to gas than the old. An old 12V probably wouldn't even have missed a beat.

However there is never any harm in trying to purge the system and see how it does. If you didn't drive it far you might get lucky.

 

Couldnt run any worse on gasoline than they do on diesel...

 

Off topic, but on at the same time...


What's the easiest way to drain the tank if/when this happens to people?

 

Open the drain on the filter with a longer hose on the drain line. Bump the starter, do not start, and the lift pump will run for about 30 seconds. Repeat as needed. It took about 2 minutes for me to take 7 gallons out when I dropped my tank.

 

Thanks for the answers. I gather there is some hope of the engine being okay?
I filled up at a Hess station. Checked the price of diesel, pulled in to a stat ion that said diesel over it. Several nozzles over on the right. went to a seprate nozzle on the left that I thought was the diesel. filled up, checked milage, reset compouter, drove home. after about 5 miles I felt a little miss on acceleration. was not really sure, because the road was so rough. next morning it started but was really bad. sent it to the local dealer on a flat bead. Dealer says it is full of gas. I am just gonna let them fix it and hope they actually can.
thinking back, I know the nozzle was too small, but did not realize that at the time. from the price, it was high test, almost exactly the same as diesel.
lot of bad things here. worst of all is , it is my wifes truck, and she loves it. we are 700 miles from home in a camping resort that would not allow working on a diesel in the yard. wish I could get it back to my local dealer, but maybe these folks know what they are doing. I can not keep from getting gouged good, but hope that they at least can do the work they charge for.

 

Your insurance may pay for the repair.... But really, just drain the gas out, fill it with diesel and run it for a few hundred thousand miles to break it in....

 

My frend did the same thing only he cought it at 4gal. he went over to get some oil and they only had a Qt of 50W so he got it a gal of cooking oil and went on his way has put over 75.000 miles going strong.