gasoline in diesel tank

[SteveSueMac]

Good rant Alex AVI - you must be exhausted! [emoji3]

[ITSNO60]

Alex,
You missed another cause of gasoline pump fires in your rant.....re-entering the vehicle during re-fueling....static electricity. You briefly touched on it with the gas can in the truck bed but re-entering during a fuel up has been the cause of gasoline pump fires. I would venture to say that the vast majority of the public does not know this but they still believe a cell phone will do it.

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by SteveSueMac

Good rant Alex AVI - you must be exhausted! [emoji3]

STEVESUEMAC - I got sleepy in the process of writing my rant, then eyelids closed during proof reading for spelling & grammar. Yep, a computer techie who doesn't like using spellcheck. Go figure

Originally Posted by ITSNO60

Alex,
You missed another cause of gasoline pump fires in your rant.....re-entering the vehicle during re-fueling....static electricity. You briefly touched on it with the gas can in the truck bed but re-entering during a fuel up has been the cause of gasoline pump fires. I would venture to say that the vast majority of the public does not know this but they still believe a cell phone will do it.

ITSNO60 - yep, missed good opportunity to expound on the re-entering, static & gas can issue. Could only muster energy for the glancing jab there. Similar answer as above - when one gets tired of writing & reading their own rant, safe to say rant has gone way past too long

[Boxster1971]

I always turn off my engine at the fuel pumps, but not for safety reasons. I do it so I can check the oil level after filling the tank. You have to let the engine sit off so the oil can drain down to give you an accurate reading. The electronic oil level measuring system on my Sprinter Interstate is very easy to use.

[Pahaska]

Originally Posted by Boxster1971

I always turn off my engine at the fuel pumps, but not for safety reasons. I do it so I can check the oil level after filling the tank. You have to let the engine sit off so the oil can drain down to give you an accurate reading. The electronic oil level measuring system on my Sprinter Interstate is very easy to use.

I run the oil level check once before each trip and that is probably more often than needed. I have never observed any change in oil level, even over a several thousand miles trip and I have never needed to add oil between services. I can't conceive of checking it at each fuel stop. The electronics will tell me if oil gets low and that's where the two quarts in my rear-end under-floor storage some in to play.

[airdreamers]

Originally Posted by Airtandem

I refuse to buy BP gas for the opposite reason, putting diesel in my gasser.

The nozzle for diesel will not fit the hole for gas!

[bweybright]

Originally Posted by airdreamers

The nozzle for diesel will not fit the hole for gas!

In many places outside the US they do. And I once (8 years ago) witnessed a college kid with a Volkswagen put diesel in her gasoline powered car on the MASS Turnpike. So.......one should never assume in this day and age I have come to learn.

[Rammonte]

1 thing I am confused with, if you insert the gas nozzle from the dispenser into your car but then select “diesel” as the grade you are going to pump, Wouldn’t nothing come out of the gasoline nozzle? So anyone who puts gas in their diesel is selecting a octane grade fuel while also inserting the incorrect nozzle into their vehicle?!

[GCinSC2]

Rammonte,

Welcome to Airforums.

I own two diesels and I have filled up at dual gas/diesel pumps. Each is independent if you lift the GAS nozzle and press the DIESEL button. No fuel is dispensed. Each has it's own fuel supply, pump, meter, hose and nozzle.

But it has happened to many diesel owners I bet especially when they go to an unfamiliar station. I try to fill mine at diesel only islands at home and extra careful on the road. Mixing gas into a diesel and running it has at least the potential to cause very unnecessary and costly repairs.

Gary

[Pahaska]

Originally Posted by Rammonte

So anyone who puts gas in their diesel is selecting a octane grade fuel while also inserting the incorrect nozzle into their vehicle?!

It happened to me with my truck back in my trailering days. I was filling up my bed tank. I picked up the wrong nozzle and hit the diesel button with no results. The "nice" person in the kiosk selected regular gas for me. I didn't know it happened until the bed tank started to feed about 150 miles down the road in rural Texas.

The Silverado went into "get home" mode and I was able to get off the road. I pulled the fuse for the bed tank pump, drained the fuel filter, purged the air from the system, and was able to drive about 20 miles before it went into slow mode again. I kept topping off with diesel, draining, and purging for a couple of hours until all was well again. Seems gas could not get through the filter and ended up filling the filter housing.

The DuraMax is a lot more forgiving of gas in the tank than the Mercedes. I drove that truck for another 5 years without any problems.

[tjdonahoe]

Originally Posted by airdreamers

The nozzle for diesel will not fit the hole for gas!

It sure will as there are 2 different sizes of nozzles for diesel

[Rammonte]

Originally Posted by GCinSC2

Rammonte,

Welcome to Airforums.

I own two diesels and I have filled up at dual gas/diesel pumps. Each is independent if you lift the GAS nozzle and press the DIESEL button. No fuel is dispensed. Each has it's own fuel supply, pump, meter, hose and nozzle.

But it has happened to many diesel owners I bet especially when they go to an unfamiliar station. I try to fill mine at diesel only islands at home and extra careful on the road. Mixing gas into a diesel and running it has at least the potential to cause very unnecessary and costly repairs.

Gary

Thank you for the Welcome Gary. I have been reading the forum for a while now, lots of great info, but just got around to starting an account. Anyway I appreciate the response. I figured you had to grab the wrong nozzle and select the incorrect fuel type but wasn’t sure as I had no experience doing so, thankfully. I tow with a VW Touareg TDI and the manual is very clear that it is a BIG mistake to add any amount of gasoline to the diesel tank. VW actually has a device in the filler tube that doesn’t allow the smaller gasoline nozzle in. Which is great until you get to a station that doesn’t have the proper nozzle on the diesel pump 🤨.

[Rammonte]

Originally Posted by Pahaska

It happened to me with my truck back in my trailering days. I was filling up my bed tank. I picked up the wrong nozzle and hit the diesel button with no results. The "nice" person in the kiosk selected regular gas for me. I didn't know it happened until the bed tank started to feed about 150 miles down the road in rural Texas.



The Silverado went into "get home" mode and I was able to get off the road. I pulled the fuse for the bed tank pump, drained the fuel filter, purged the air from the system, and was able to drive about 20 miles before it went into slow mode again. I kept topping off with diesel, draining, and purging for a couple of hours until all was well again. Seems gas could not get through the filter and ended up filling the filter housing.



The DuraMax is a lot more forgiving of gas in the tank than the Mercedes. I drove that truck for another 5 years without any problems.

Oh my goodness I had no idea they could even do that from the kiosk. Good to know. Glad the Durmax did you well regardless of the accident. I do my best to stay vigilant at the pumps. So far so good. Cheers.

[85MH325]

Originally Posted by dugster

Sorry to pick on you but who fills a tank with the engine idling? Bet that won’t happen again!

Unless I'm leaving the van to go inside, why WOULDN'T you fill the tank with the engine idling? Even if I end up leaving the van to go inside, I leave it idle while I fuel up. Why shut it down when the turbo is still spinning at speed? It gives the turbo a chance to spin down and continue being lubricated. There is no reason NOT to leave it idle if all you're doing is to stop to fill the tank.

[Titus]

Agree. I often shut the engine down with minimal idle time (parked and exiting it, for example) unless it has just been driven hard (up a mountain to an overlook, for example). But if I am going to be standing outside fueling it and washing the windshield I leave it running. A few minutes at idle does no harm and (perhaps) even does a bit of good compared to a hot shutdown. By rights one should always let it idle for a few minutes before shutdown. But I figure that treating it right part of the time is better than never treating it right.

[Mollysdad]

Originally Posted by tjdonahoe

It sure will as there are 2 different sizes of nozzles for diesel

Yes. The nozzles at the truck fuel area are bigger, but at the auto pumps, they have some auto diesel pumps with nozzles to fit anything.
What almost bit me, was going to a BP station. I got lazy about diesel pumps having a green nozzle, and unfortunately, at BP ALL the nozzles are green. I had the hose in the filler, and for the grace of god, my card was misread. As I messed with the touch screen, I went "Holy Mackerel! I almost put 80 gals of gas in the diesel tank."

[ITSNO60]

The nozzle restrictor Alex linked in post #26 is a good idea, all the newer VW TDIs come with a nozzle restrictor that will reject the unleaded nozzle. My TDI has it but not my F-350. If I were to loan my vehicle, or it was driven by multiple drivers I would want something like that.
Occasionally a person loans his diesel vehicle and the borrower wants to return it full.....and puts gasoline in it. If you ever loan your diesel vehicle put a locking gas cap on it and keep the key, or just tell them to give you the money and you will fill it up. This has happened a few times over on the Powerstroke forum by well meaning relatives who borrow a truck.

[ITSNO60]

Originally Posted by Titus

Agree. I often shut the engine down with minimal idle time (parked and exiting it, for example) unless it has just been driven hard (up a mountain to an overlook, for example). But if I am going to be standing outside fueling it and washing the windshield I leave it running. A few minutes at idle does no harm and (perhaps) even does a bit of good compared to a hot shutdown. By rights one should always let it idle for a few minutes before shutdown. But I figure that treating it right part of the time is better than never treating it right.

This is where an EGT gauge or monitor is good to have, you can watch the EGTs drop off to where you feel comfortable shutting down.

[Al and Missy]

Originally Posted by tjdonahoe

It sure will as there are 2 different sizes of nozzles for diesel

There is some kind of difference between the small diesel nozzle and the gasoline nozzle. I have a diesel SUV and a gasoline nozzle will not go into it. But it might go into my truck as the interlock is designed into the fuel fill of my SUV. I accidentally tried to put a gasoline nozzle into the SUV and it would not go in. I'll check the truck the next time I fill it.

Al

[ITSNO60]

Originally Posted by Al and Missy

There is some kind of difference between the small diesel nozzle and the gasoline nozzle. I have a diesel SUV and a gasoline nozzle will not go into it. But it might go into my truck as the interlock is designed into the fuel fill of my SUV. I accidentally tried to put a gasoline nozzle into the SUV and it would not go in. I'll check the truck the next time I fill it.

Al

The unleaded gasoline nozzles are the smallest of all nozzles including the small diesel nozzles. They will fit any diesel vehicle without a restrictor device.