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Old 07-28-2019, 07:28 PM   #1
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gasoline in diesel tank

It was bound to happen...
I Inadvertently put 2 gallons of gasoline in the diesel tank, with the engine idling. Upon noticing my stupidity I immediately shut off the ignition. By my calculations I had 2 gallons of gas and 12 gallons of diesel in the fuel tank. We (kindly local mechanic and I) disconnected the line from the tank to the fuel filter and slipped a 1/2" ID hose over the line coming from the tank. Turned the ignition to 'on' and pumped about 12 gallons into containers before it was pumping mostly air. Put 2 gallons of diesel in the tank to dilute remaining gas and pumped the 2 gallons back out. Repeated with another 2 gallons. Could not smell any gasoline in the pumped-out fuel during the first flush, but did another flush just to be sure. Removed the return line and let some fuel out of it. Could not smell any gasoline in the return fuel, so I don't think that any gas made it to the engine while idling. I then filled the tank with diesel - could only put 24.8 gallons in a 26.4 gallon tank. By my calculations I had ~0.1% gasoline in the fuel after the draining and two flushes and then filling with diesel. Proceeded to drive 800 miles back home with no problems, triple-checking which fuel nozzle I used at each fill-up during the trip home. Whew!!!
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Old 07-28-2019, 08:11 PM   #2
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Sounds like you caught it in time and did a really thorough job of flushing the system the best you could....thank god you caught it when you did, good job. I hope you don't beat yourself up too bad for it, I'm sure thousands have done the same at one time or another. I wish that all stations used the standard green nozzle for diesel but I've filled up at some that don't. I bet you NEVER DO IT AGAIN! So that's a good thing right? Must have raised your blood pressure once you realized what just happened.......After 800 miles driving home it sounds like you avoided a disaster quite well and probably no need to worry about it any more. Good job for taking quick and effective action to deal with the mistake, kept a level head and TCB. Lots of folks melt down when faced with a potential crisis, you didn't, good job!
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Old 07-28-2019, 08:43 PM   #3
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Kudos. I literally almost just did the same this weekend. Went to a BP. All handles are green. I had my credit card in, approved, and only when I needed to select “grade” did I realize none of them were diesel! The diesel pump was behind me. Also green handle. Just wasn’t thinking. Sounds like you cleaned things out well. Kudos!
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Old 07-28-2019, 08:48 PM   #4
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I refuse to buy BP gas for the opposite reason, putting diesel in my gasser.
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Old 07-28-2019, 08:54 PM   #5
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Believe it or not, you can get away with putting 1/6th of a tank of diesel as gasoline. The gasoline will float to the top of the diesel tank, and so wouldn't be initially drawn into the engine.
Gasoline being a solvent would then gradually mix with the diesel; adding a lubricity additive to counter the solvency of the gasoline probably would have been enough to counter the effects.
It was still prudent to drain the tank though; but I wouldn't worry about any effects of the gasoline.
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Old 07-28-2019, 09:08 PM   #6
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Ifff….. it's 50 degrees below zero, you can put up to 10% gas in diesel. Learned that on a bus ski trip from Kansas to Keystone mtn in Colorado one year. Never got above zero on that ski trip.
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Old 07-28-2019, 09:59 PM   #7
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An easy mistake to make and a nice recovery. A number of years ago, buddy of mine filled his Harley tank with diesel. Like you, he caught it before leaving the station. I prefer not to use the Bio-diesel, so I have to pay close attention to the signs and pump. Here in CA, most truck stops are only Bio-diesel.
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Old 07-28-2019, 10:24 PM   #8
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TITUS - Good save! I was always paranoid about this and always double-checked signs. But after reading this, told my wife that from now on, I will want another person confirming what pump I pull out. Bit of a hassle to always have 2 people out of van when fueling, but since 50% of the time the fuel stop is also being used as a stretch-break-stop, I figure my chances of screwing up will be much, much less with a 2nd person watching. Again, fast thinking saved your day!
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Old 07-29-2019, 04:46 AM   #9
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Mechanic told me that with that little amount of gas (2 gal gas, 12 gal diesel) I could put 2 qts of automatic transmission fluid in the tank (to add back the lubricity that the gasoline lacks) and go on my way. But I wasn't sure how the ATF would impact the thousands of dollars of aftertreatment and sensors and did not want to take the chance. Modern high pressure common rail fuel systems have extremely tight tolerances and I didn't want to chance that either. Bad as biodiesel is lubricity-wise, gasoline is even worse.

Agree with the irritation at BP and their green handles for gasoline, but in this instance I have nobody to blame but myself. Gas was black, diesel was green - just as it should be. Only thing I can think that was different is that diesel was on the right side of the bank of choices and it is usually on the left.
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Old 07-29-2019, 05:00 AM   #10
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Back in the days when diesel cars were scarce in the USA and winter fuel blends were hard to find, diesel mechanics were recommending that we just mix in a couple of gallons of gas with the diesel fuel, in the tank, to prevent gelling. No big deal.
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Old 07-29-2019, 06:05 AM   #11
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Being involved with construction companies, this happens all the time with "new guys" dumping gas cans into equipment instead of using the large tank on the back of the truck filled with diesel. Doesn't sound like you had hardly any gas go through and what did probably cleaned your injectors.

I would make a habit of it.

When travelling it is funny as my wife and I are looking for green handles at gas stations. With the longer trailer, we signed up with flying J and Loves truck stops and we just fill up with the diesel trucks. I would start doing this. You might wait a bit longer for a pump, but those big nosels can pump 30 gals in about 35 seconds. DEF is also available at a much cheaper price and it is so much easier to get in and out.

The truckers will also let you know what's up ahead if there is problems.
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Old 07-29-2019, 09:25 AM   #12
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If the pump at the station isn't dirty then it's probably not diesel.
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Old 07-29-2019, 09:33 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveSueMac View Post
Kudos. I literally almost just did the same this weekend. Went to a BP. All handles are green. I had my credit card in, approved, and only when I needed to select “grade” did I realize none of them were diesel! The diesel pump was behind me. Also green handle. Just wasn’t thinking. Sounds like you cleaned things out well. Kudos!
same with Hess. I filled the entire auxllary tank on my Chevy and then added a few gallons to my regular tank before I noticed. I shut the aux flow off and drove a block to an oil change place where they drained most of it out of the main tank. Drove the aux tank back home and drained it into a bunch of cans. I talked to my boat mechanic who said that 5% gasoline is not a big issue, especially for old model diesels like I have in my boat. Remembering the cracking process, I found that logical so I added a bit to every tank of diesel in boat and the chevy. In the end, no issues for 50k miles when the truck got wrecked.

Had I not been 1500 miles from home, I probably would have had a better job done of flushing out the tank but I got lucky this time. YMMV
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Old 07-29-2019, 09:53 AM   #14
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Sorry to pick on you but who fills a tank with the engine idling? Bet that won’t happen again!
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Old 07-29-2019, 10:07 AM   #15
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For all to know. I did a worse thing, I put Diesel Exhaust Fluid in the Fuel tank. Could have been a junked truck, 8000 in repairs or just a outlandish bill for $2000. Fortunately this accident was covered under my automobile insurance. Out of pocket costs were just my deductible. Thanks for SAFECO INS.


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Old 07-29-2019, 10:19 AM   #16
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Some years ago while pulling my Classic 28 with a Duramax, I topped off the bed tank with gasoline. I was just a few miles out of Corsecana, TX when the bed tank started to automatically refill the main tank. The engine went into limp mode and I barely made it into a side road. There was a shop there run by some immigrants who knew some English.

I turned off the automatic bed tank feed and we drained 5 gallons from the main tank (only container they had) and filled up with of diesel out of a barrel they had. It seemed ok, but about 30 miles later, it went into limp mode again. I drained and purged the fuel filter and filled up with diesel at the next station. It ran fine for about another 50 miles and I had to repeat the process. It happened twice more that day and then ran fine after that.

Fortunately, I had tools and knew how to drain the filter and get the air out of the system.

I have been a lot more careful since.
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Old 07-29-2019, 10:36 AM   #17
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idling and flushing tank

Re who puts fuel while idling, I do all the time when its freezing outside and one time when I had a dead battery and had to jump start or the kids are in the van and want the heater/air conditioning/radio.
Re cleaning tank when gas put in by mistake, who of us hasn't done this or come close to it. I wish there were incompatible nozzles, perhaps the diesel could be square shaped so it wouldn't fit into a round opening. In my case it is not IF I will ever do this, it's WHEN I will do it!!

As a former chemist, let me suggest a way to save time and fuel . When rinsing any container, whether a gas tank or a soapy glass, it is better to put in 1/2 gallon of diesel, let it mix and drain 10x , then two gallons 5x. If you calculate the dilution effect (nerdy chemistry stuff), you can see why I say that.

Regardless, 800 miles of trouble free travel is testimony to your genius!!
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Old 07-29-2019, 10:40 AM   #18
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My wife put about 8 gals of diesel in my 58 Corvette and drove it home. She didn't realize what she did until I checked the credit card receipt about a week later. We probably put 20 miles before it really started running really rough and quit running. Drained the tank and lines put some high octane gas, replace plugs. Used a little starting fluid to get running again and drove for another 10,000 miles.
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Old 07-29-2019, 11:04 AM   #19
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You Woulda Been Alright!

You had less than 10% gasoline in the tank if you had filled it with diesel right away. Now if you filled it with gas that’s a different story! I do know that Mercedes back in the day would recommend adding an amount of gas in cold weather. Seems to be some debate here but the gas would have mixed thoroughly with the diesel. Jet-B or JP-4 is a mixture of 70% gasoline and 30% Jet-A, No-1 heating fuel, kerosine or No-1 diesel, whatever you want to call it. it is all essentially the same thing. Only differ in a few additives. I have also known trucking owner/operators to, on purpose, run a tank or two of Jet-B in their big trucks, because it was free, without any issue although I would NOT recommend this!!! The ONLY issue there would have been is the lubricity of the pump and injectors but at 10% to even 30% gas I would not have been concerned.

On a side note: In my experience, adding gas to diesel in cold weather does not help anything!!! One cold evening, -45 in Central British Columbia, I fueled my big truck with what I was led to believe(the pump said so)No-1 diesel. It was straight No-2!!! Made it about 50 miles before the filter was clogging. No fuel heaters on the truck! Added 10 gals of gas to a 120 gallon tank and shut the other one off. Didn’t help! Another 100 miles or so put in another 10 gals. STILL didn’t make a difference!!! Had to stop every 50 miles to heat the filter with a torch to melt the paraffin. Heated and chugged my way all night and about 300 miles later made it to my trustworthy fuel stop in Northern B.C. and filled with real No-1, still at minus 50 or so. Ran fine from there on!!! Left the other tank shut off ‘til I found some warmer weather about a week later. So, In my opinion, there is so good reason to add any gasoline to diesel unless you want make some Jet-B for your turbine helicopter. On the other hand, the small amount you had in there would not have hurt anything!
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Old 07-29-2019, 11:05 AM   #20
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Red face

Back in the 1960 days got 5 Gal's of Dis in with 5 gal of gas. Talk about smoke
we just drove it out, those flat head's were hard to kill
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