AAHH!!! I put in diesel fuel!!

It was after work Wednesday after a long day...stopped to get gas, went to the end pumps, without looking grabbed the nozzle on the far right since 93 octane is usually to the right..right? Wrong!!! That particular set of pumps on the end dispensed diesel as well and I put 10.00 worth of diesel in. Got about a mile away and the car just died.

Had to take the next day off, crawl under the car and pull down the tank (below freezing weather). This took most of the day and two trips to the parts store to buy a hacksaw to get one of the bolts off and get new fuel line.

Today I smell like diesel, there is not a knuckle on either hand that isn't unscraped and hurting, and today it is snowing (I work 75 miles from home).

On the bright side, found my build sheet under the insulation on my gas tank...guess everything happens for a reason

Now...is there anything I need to worry about from having diesel in the fuel system? Someone told me that I should change the oil a couple of times at a few hundred mile intervals.

Dan

 

Dan,

No need to change the oil.
I recently spoke to a mechanic from our Road Assistance Club, and they come across things like this every day. Their cars are equipped with an electric pump and dirty fuel tank, so they just suck out the diesel (or petrol in a diesel car), fill it up with the right fuel and crank it over until it starts.
He told me that petrol in a diesel injection pump could cause damage to some seals, but diesel in a petrol system (even fuel injected) is not a big deal.

Hope this will calm you down a bit.....p

 

I know of "someone" who did this too.
You may want to disconnect the fuel line at the carb, and probably the ignition (make sure there are no sparks), and pump the diesel from the line into an empty 2 Liter pop bottle. That'll clear the bad stuff from the line.
I'm guessing it probably has some diesel and residue in the cylinders, but that should just black smoke itself out the back until it's running the "good" gas.

 

On the bright side, found my build sheet under the insulation on my gas tank...guess everything happens for a reason


Now there a guy who can make lemonade out of lemons!

 

Check and clean the plugs as needed.

 

Thanks guys,

I dropped the tank out, drained it, put in good gas and cranked it till it fired. Belched smoke for a good 15 minutes but is running good as ever now.

Guess I didn't have quite enough compression to run on diesel p

Dan

 

LoL..Your not alone...I did it once in a 69 Ford truck I had...very early on morning, still half asleep, I was putting the gas ( I thought) and on those trucks the filler was chest high..and I started to smell the fuel...:rant: ...I was so mad..I had put about 4 gallons in it...I made it to work but my truck was not happy about it...I took the fuel line off at the pump, set a bucket under it and to cap off, it all just ran out, after about half a tank of gas it was totaly fine.

 

Fessin'up

Yup, I did it too. Filled my 65 Riv up to the top! I figured it out before firing the car-I got to thinking "man, that fill up was cheap!" I wonder how much per gallon this AAHHHHHH" as I saw what pump it came from! I walked about a block to a K-Mart and bought a hand pump and 2-5 gal gas cans and 1 2 gallon can. Weighted the rope down with my 3/4 combo wrench and pumped what I could out into the cans. "accidentally" spilled the contents of the 2 gal out-i still feel the guilt! and filled that with premium (I had rolled the car away from the pumps to do this stuff) Started the car long enough to back it back to the pumps and filled it with premium. Never had a any problems, just with self esteem-How could I be so stupid?

Sounds like you did fine, at least your 3/4 combo wrench is not still in your gas tankou: