Diesel and Gas do mix

[DDougherty]

I was traveling from PA to GA in my 2500 04 Ram CTD to help move my daughter back to PA. I stopped in SC at a BP station that advertised Diesel. I pulled up to the pumps and grabbed the green pump handle which turned out to be gas, in PA diesel is green.



I pumped 6 gal. in before I realized what I was doing , this must be a common occurrence because the people in side said "went for the green handle" and had a number posted for a guy that plumps out tanks. I spent an hour calling a local Dodge dealer the guy that pumps out tanks and my home Dodge dealer. The local dealer would not commit but my home dealer's diesel tech said to fill it as full as I could and I would be OK.



After filling up with 29 gal. of diesel I had better performance and pick up, I was towing an 18 ft enclosed trailer, and better fuel economy by 2 mpg. By my calculations I had about 17% gas in the tank.

It ran so good I got nailed doing 86, up a steep hill, in a 65 on I-75 just south of the track at Atlanta on Friday before the NASCAR race last October.



Question:

What, if any, damage would be done to the engine if -

1. A 10%-15% gas to diesel mixture was used on a regular basis?



2. What about using the WVO or home brew Bio-Diesel in the 04 Ram diesel?



I have about 72,000 miles on the truck.



Doc

 

[InfernoB]

I had to check the date to make sure it wasn't April 1. But all we do tomorrow is get up at 2 AM to change the clocks.....

Good luck.



I would not even contemplate it. I think you were lucky the first time. By the way, those green handled pumps mess with everyone. I check everytime.

 

[MickeyMiller]

Handles are green here in California also. I carry 10' of 5/8" hose 'just in case' I pump gas instead of diesel. I haven't made that mistake, but about 6 months ago I pulled in to fuel up and there was a guy with his family all in a flutter... . his son had inadvertently pumped 10 gallons of gasoline before they caught it. I gave them my hose, they rounded up containers to siphon the contaminated fuel into. I wonder what you do with 15 or so gallons of a gas/diesel mix?

 

[TAbbott]

30 years ago, an old timer then told me that in a pinch, you could mix a gallon of gas with a quart of 30 wt non detergent oil and burn the mix in a heavy duty diesel. Tolerances in injection systems were a lot looser then and no one expected their heavy duty, big rig engines to last over 250,000 miles without being overhauled -- injectors were routinely replaced at 150,000 or so. Now we expect 4 times those numbers -- or better.



Gasoline is a solvent, not a lubricant, and the diesel/gasoline mixture is quite dangerous to use because of its explosive nature, even in an enclosed tank. The vapor in the tank is neither too rich (straight gasoline) or too lean (straight diesel) to ignite in the event of an ignition source. It's "just right" as they say. In a pinch, if I had just accidentally pumped in a few gallons of gas in a relatively empty tank, I think I might try adding a quart of ashless oil (2 stroke oil if available) for each gallon of gas and filling with diesel and running it.



To do it on purpose? Not unless its 30 deg. below zero and I put 1/2 gallon of unleaded in with a full tank of diesel to stop it from gelling-up. JMHO

 

[RHestand]

Handles are green here in California also. I carry 10' of 5/8" hose 'just in case' I pump gas instead of diesel. I haven't made that mistake, but about 6 months ago I pulled in to fuel up and there was a guy with his family all in a flutter... . his son had inadvertently pumped 10 gallons of gasoline before they caught it. I gave them my hose, they rounded up containers to siphon the contaminated fuel into. I wonder what you do with 15 or so gallons of a gas/diesel mix?

I used mine for H. D. cleaning solvent. (1/3 gas-2/3 diesel) It works great, but you have to use with caution, and only outdoors, it can be dangerous.