Ever wonder if Diesel at the pump isn't really Diesel?

[CStraface]

So I was filling up the other day and I sware to god I thought I was smelling unleaded going into my tank. I dunno why, but I was just gettin strong whiffs of gasoline and not good ol' diesel. Anyone else ever wonder if the trucker fills up the wrong tanks with the wrong kind of fuel?



How would you know if you had gasoline in your tank? Combustion is the same as diesel, right? The difference is the lubricy properties right?. So how could you tell?

 

[bighammer]

Never had it happen, but I hear the truck won't go very far afterwards.

.

 

[WDixon27]

depending on what the ratio of gas to diesel is they can preignition badly up to the point of not running (atleast that's how the several different car diesels i've dealt with have performed, ain't done a cummins) it happened to mom once in her volvo turbo diesel where the station filled the wrong tank, fortunately the tank had a drain in it but i still wasn't a happy camper

 

[MillerTim]

So I was filling up the other day and I sware to god I thought I was smelling unleaded going into my tank. I dunno why, but I was just gettin strong whiffs of gasoline and not good ol' diesel. Anyone else ever wonder if the trucker fills up the wrong tanks with the wrong kind of fuel?



How would you know if you had gasoline in your tank? Combustion is the same as diesel, right? The difference is the lubricy properties right?. So how could you tell?

you can put a lighter to diesel w/o it catching fire. drip some on the floor and see if it lights if you have gas in your diesel it will light.

 

[Regcabguy]

Tanker fail safe connections?

Out of curiousity,I questioned a tanker truck driver if there was an infallable system of matching male-female connections when filling stations with different products from his tanks. His answer was "no". In his twenty-four years as a driver he has screwed up 5-6 times putting diesel into gas and vise-versa. I always smell the nozzle before filling my truck now.

 

[Bernie]

Out of curiousity,I questioned a tanker truck driver if there was an infallable system of matching male-female connections

I guess not:

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061014/NEWS01/610140322/1002

 

[CStraface]

Yeah it's a little scary. Those guys are driving all night, I dunno. I am really starting to wonder, I really think this stuff smells like gas. I put some conditioner in.

 

[CATCRACKER]

my cousin owns a station about 4 years ago they had the delivery man screw up and put gas in diesel and vise versa. There were some mad mississippians that day!

 

[RankRam]

Just to be safe, I always sniff the end of the fuel pump nozzle.



If it's good enough for me then it's good enough for my truck.

 

[BigEasy]

As a tanker driver, I can assure you that it would be very hard for someone to put gas in a diesel tank... I'm not saying impossible, but you'd have to be a real retard. By law, the fills have to be color coded and tagged as to their contents, and my company (as most) give me a diagram of the stations that I will deliver to with my dispatch paperwork every day.



Also, diesel tanks have no vapor recovery system... gas tanks do.

 

[WDixon27]

make something idiot proof and the world designes a better idiot, the exxon mom got gassed at WAS her regular station and she virtually grew up on diesels so i don't think she grabbed the wrong hose :-laf

As a tanker driver, I can assure you that it would be very hard for someone to put gas in a diesel tank... I'm not saying impossible, but you'd have to be a real retard. By law, the fills have to be color coded and tagged as to their contents, and my company (as most) give me a diagram of the stations that I will deliver to with my dispatch paperwork every day.



Also, diesel tanks have no vapor recovery system... gas tanks do.

 

[steved]

Just to be safe, I always sniff the end of the fuel pump nozzle.



If it's good enough for me then it's good enough for my truck.

Haha, that is my trick too... dribble a little out the nozzle and make sure it at least looks and smells like diesel...



steved

 

[bmoeller]

you can put a lighter to diesel w/o it catching fire. drip some on the floor and see if it lights if you have gas in your diesel it will light.

As long as there isn't much gas vapor, you can drop a match in liquid gasoline, and it won't light either.

 

[Greenleaf]

I smell the fuel in the nozzel after a quick shot of fuel into the tank, but only when I'm on the road at an unfamiliar fuel station. I use a fuel distribution center to refuel my trucks here @ home base. They cator to the Big Rigs and move tons of diesel regular like.

 

[Dieselnut59]

As a side note, the new ULSD has a totally different smell (almost kerosenish)when you are fueling. Smells different at the exhaust too.

 

[DZink24]

I got a story to outdo all of you! HUGE MISTAKE

December 1999, Buffalo, NY- A tanker driver at an inner-city Buffalo gas station accidentally put gasoline into the KEROSENE tank. This was a huge boo-boo, as what do low income families use to heat their homes/apts. ? Yes, kero heaters. The outcome of this was unbelievable. Houses in Buffalo were literally bursting into flames like tinder boxes. All the TV stations were scrolling the warning across the screens, as well as radio giving warnings. It got to the point where engine companies were actually driving by fires on their way to the initial dispatch, and letting the other units know what to expect. i. e, multiple, unrelated fires within spittting distance of each other.

 

[CStraface]

As a side note, the new ULSD has a totally different smell (almost kerosenish)when you are fueling. Smells different at the exhaust too.

That is a damn good point. Never thought about that, but now that you mention it I think that is the problem. I made a few long road trips towards the end of summer (right around when the new ULSD was commin in) and I filled at some little town stations and I could have sawrin it wasn't the stuff I fueled up with back home. Good POint

 

[starkmr]

you can put a lighter to diesel w/o it catching fire. drip some on the floor and see if it lights if you have gas in your diesel it will light.

This is not good advice!! Open flame at a fueling station is against the law to start with. If you happen to be in an area that is hot, like say Az in the summertime, then fuel vapors have been known to accumulate. Chances are that nothing will happen, but I don't want to be around when some moron tries this out.

 

[CStraface]

I don't think any of us are dumb enough to try this at a gas station. If I were going to try the light test, I would just open my check valve into a can or something, pour out all the fluid and light her up. I wouldn't go lighting anything up at a gas station or even within a 20 mile radius of a gas station. Although I have always liked explotions... . :--)

 

[Dieselnut59]

That is a damn good point. Never thought about that, but now that you mention it I think that is the problem. I made a few long road trips towards the end of summer (right around when the new ULSD was commin in) and I filled at some little town stations and I could have sawrin it wasn't the stuff I fueled up with back home. Good POint

Check at the pump where you got the fuel. All pumps I have seen with ULSD have the sticker declaring such. It says "Ultra Low Sulpher Highway Diesel Fuel" ... "Required for model year 2007 and newer diesel engines" ... 15 PPM Sulpher maximum"