Archived put gas in diesel...Aaarg!

[AChaulk]

​​I gotdistracted at the pump by a guy pan handling and begging for money. Thought Imight be getting set up to be robbed. When he walked away, I looked down andrealized that I was pumping 91 octane gasoline into my Cummins truck. (2001 RAM2500 5.9L VP-44) Holy sheet!

I pumped in 4 gallons of gas before I caught it. In a state of panic I hastilydecided to fill the rest of the 35 gallon tank with diesel and see how itbehaved. I thought with four gallons of gas mixed in a 35 gallon tank of diesel, theratio of gas to diesel ends up being right at 11% and I hoped it would be okay.I drove the truck home with no problems. Contacted my neighbor's son who is afairly new diesel mechanic with a local Ford dealership. He thought that itwould be okay but I should add some Diesel Kleen cetane booster and fuellubricant to improve the lubricity of the bad mix. After reading a few posts onsome sites, I decided to add a BIG bottle of the Diesel Kleen Plus CetaneBoost, 80 oz.

Truck seemed to be doing fine. I drove it around town with no load and at lowspeeds. I probably got 40 miles on the truck and had already squeezed inanother two gallons of regular diesel to dilute out the gas ASAP. I did a driveat 60mph for about 19 miles before stopping to go fishing in a remote lake inDurango, CO. Got back in the truck after several hours of fishing and itstarted up fine. I drove about 100 feet to some kid that was doing a survey forthe State at the park exit. Naturally with the noisy engine, I turned it off sowe could communicate. I did the 5 minute survey and then I could not startthe truck. Engine cranked over just fine but would not catch. The tempswere in the 90s and I figured that maybe the gasoline in the tank was causing avapor-lock condition.

My wife came out to the lake in her car with my tool bag. I used my 3/4"open-end wrench and managed to crack open four out of the six fuel injectorlines at the block and crank-primed them till they were squirting out prettywell. Tightened the nuts back down and tried it again. Nothing...Still crankingover fast but not firing. Ended up leaving my poor truck locked up in the lakeparking lot and going home for the night. Didn’t sleep the whole night. I'dhoped to come back the next morning with much cooler temperatures that thevapor-lock problem would be better. Temps were closer to 60 degrees the nextmorning but it just did the same thing. I cracked the lines again and bled themwith no help.

I brought a can of starting fluid with me and tried spraying in into my turboinlet to see if I could get it to fire. It fired right up and ran at a highidle for several seconds. I kept throttling in some of the starting fluid tokeep it running for about a minute in hopes that it might finally clear all theair and start. STILL no luck.

I brought along my OBD-III reader and plugged it in. I had several repeatingcodes that popped up a number of times and were being saved in the reader.Fault Code P-0252 (Injection Pump Metering A-Range) and P-1688 (AuxOutputs/Inputs. Manufacturer Control.)

I finally had the truck towed to my house. Now I have resources and a safeplace to figure things out.

So.... did I blow up my VP-44 pump? Any guessed what to do now?

 

[Bob4x4]

Time to replace the injection pump.I would also drain and refill tank

 

[AChaulk]

Time to replace the injection pump.I would also drain and refill tank

Thanks for the input. Very much appreciated.

I'm in the process of trying to drain my tank which is full with the diesel, gas & Deisel Kleen mix. Amazing how few people in my town know how to get rid of the contaminated diesel. I called city people, the fire department hazmat people, waste disposal companies, auto dealerships, etc. Finally someone told me that a local oil/fuel company would take it. Brennen Oil in Durango not only will take the messed up diesel, they lent me two 15 gallon plastic containers to put it in...no charge! Nice people.

I'll get everything flushed out and install a new fuel filter. Then I'll try one more 'hale Mary' attempt to prime the injector system with the clean fuel and see if I get lucky. Probably not but it's worth a try.

If it doesn't work then I'll start looking for a new (rebuilt) high pressure pump.

Any suggestions as to who to get that pump from?

 

[SMcGrady]

http://www.bluechipdiesel.com/

 

[AChaulk]

Blue Chip Diesel.... Thanks!

 

[Regcabguy]

I did the same thing to my '98.5. A guy came into the station and started talking Cummins with me. We said our goodbyes and I commenced to dump 6 gallons of 87 octane into mine. Had it towed to the dealer. You're not alone. To this day I still get the eeby jeebies everytime I fill it.

 

[petersonj]

Fault Code P-0252 (Injection Pump Metering A-Range) and P-1688 (AuxOutputs/Inputs. Manufacturer Control.)

I looked up these codes and here is what I found.

Code P1688 - internal fuel injection pump controller failure
Code P0252 - fuel injection pump fuel valve stuck

- John

 

[AChaulk]

Thanks. now I have to figure out if those codes mean irreversible damage to the high pressure pump.

 

[B.G. Smith]

I did that once in Dallas, I put about 5 gallons in but it was into my aux. 110 gallon tank. Before I used any of the fuel out of the aux. tank I added a gallon of outboard motor oil and never looked back. Ran it four years and several thousand miles after that with no fuel related problems, when I sold it in 06 it had 117,000 miles on it. bg

 

[AChaulk]

Trying to drain the fuel tank. Not having much luck with siphoning it out with a hose. Hose keeps curling up and going high in the tank.

I want to use the lift pump to get it all all the bad fuel out of the tank...but...It seems like bumping the starter over and over again is not a good idea. So I'm trying to run a hot wire right to the lift pump...but...the lift pump is a b--ch to get to and I can't manage an alligator clip on the power wire. Is there a spot upstream on the fuse panel that I can tap the power into the lift pump that is reachable? None of the fuses that I can find are marked fuel pump or lift pump.

super frustrating!

 

[petersonj]

None of the fuses that I can find are marked fuel pump or lift pump.

Unfortunately, there is no fuse for the lift pump. Assuming you have a stock lift pump is on the side of the engine block, the lift pump's 12 volt power source is supplied directly from the ECM.

If I was in your situation with intentions of keeping the truck for several years, I would take this opportunity to relocate the lift pump to the frame rail making it more accessible and to improve its performance (more like a pusher pump). I would then add a relay to supply 12 volt power to the pump, thus reducing the electrical load on the ECM. I would connect the lift pump signal from the ECM to the coil of the relay.

If you decide to go this way, you can cut the fuel line now on the inside of the truck frame near the fuel tank (the larger diameter of the two hoses is the lift pump supply) since you will need to do this anyway to relocate the lift pump nearby. Temporarily add a length of hose to siphon the fuel tank.

- John

 

[Bob4x4]

Thanks. now I have to figure out if those codes mean irreversible damage to the high pressure pump.

Yes it does

 

[GAmes]

It's a little late for you but I'm posting this for any readers who might accidentally do the same thing in the future. If it were me, since reading this article some time ago, I would have had the tow truck at the fuel island and restricted the contaminated fuel to the tank by not starting the engine at all. https://www.turbodieselregister.com/mixing_gasoline_and_diesel.htm

 

[AChaulk]

Thanks again to everyone for helping me out in my time of crisis. It's somewhat comforting to know that I'm not the only guy that has done this bone head move. Hopefully I will not do it again.

I drained out the 35 gallons of bad mix fuel yesterday. I did most of that by removing the shrader valve from the back of the fuel filter housing, plugging a 10 foot section of neoprene hose onto the pressure testing port and using the lift pump to pump the fuel out. Since I'm going to have to replace the lift pump anyhow, I figure I'd just risk burning it up to make the process easier. Actually, after a couple of bumps of the key to activate the starter, I noticed that the tank actually started syphoning slowly out of the truck's tank and into my collection can. But the flow was really slow and I just didn't want to waste that much time

After dunning the tank dry, I removed the old fuel filter, cleaned out the filter bowl and put in a new element. Then I cracked all the injector lines at the rocker cover and cranked it over for about 15 seconds. Then I tightened down the injector lines and gave the VP-44 one more chance to redeem itself. "I BELIEVE...I BELIEVE!!" Sorry I doubted everyone's confirmations but I just had to try.

I ordered a replacement VP-44 and an Airdog FRRP-100 pump online from Thoroughbred last night and will begin removing all the old components this morning.

I think the combo of doing my own work will save a ton of money as compared to taking the old girl to the local dealership. I did call the dealership and asked about dumping the old fuel. Without really listening to my question, the kid that answered said they charge $700.00 just to drain the bad fuel and replace the filer and get it running again. I can't even imagine what they would have charged if I just took the truck there and just told them to fix it, after I trashed the VP-44 and lift pump.

Now, my only hope is that I did not trash my brand new RV-275 injectors that I installed in March if this year. Wish there was an easy way to figure that out while I have it torn apart and waiting for the VP-44 to arrive. Short of pulling them out and sending them away to be bench tested, I don't know of any way. Anything I'm not thinking of that you guys know of to try on the injectors?

Thanks again for all the help guys.

 

[AChaulk]

You are 110% correct GAmes and others that have posted on here. Do NOT believe everything you read or hear about just adding some sort of lubricant to the bad gas/diesel mix and try to burn it out by driving it. WRONG!!!

It was a very costly mistake and learning lesson for me. All I can say now is man what a dumb-*** I was and I believe!

 

[GAmes]

The bad thing is I never dreamed that gas would also ruin a injection pump. I sure hope the engine doesn't have any damage. I suggest you pull the injectors for testing and, if you can find one, borescope the cylinders while the injectors are removed.

 

[jhenderson]

You need to remember the vp44 is the weak link. Those pumps are known to fail as soon as the lift pump quits. Fuel is the lubricant. It could be coincidence or not. The engine itself should be fine. A lot of folks have mis-fueled without engine damage even when he motor was making a real racket.

 

[GAmes]

Maybe I'm overly cautious since I am frequently thousands of miles from home. I wouldn't take the chance just because others got away without known damage.

 

[Bob4x4]

I have repaired many models of ctds with the gas issue so far no injector damage from any year

 

[SAndreasen]

Did the same thing last summer only at the farm overhead tanks dumped about a 1/4 tank or little more realized i was dumping gas in stoped dumped a couple gallon 15/40 engine oil . ran the truck for a few rounds hauling hay dumped anothe dose of 15/40 and topped the fuel off again did that a couple times through the day and luckily no problems yet