Misfueling

[RexhallJames]

FWIW, I run quite a bit of wmo which is waste motor oil in a variety of different diesel engines. Prior to running the waste motor oil, I mix it with 20% gas. I have dabbled an experimented with running too much gas just to see what would have happened and have never caused any irreparable damage.

In this case, if you drain the tank and filters, fill the filter housing and tank with fresh diesel, and start it up, 99% of the time you'll be good to go. It will run a bit rough for the first couple minutes as gas is flushed out of the fuel lines, but again, diesels can run up to 20% gas and that fuel line dilution definitely won't be that much.

If you mixed in DEF it'd be a whole different story (corrosive) and I would agree with the dealership. But for just gas, they're going way overboard and padding their pockets. Yes, I'm sure the manufacturer recommends this as the repair but real world experience says that a simple complete drain and refill will sort everything out.

[joesesto]

Originally Posted by donr103

You can handle 2 ways.. as I see it.. call your insurance and see if you are covered.. most are..
Or if you are handy or have some help..

I'm an insurance agent and if it is covered it is under the Comprehensive coverage subject to a deductible and possible the value of the vehicle. All `my claims have been on Commercial vehicles mis-filled by new employees.

I've seen the different from normal colors on diesel nozzles, too. It might have been in Canada where the diesel handle was red.

Once I stopped at a new station in Pueblo, CO where the stickers next to the diesel and gas sides were reversed. The pumps were so new that I could still peel the stickers off and reverse them.

In California I pulled in behind an F250 Diesel using the gas pump. The diesel pump was alone between the 2 gas pumps on the island. The driver was running back and forth from the truck stop office. Finally he came back to tell me the obvious...he had filled his truck with gasoline. He was waiting for guys from the truck side to push his truck (that he never started) to the service pit so the tank could be dropped, drained and the tank reinstalled. The diesel fuel would be put in a waste barrel and trucked to a haz-mat dump site about 200 miles away. It would cost $2000. He knew all the details as it was the 2nd time he had done it on the same pump.

[alton]

Originally Posted by Tugboat

Had this happened to you?

I went to a BP station that I have never used. I grabbed the green pump handle and filled the tank 21 gallons and went home 3.5 miles as I was pulling in to my driveway the truck started to buck. I shut it off and thinking I got bad fuel I checked to see if I hat the recite. Look at the recite I said [Mod Edit] and saw I put in gas.
I pumped as much as I could about 14 gallons called the tow truck and had it towed to the dealer.

This morning they told me that it will probably cost me $9,000 to $10,000 to fix if I hadn’t started it it would have just been drop the tank and flush. But starting means a new Fuel Kit.

O it could take up to 90 days to get the Fuel Kit they are on back order.

[emoji33][emoji30]

I am guessing if you put 15 gal. of gasoline in a diesel and drove 3 miles you need a complete rebuild.

[RexhallJames]

Originally Posted by alton

I am guessing if you put 15 gal. of gasoline in a diesel and drove 3 miles you need a complete rebuild.

Nah, no rebuild needed, just a drain of the gas out of the system and refill with diesel.

[RexhallJames]

$2000 to dispose of perfectly good fuel. Wow, what a ripoff....

[djbmsu]

You aren't the first to make that error at their stations and will not be the last. Happened to me in our Diesel coach. Called cummins and they said " if it had been just 10 or 15 gallons of gas it would have been no problem. Just fill it up with diesel and it will be fine to burn" However it was 65 gallon of gas. Fortunately I did NOT turn the key on so nothing was contaminated and there was a company that came and sucked All of the fuel out so I could refill with diesel. Lost about $350 with the service call and fuel but learned to never stop at their stations again !

[KanzKran]

Originally Posted by Ldubs

If I have it right, a diesel nozzle won't fit in a gaso tank filler neck, but a gaso nozzle will fit in a diesel's filler neck.

Originally Posted by Ray,IN

No, an auto-diesel nozzle will fit into a standard gas filler opening, the truck nozzles are twice as large as an auto--diesel nozzle.

For the record, a standard auto unleaded nozzle is 13/16” outside diameter, a small auto diesel nozzle is 15/16” OD, and a high-flow truck diesel nozzle is 1-3/16” OD.

I believe the auto diesel is the same OD as the old leaded gas nozzles, and both smaller sizes are classified as 3/4” nozzles (inlet size) while the high-flow diesel is 1” nominal (and inlet size).

The auto diesel nozzle isn’t supposed to fit an unleaded fill port since it’s the same size as the leaded gas nozzle (too big). But I don’t know if manufacturers even bother controlling that port size any more since leaded fuel isn’t available any more in retail gas stations other than maybe avgas, but not many cars are pulling into airports to fill up.

[frizfreleng]

Originally Posted by Jay D.

isn't the GREEN pump handle always diesel ?
Jay D.

Spot on Jay! Always use the green handle no matter where you are. You will be just fine.

[dbircky]

Some of these events sound like using the dedicated truck lanes is a good idea for diesels. Plus if towing, significantly more room to maneuver.

[craigbenoit]

The problem is always a loose nut on the pump handle.

[FLJOE]

A couple years ago a buddy traveling to FL pumped DEF into his RAM diesel. To this day he doesn't know how he did it. If I recall it cost him about $9,000 and 30 days of down time. When he finally got to FL there were several of us heading out on a motorcycle ride. When we stopped at a Love's to gas up one of our group filled his Harley with diesel.

This sort of thing happens all the time. I suspect my generation does it just because we are getting old, younger generations are doing it because they always having a phone in their hand.

[Podivin]

Originally Posted by frizfreleng

Spot on Jay! Always use the green handle no matter where you are. You will be just fine.

As stated previously, this is incorrect. There is no color standard for the handles. You have to read the pump, not just go by the color of the handle.

[Fridge Defend]

We may be experts with Dometic and Norcold Absorption refrigerators, but I also worked as an over the road diesel mechanic in an International Harvester Dealer in the 70s, only then getting my engineering license.

Hope this helps, you may have done no damage at all! You can only get the gas out of the system to determine if there is damage.

We did the same thing, us stupid Montanan's, we are used to the green handle being diesel always! We learned by going into BP country that there are not any standards for fuel pumps as stated earlier. Lucky, no one was fueling by me and I smelled the gas. The pump was not marked clearly, being an engineer I want to think I am so smart, this showed we all do dumb stuff! A nice person drove me to the local Walmart and I bought 4 gas cans, disconnected my electric transfer pump, and pumped all the diesel/gas mix into the gas cans while the gas station attendant complained about me blocking their pumps. It is so nice to be able to ignore people and get one's work done

Long and short of it, your issues can only be determined after cleaning the system as stated in the other posts, you do not need to buy anything, or even remove the tank in most cases. Just purge the system of the gas/diesel mixture. Gas will go to the top of the tank, the density of gas is much less than the diesel. This is why you got home, the diesel was at the bottom, but some mixing will take place so when you pulled into the driveway you sucked up some gas.

The issue is your engine most likely ! Depending on your fuel injection system, you most likely did not damage the fuel system, as stated earlier. Purge the fuel system, add some lubricity additive, then drive the darn thing! If engine damage did occur, this can be determined after driving. Do a cylinder balance or compression test. Be sure to change the oil before driving!

[CRV2]

Regarding the handle color, I don't quite understand why that even matters. Everywhere I have been (and I haven't been everywhere), when purchasing fuel you have to actually choose the fuel and price that you want (Diesel, Reg unleaded, mid grade and premium). If you actually press the Diesel fuel choice on the pump, then only one nozzle will work, you can try the gasoline nozzle but nothing will come out. So, perhaps the pumps are different in other places, but from my experience you would have to have a series of mistakes in order to get gasoline in your diesel vehicle. ~CA