Gas in a Diesel engine

[diesel lover]

I agree with PoorMansCat. Drain the fuel tank and replace with clean Diesel and some Diesel fuel conditioner. Detroit recommends SAE40 year round. That means, where you are, a block heater would help with the starting. I doubt you hurt the engine by running it. Those "Driptroits" would put up with about anything but lugging. Wind it right out and run it like you just hit your hand with a hammer, it will be a much happier engine that way.

I learned this as a kid and this is actually true!! Detroit's like to be ran hard!!! They have their power in the higher rpms so they don't like to be lugged in the lower Rpms.

It is true these will run on about any fuel due to their crude mechanical nature. Jet fuel, kerosene, used motor oil, trans fluid, heating oil, engine engine oil in small percentage... etc.

By wheel loader do you mean like an articulated pay loader?

 

[ultrarunner]

I saw a new Kubota with 12 hours torn down at the Dealer... severe engine damage from gasoline.

Guy let his brother in law borrow his new tractor and the nephew filled the tank with gasoline... ran it until it stopped running... not a pretty sight and very expensive.

Dealer told me it happens a couple of times every year.

 

[Arc weld]

Don't take a chance, drain the fuel tank and change the fuel filters. Diesel additive wouldn't hurt. Injection pumps don't like gasoline and they aren't cheap to fix.

 

[PhysAssist]

After my wife "helpfully" topped off our 2 year old B2320's tank with gas, we immediately drained it, purged the lines, and changed the oil and both fuel and oil filters, (luckily it was nearly time again for the filter changes), and added some supplemntal lube to the diesel we refilled it with, and have not had any problems- thanks to the advice of my TBN friends.

Thomas

I saw a new Kubota with 12 hours torn down at the Dealer... severe engine damage from gasoline.

Guy let his brother in law borrow his new tractor and the nephew filled the tank with gasoline... ran it until it stopped running... not a pretty sight and very expensive.

Dealer told me it happens a couple of times every year.

 

[Norm W]

The Detroit uses a different type of injection system than a Kubota or the other 4cycle Diesels. The injectors are a unit injector that is timed with a rocker arm off the cam shaft. The tolerances are a bit looser and the injector is cooled by a flow of fuel that circulates back to the tank. That flow is a bit better than .5 gpm at 1200 RPM. The top governed RPM is usually 2150 no load. Even an injector pump can survive some gas in the Diesel. VW suggested one gallon gas to ten gallons Diesel in extreme cold if the fuel was gelling. When disaster happens it is usually because the Diesel has been about empty and the tank was filled with gas. That becomes almost straight gas to the pump.

 

[PoorMansCat]

Two cycle engine oil is just a good all around lubricant for the injection system. Adding some can help protect the older designed fuel systems, its generally cheaper than the hundreds of diesel fuel additives available at the parts store.
For the most part, its almost impossible to add too much, and two cycle engine oil is designed to be part of the combustion process. I know many people put ATF in their fuel, but ATF was never designed to be combusted and it todays newer systems, it can actually be very detrimental.

 

[chrisdvorak]

Thanks for all the input! I ended up draining the fuel tank, I don't think there was too much gas mixed in as it looked like diesel but smelled like gas. I put 15 gals of fresh diesel in with additive and some 2 stroke oil mixed in and it ran fine. I ran it today for about an hour feeding bales and so far I like the old girl, nothing fancy but it gets the job done ive also attached some pics if anyone is interested.

 

[GManBart]

Very cool....that should be really handy to have around! My neighbor has a similar wheel loader that he made a set of pallet forks for, and it's amazing what he can lift with it. I've seen him lift a full size 1970s chevy van onto a flatbed with ease. I'd love to know what sort of lift capacity yours has.

 

[buickanddeere]

Engine oil for a two stroke is not only supposed to be straight weight but also low ash. Rotella 1 suits.
If the engine doesn't have a block heater, obtain and install one. Instead of beating it with ether. Oil pan heater too.

 

[chrisdvorak]

GManBart- it's funny that you mentioned forks as that will be my next project for this loader. As far as lift capacity goes I don't know for sure on the 164, I do know that the trojan 114 is around a 5 to 6k lb capacity machine so the 164 is somewhere north of that number. I can tell you that it lifted a 2k lb silage bale like it was nothing though
Buickanddeere- this machine has no engine heater whatsoever, but honestly I don't think it would help much this Detroit was rebuilt 50hrs ago and even when I started it today (45 degrees) it still took its fair share of ether.