I know exactly what you mean dumb mistakes. My mistake came at the very end of the day, working seven hours with the tractor doing stump grinding and wood chipping. Temperature was 98F in Texas that day, and certainly contributed to my lack of focus. I have Gas clearly marked on my yellow cans and Diesel clearly marked on my red cans, and i still made this dumb mistake. The injectors were pinging loudly, so there was mechanical noise from those injectors. The good news is, after 11 hours additional use on the tractor, I have no problems. But still waiting for the Tier-4 DPF emissions to enter a burn cycle. The gas in the fuel, triggered an immediate DPF burn, which was stronger sulphur smell than normal.The older I get, the simpler I try to make things. It ticks me off when I make stupid mistakes, knowing full when that the mistake shouldn,t of happened. Hopefully adding gas to your diesel engine didn,t hurt it.
Good post! I hadnt thought of that effect.Years ago, Mercedes came out recommending up to 10% gasoline in diesel as a fix to winter diesel problems. Then they rescinded that when they found out that such a mix can cause a very explosive atmosphere in the fuel tank. Normally, diesel tank atmosphere is too lean for an explosion to happen, and gasoline tank vapor spaces are too rich.
Good to hear that nothing bad happened, which enhances my feeling about any needed "lubricity" for today's diesel fuel. You lost it with the gasoline. The fuel injectors are designed for low/no lubricity needed. Probably the lobes or whatever in the pumps don't actually touch.
I use red and blue "cans" for diesel but clearly mark them as DIESEL.
Ralph
That one confuses me. VW uses the exact same tank and in-tank pump for their gassers and their diesels. Diesel doesn't emit much vapor at normal atmospheric pressure and temp, while gasoline emits vapor at around 77 degrees Fahrenheit. And it's the vapor that "rapidly combusts", or explodes. (Neither liquid gasoline or liquid diesel will ignite.) I can't see how putting both gasoline and diesel in the same tank would cause a problem. (Now, you are not supposed to fill a gasoline tank to the top because there needs to be room for vapor expansion, while this isn't necessary for diesel...)
Essentially, yes.. The problem is that diesel fuel has low volatility and a high flash point, so it is too lean for the tank fumes to ignite.
Gas has a very low flash point but very high volatility, so the fumes in the tank are too rich to ignite.
Combine a little highly volatile gas with a volume of low volatility diesel, and you have the conditions for a tank explosion, ie the a/f ratio of the tank vapors are in the region that it could explode.
I know exactly what you mean dumb mistakes. My mistake came at the very end of the day, working seven hours with the tractor doing stump grinding and wood chipping. Temperature was 98F in Texas that day, and certainly contributed to my lack of focus. I have Gas clearly marked on my yellow cans and Diesel clearly marked on my red cans, and i still made this dumb mistake. The injectors were pinging loudly, so there was mechanical noise from those injectors. The good news is, after 11 hours additional use on the tractor, I have no problems. But still waiting for the Tier-4 DPF emissions to enter a burn cycle. The gas in the fuel, triggered an immediate DPF burn, which was stronger sulphur smell than normal.
The outcome of this is accidental use of gas in a diesel engine, for a short time, probably will not result in damage. Full drainage of the tank and replacing the fuel filter helps to full recovery.![]()
...On the subject of the old Mercedes diesels, I had a few vehicles (180d, 319d) powered by the om636 engine. One thing I remember about them is that the injection pump didn't depend entirely on diesel for lubrication. One extra task on that engine was checking the level of lube oil in the sump of the injection pump.
About 15 minutes..{max}
I致e always put whatever fuel I want in whatever can I have. Apparently some people can稚 see and smell the difference in gas and diesel.