Can a diesel engine run on gas. .

[HighTwelve]

Back when I owned a VW diesel car, I remember adding 1 gallon of regular gas to each 10 gallon or so fill of regular gas but ONLY when we had a record setting couple of weeks of temperatures hovering around zero (F), and ONLY after the car had gelled up once and my wife had to drive me to work in the other car.
You can buy a cheap plastic siphon at Harbor Freight or AutoZone. If there’s any doubt in your mind I’d get all of the mixture out of the tank. Next empty the fuel filter and put a new filter in. If the contaminant is water it should be obvious. Refill the tank with diesel fuel, purge air at the filter and go on.
Whatever you put in the tank, be it gasoline or kerosene or mineral spirits paint thinner, you can probably work it off by adding one gallon maximum to each ten gallons of fresh diesel. If it were me, I’d put it in an open top steel container and (carefully) burn it.

 

[MHarryE]

Before retiring, my job required extensive European travel. I was used to diesel cars being the normal rental but many of my colleagues were not familiar and several mistakenly added gasoline to their diesel rentals. None reported any problem but we are talking short term. The European plant at which I was based was about 60 km from the airport and it was company policy to fill prior to return to avoid refill charge. I've often wondered what those European car rental outfits experienced by renting to Americans as misfueling was common when I was there. My 1993 BMW diesel had low injection pressure IDI and so was less likely to have problems but the next generation switched to high pressure common rail. So from experience, small addition my have an effect on long term life but a complete fill will destroy.

 

[RaydaKub]

I thought diesel nozzles were different in diameter than gas nozzles, so they could not be inserted into the wrong filler tube. I guess they are larger...to protect the minority!

The minority being diesel vehicle owners, who must be considered smarter than the average driver.

If you pull up to a 'truck stop' and their separate pumps, yeah, they are large. But many stations here have gas and diesel in the same pumps in the same islands and quite a few of those are the same size around here.

 

[airbiscuit]

So, who here is saying that a person should throw caution to the wind and put gas in their diesel tractor? All the anecdotes of I did it without any harm, are fine, but some newbys might believe that no harm comes from that. I'll go on record by saying Never Mix Gas With Diesel Fuel.

 

[BravoXray]

Ah, memories. Ran a road grader with this same arrangement, start on gas and switch to diesel after warm up. It was a great machine for snow plowing, would always start in the coldest weather. There was only one extra control to throw. Not even as complicated as a pony motor start.

We had all IH dozers, and on a few jobs some of the other contractors had CATs. Many times we would be pushing dirt when they were still trying to get their pony motors started.

 

[number two]

Gentlemen,we're starting to show our age here!
LOL

 

[billypumper]

Putting gas in a diesel motor is scary, in most scenarios the motor blows up, if it's still running but making terrible noise , might drain the tank and add diesel fuel, change motor oil, because most certainly the rings are probably on their way to failure as well as the cylinder walls, surprised the head didn't blow off or at least the head gasket, time will be the factor on this motor.

 

[Williy]

Jet fuel JP4 is Kerosene at NAS Corpus
jChristi, Texas
In Wisconsin a lot of guys would use Kerosene
in the winter to add to their diesel so it would
not jell.

willy

 

[Katahdin]

The U.S. Military used multifuel diesel compression engines in their 2.5 tons and 5 tons trucks from the 1960s-80s. Namely the LDS-427, LD-465, LDT-465, and LDS-465 build by Continental, White, and Hercules Engine Companies.

Bear in mind gas was leaded at that time, which helped with the mechanical fuel injection lubrication. Gas would produce lower horsepower and likely would cause more wear in tear, but with the engine's design it could run well. No spark plugs, and diesel used the same injectors. Fuels could also be mixed.

More info here in a 1963 issue of Popular Mechanics:

 

[RalphVa]

Back when I owned a VW diesel car, I remember adding 1 gallon of regular gas to each 10 gallon or so fill of regular gas but ONLY when we had a record setting couple of weeks of temperatures hovering around zero (F), and ONLY after the car had gelled up once and my wife had to drive me to work in the other car.
You can buy a cheap plastic siphon at Harbor Freight or AutoZone. If there’s any doubt in your mind I’d get all of the mixture out of the tank. Next empty the fuel filter and put a new filter in. If the contaminant is water it should be obvious. Refill the tank with diesel fuel, purge air at the filter and go on.
Whatever you put in the tank, be it gasoline or kerosene or mineral spirits paint thinner, you can probably work it off by adding one gallon maximum to each ten gallons of fresh diesel. If it were me, I’d put it in an open top steel container and (carefully) burn it.

Yeah, Benz actually recommended this for a short while. IT'S VERY UNSAFE. You can have an explosive mixture in the gas above the liquid in the tank. Too lean with no gasoline. Too rich with all gasoline.