Is there a tolerable amount of diesel you can put in a gas car?

[vash]

My brother put about four gallons ( in a can) of diesel into the bed of his pickup. It took zero time for someone to steal it.

I asked; he used a regular red cheapie plastic can. Im thinking - There is a good possibility that the idiot pours it into his crapper gas car. ( I can hope).

Will karma rear its ugly head?

[sc_rufctr]

4 gallons is more than enough if the car was near empty.

More than 30 years ago added 1 liter of diesel to a full tank to free a stuck valve. (VW Beetle)
It worked to a degree but I ended up rebuilding that engine not long after.

[legion]

For the average car with at 15 gallon tank, I would think that would be enough to completely stop the engine and require the entire fuel system to be flushed. But I base that on gut feel.

[DerkPerk]

Yes. Plain and simple, yes. And I would love to see it happen!


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[996AE]

drain it

it can be bad news on many parts

not hard to siphon out

[Scott Douglas]

Your brother may want to watch where he parks his pickup for a while. I can easily see someone who would steal the can wanting to get revenge when his/her car won't run at all.

[vash]

Originally Posted by 996AE

drain it

it can be bad news on many parts

not hard to siphon out

You might be missing the point. We WANT this.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by vash

You might be missing the point. We WANT this.

Whaaat? Someone commenting before they understand the point of the OP? Couldn't happen here!

[vash]

Haha

And bro installed security cameras.

[IROC]

Actually, it won't do as much damage as you would think:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL9-i9tcESU&t=12s

[legion]

Can't watch youtube here, but I imagine it won't damage the engine, just stop it.

Diesel is an excellent lubricant and is more energy-dense than gasoline. It is also harder to ignite. A diesel engine injects an atomized stream of diesel fuel into a high-compression engine when the piston is at top-dead center. Most gasoline engine use port injection.

My guess is that the when diesel fuel reaches a high enough concentration in the cylinder, it will just fail to ignite. The fuel system will have to be flushed (including the gas tank) to get the car running again, but I wouldn't imagine there would be any damage.

[Arizona_928]

I had this happen to me last year. 5 gallons of diesel in a red gas can (because they're cheaper at Wal-Mart). Someone stole the can in the middle of night, a ram hubcap, and some other random stuff out of the bed. I had a blow out in the middle of nowhere and was too tired to put everything away. I digress. I noticed some ******* stole the gas can and burst out in laughter. They got what is coming to them.

I hate thieves.

[UconnTim97]

https://jalopnik.com/my-porsche-964-road-trip-went-very-south-in-west-texas-1826346733

Reminded me of this article on Jalopnik.

[Gretch]

Guy working at a town HW department noticed fuel jerry cans out by the diesel storage tank. they seemed to come up missing every few days and then would reappear. He checked on them one time and determined they were full of fuel.

He kept watch and saw a particularly unpopular fellow employee put them in his pick up on the way out of the lot one evening.

The showed up empty the next morning.

So, being wise to the scam, he put some water in the two cans, when he found them near full again.

Next day the unpopular employee called in. His oil heating system had mysteriously **** the bed......

[1990C4S]

I think at 25% nothing permanent happens.

[996AE]

My bad

Never post before coffee!

[IROC]

Originally Posted by legion

Can't watch youtube here, but I imagine it won't damage the engine, just stop it.

Diesel is an excellent lubricant and is more energy-dense than gasoline. It is also harder to ignite. A diesel engine injects an atomized stream of diesel fuel into a high-compression engine when the piston is at top-dead center. Most gasoline engine use port injection.

My guess is that the when diesel fuel reaches a high enough concentration in the cylinder, it will just fail to ignite. The fuel system will have to be flushed (including the gas tank) to get the car running again, but I wouldn't imagine there would be any damage.

Long story short is that they filled up a diesel car with gas and a petrol car with diesel and then drove them around a bunch. Both of them ran (and ran reasonably normally). I haven't watched the video in a long time, but I think after they were done, they refilled the engines with the correct fuel and they were fine.

Obviously, this is not recommended, but the point of the whole video was don't freak out if you accidentally do this - it's not going to cause all the damage that everyone thinks.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by IROC

Long story short is that they filled up a diesel car with gas and a petrol car with diesel and then drove them around a bunch. Both of them ran (and ran reasonably normally). I haven't watched the video in a long time, but I think after they were done, they refilled the engines with the correct fuel and they were fine.

Obviously, this is not recommended, but the point of the whole video was don't freak out if you accidentally do this - it's not going to cause all the damage that everyone thinks.

Ah, a diesel car won't run once the gasoline reaches the engine, that I know for a fact. I've had to drain several fuel systems for friends who accidentally mis-fueled their cars. Always women, if that helps the data point.

There is no way that a gasoline car would run on diesel. It just isn't nearly volatile enough(?) A Diesel engine would explode on gasoline if it kept running long enough, pretty sure.

In the Vash scenario of the OP, they will probably just wind up on the side of the road w their dick in their hand, trying to figure out why the car they are living in won't run. Time to buy a bus pass.

[David]

Originally Posted by IROC

Long story short is that they filled up a diesel car with gas and a petrol car with diesel and then drove them around a bunch. Both of them ran (and ran reasonably normally). I haven't watched the video in a long time, but I think after they were done, they refilled the engines with the correct fuel and they were fine.

Obviously, this is not recommended, but the point of the whole video was don't freak out if you accidentally do this - it's not going to cause all the damage that everyone thinks.

Probably not the case anymore with high pressure diesel and gasoline injection.

We had a truck driver who put gasoline in a new high pressure diesel truck twice! Had to replace all the injectors both times. Aren't unions great.

[wdfifteen]

The thief will get what he deserves. 5 gallons of diesel will be about 25 to 30% in most cars, it will wreck a gas engine.