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Mix up at the pump

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Basil

Basil

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A neighbor who owns a Ford F350 diesel pick up (on of those big honkers some of you here love so much) just trashed his engine. Seems the local Smith's had a recent tanker delivery and the tanker guy put gas into the diesel tank. Of course Smiths has shut down the diesel pumps affected. I didn't realize that was possible as I would have assumed the tank fittings would be completely different for gas vs diesel but apparently it is possible. I suspect if this really happened and the tanker guy put gas into the diesel tank then that tanker company is going to be responsible for the guy's truck (and maybe others). Did a quick search and apparently this kind of thing is not without precedent: Gas Mixup Causes Vehicle Damage
 
I agree, you would think the hookup connections would be different.
 
At a National Park out this way, the service center had groundwater monitoring wells surrounding their underground gasoline storage tank to monitor for leaks. We had a cleanup job there because the fuel truck driver dumped the fuel into a monitoring well instead of the tank. I think he lost his job.
 
Yikes - here in CT diesel and gasoline pump heads have to be different by law, to prevent that "oops" problem. Don't know about the tanker truck systems, but seems there must be a similar required difference. What's New Mexico law on that?

That delivery guy has some 'splainin' to do.
 
No idea. I know the nozzles on the pumps are incompatible. In this case it was what was in the underground tank that was wrong. How that could happen I have no clue, but apparently it did.
 
That's the question for sure. You'd think a storage tank filler hose for diesel would be designed impossible to fit into a gasoline filler pipe, and vice versa for a gasoline storage tank filler hose. Here in CT even the big round covers of the underground tanks are green for diesel, and black for gasoline.
 
Even on the customer side, the system isn't perfect. The gas nozzles are smaller than diesel and the gas nozzle will quite easily fit into a diesel filling hole. Guess how I know. :( Fortunately I realized what I was doing almost as soon as I pulled the trigger, and only put about1 litter of gas into the diesel tank. Having grown up in Michigan, I know that this used to be an old trick (adding a small amount of gas) which makes it easier to start and run diesel engines in the winter so I wasn't to worried and just filled up the tank with diesel. Ran really quite and no damage done. Of course I only had about 1-2% gas...
 
Yisroel - looks like damages worsens the more gasoline that's added to a specific amount of diesel.

cartreatments.com

Accidentally Put Gas in a Diesel Engine? (Here's What To Do)

Accidentally putting gasoline in a diesel engine shouldn't happen, but it can. Here's what can occur and how to deal with it...
cartreatments.com cartreatments.com

Tom M.
 
NutmegCT said:
Yisroel - looks like damages worsens the more gasoline that's added to a specific amount of diesel.

cartreatments.com

Accidentally Put Gas in a Diesel Engine? (Here's What To Do)

Accidentally putting gasoline in a diesel engine shouldn't happen, but it can. Here's what can occur and how to deal with it...
cartreatments.com cartreatments.com

Tom M.
Click to expand...
Yep I took a long look at all the reports about gas in diesel back it happened. It also seems to be MUCH worse for newer engines. The LD Nissan engine in my van is primitive, just a very basic mechanical injection pump. No electronics to muck up, simple paper fuel filter... Just a big lump of cast iron. But that article got a few things mixed up.. the picture of wear shows the cam shaft. if you have any fuel on the camshaft it wont be good. There will of course be lots of wear in the injection pump. Also they are a bit confused about ignition, the problem isn't like they say that there won't be ignition.. rather it is to easy to ignite which is what causes pinging, dieseling in a regular engine and what I think the picture is trying to show destroyed pistons.... because it is to easy to ignite.
Incidentally the LD engine is the "grandchild" of the Mercedes engine you had in your 220D? Even has the same profile with the big cam pully up front.
 
Well, I *wish* I'd been able to find a good M-B diesel, like a 180D or 190D, but those are rare as hen's teeth. The two Mercedes cars I had were a 1958 220S six cylinder benzin with Hydrak, and a 1960 190b four cylinder benzin with standard transmission. The 190b is the one I made my coast to coast drive in.

220S:

BenzChristmas.jpg


190b:

24June13.JPG


In 1958, the 220S was the "middle class luxury car"; in 1960 the 190b was the working man's commute, or young family's daily driver. The diesels were usually for utility use - and they ran like Sherman tanks, with engines able to last for around 500K miles.

Memories, memories.

Maybe I should make another long trip ...
Peace and light.
Tom M.
 
My family owned two different M-B diesels and those engines were fantastic. Part of me would really like to find another to use as my daily.
 
Walter if I find one, I'm happy to sell it to you for 10X my cost.

:angel3:
 
Lord, tell Tom to lead me not into temptation.
 
Hey Walt! Look for a W123 five-pot diesel! Ours refuses to die. Mechanical injection, no eeelectronics to mess with.
 
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