Gasoline in diesel?

[Nikolas]

I was hanging out at the gas station up the street (favorite pastime here in Greece

) today. A Mercedes light truck pulls in, and it is a diesel. He pulls at the pumps and to my horror I see that the attendant is pumping about 1 gallon of unleaded gasoline in the tank. After that he puts another 10 gallons of diesel.

I ask the owner and he tells me that he is a regular, and he does that at every fillup

. I know that diesel may be diluted with lighter fuel (gasoline?) at arctic temperatures but it's in the 50's here at this time of the year.

The engine sounded a little too rattly I must admit. Why would anyone do that? The owner of the truck claims that it runs better like that. Will he eventually grenade the engine?

Thanks for the input!

 

[Shaman]

Most engine will be okay with a small percentage of gasoline. It used to be used for anti-gelling with summer mix diesel in winter temps. Some manufacturers claim that up to 30% is okay. It's also possible he uses veggy oil, and uses the gasoline to thin out the overall mix.

 

[Master ACiD]

right my my vw diesel manual it says gas is ok to add in certain precentages, i think 15% was the max.

 

[HM12460]

i'm surprised! don't think i would try it.

 

[Black Bart]

In extreme cold I have used Kerosene to thin diesel fuel but I would never consider using gas.
Why would anyone consider this their are better options one would be power service or other quality additive.

 

[Nikolas]

It is not that cold here, it drops down in the 50's min.

Master ACiD: Does the manual say why one should add gasoline in diesel (other than in cold weather)?

 

[simple_gifts]

My friend uses kero to thin down this diesel in the winter; of course, the kero is not taxed as a motor fuel and the attendant once gave his the lecture.

 

[Master ACiD]

the vw manual says that adding gas to diesel lowers the point at which the diesel gels.

 

[Dad2leia]

Does any one know the ratio to degrees temperature gelling reduced?