OH! OH! Gas/Diesel mixup

[azjake]

A QT station in Buckeye Arizona (western PHX suburbs) got diesel in their unleaded tanks by mistake. QT doesn't know as yet how it happened, but they are offering to pay customers for any repairs needed to their vehicles. Link to story is below.


http://www.abc15.com/news/region-west-valley/buckeye/buckeye-gas-station-mixes-up-gas-diesel-fuel

 

[dparm]

Ouch. That's a pretty big mistake.

 

[Lolvoguy]

I once filled up at a station in Calgary AB where I thought I was getting mid-grade, but got a tank FULL of brown sludge.

This was the middle of winter and on the way home my s60 started running funny. Got it home and it refused to start later that evening/following morning. Had the car towed to the dealer where they found a fuel tank FILLED with shushy brown water. Warranty refused to cover the 2k repair bill, but the station stepped up and covered ALL charges (including an oil change while it was getting fixed).

 

[KD0AXS]

A guy where I used to work filled up one of the diesel F-350s with gas. Luckily I was just pulling up to fill my truck and noticed before he went to start it. We pushed it in the shop and they dropped the tank and emptied it. That could have been a real expensive mistake if I hadn't caught him before he started it.

 

[NMBurb02]

Nice to hear that they are offering to pay rather than having to get sued and forced to.

 

[Kuato]

Originally Posted By: NMBurb02
Nice to hear that they are offering to pay rather than having to get sued and forced to.


Concur...a little bit of integrity goes a long way! Someone will lose their job over it, though.

 

[AZjeff]

Originally Posted By: Kuato


Concur...a little bit of integrity goes a long way! Someone will lose their job over it, though.


And rightly so. The driver might not be at fault, the tank farm might have put fuel in his truck instead of gas.

The talking head on the scene last night got hold of some snaggle-toothed bystander who said diesel fuel floats on top of gas and people might drive 50 or 100 miles before they know something's wrong. Any truth to that?

 

[Kuato]

I think "snaggle tooth" as a term of denigration for the bystander is correct. According to the chart on this page:

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/specific-gravity-liquid-fluids-d_294.html

gasoline is lighter than diesel, so the gas would float on top.

I suppose the question is: do gasoline tanks feed from the bottom, or the top?

 

[AZjeff]

If you had seen the clip snaggle tooth is complimentary..

Seems like driving would cause fairly robust mixing.

 

[mcrn]

Just curious as to why they dont make it so the same connectors are not used for diesel and gas?

 

[Jetronic]

Fuel and gas mix and are inseperable after that.

The fuel filter is usually full of diesel when starting, and once started the engine might run for a long time (until switched off) if the %-age of gas is low enough, but damage will be done. You could get away with a very low %-age of gas in the diesel fuel though.