What to do? My friend put diesel into her Accord

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farang

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Los Angeles, California
My friend acciendentally put diesel into her 2000 Honda Accord (which use regular 87 gasoline).

After the incident, the car stall within 2 miles from the gas station. She has the fuel tank flush, fuel filter replace and that is all about it which I don't think it is enough so I told her to get Techron and run it for 2 tanks continuously.

What else can I do for her car? What is the damage (internally)?

Can AutoRX, FP, LC do any help?
The car has 90000mi on the ODO!

Thanks!
 
As long as she got the fuel tank flushed and the car runs OK now, no problem. no damage done.

Diesel mixes extremely well with gas, so whatever was left in the system is well mixed with the gas.

The diesel gave her engine a bit of extra top end lube
smile.gif


With a bit of diesel still disolved in the gasoline, it wouldn't help to disolve more stuff in the gasoline that isn't gasoline. Just drive it.
 
This is NOT a little bit of diesel! This is about 95-99% diesel (emptied tank filled with diesel, about 16gals).

I got a call from her yesterday and she told me that the car has a lot of oil leak (never had that happen before). I haven't check it yet but will do later today. May be it blow the head gasket!
 
quote:
Originally posted by farang:
This is NOT a little bit of diesel! This is about 95-99% diesel (emptied tank filled with diesel, about 16gals).

Click to expand...
You said she had the tank flushed, if she did, what remains is a little bit of diesel.
 
Yeah, not a problem at all. As long as the tank was emptied, there will be no problem. Might want to run premium on the first refill...
 
Where is the car leaking from and what is leaking? If it's from the fuel tank area it may be nothing more than spilled diesel fuel, an insufficiently tightened hose clamp, or, at worst, gasoline from a cracked old hose having been unceremoniusly manipulated from its set position during the flushing procedure. The other possibility that comes to mind is that raw diesel fuel has contaminated the engine oil due to blowby past the piston rings. If your friend's motor oil level is elevated on the dipstick, it would be a good idea to drain the oil and refill with fresh motor oil and a new oil filter. Nevertheless, THE ENGINE HAS NOT BEEN DAMAGED BY THE UNINTENTIONAL INTRODUCTION OF DIESEL FUEL.

quote:
Originally posted by farang:
what about the fuel pump, injector, fuel lines ???

Diesel is really thick! Thick + pressure = stuck, damaged the pump?
confused.gif

Click to expand...
Nonsense - the sky is NOT falling. Both gasoline and #2 diesel fuel are pumped in their liquid state, which means they're both uncompressible fluids. Neither fluid will damage the pump, lines, or injectors. Of the two, diesel has inherent lubrication qualities. By the way, #2 diesel fuel is nothing more than highly refined kerosene, a light distillate. Furthermore, if either fuel were to be a threat to rubber or plastic components in the fuel system, the more likely would be gasoline due to its greater solvency characteristics. Not to worry - those fuel line components were formulated to withstand gasoline and up to 10% ethanol indefinitely.

[ August 29, 2004, 03:46 PM: Message edited by: Ray H ]
 
quote:
Originally posted by farang:
what about the fuel pump, injector, fuel lines ???

Diesel is really thick! Thick + pressure = stuck, damaged the pump?
confused.gif

Click to expand...
Chill
grin.gif
if the pump is working now, no damage was done to the pump.
 
Years ago a friend of mine accidentally pumped 8 or 9 gallons of diesel into his 79 Accord before realizing it. He then filled the rest of the way with gasoline and drove home. (the car ran terrible). He then siphoned out as much as he could and added gasoline as often as possible to dilute whatever diesel was left. He sold the car
5 or 6 years later with approx. 200k. The moral of the story is it didn't hurt a thing.
 
How about the catalytic converter? If converter is exposed to diesel fuel exhaust long enough it may be clogged up sooner in the future. As far as I know Honda's CVCC engines (also used in the Accords) doesn't have cat. converters. Back in the 70's they qualified the emission standards without it.
 
offtopic.gif
If a small percentage of diesel fuel is added to a grade of gasoline, does the 'octane' rating (or just resistance to knock) improve? Straight diesel is very resistant to knock, hence the 16+ to 1 compression ratios. However, I've heard that an engine that burns a lot of oil will tend towards detonation. Anybody out there able to enlighten me?
 
Popular Mechanics had an article about this subject.
It goes as follows:

http://popularmechanics.mondosearch.com/cgi-bin/MsmGo.exe?grab_id=45&EXTRA_ARG=&CFGNAME=MssFind%2Ecfg&host_id=42&page_id=14823936&query=diesel+fuel+in+gas+tank&hiword=FUELIE+in+tan k+TANKER+diesel+TANKS+DIESELS+gas+TANKED+fuel+TANKERS+FUELA+FUELED+FUELER+FUELERS+FUELING+FUELS+

"Drain as much of the diesel as possible out of the tank. Dispose of this gas-contaminated diesel fuel. Add a couple of gallons of gasoline to the tank. Cycle the ignition key to On, wait 5 seconds and then turn it off. Do this five times to turn on the fuel pump and purge the diesel from the fuel lines. Repeat the process at least two more times (drain, add fuel, cycle the key on and off five times). Fill the tank with premium because any residual diesel will lower the octane of the gasoline. Try to start the car--crank for 10 seconds, then wait 30 seconds. You may need to remove the spark plugs and clean them with spray carb cleaner to dry off the diesel. I'd run the car for a few days and then replace the fuel filter.
All of this probably will turn on your Check Engine light. To turn off the light, remove the fuse for the engine-management computer for 30 seconds and replace it. If it comes back on and the engine seems to be running fine, wait a couple of tankfuls of gas to see if it goes off on its own."
 
quote:
Originally posted by olddognewtrks:
offtopic.gif
If a small percentage of diesel fuel is added to a grade of gasoline, does the 'octane' rating (or just resistance to knock) improve? Straight diesel is very resistant to knock, hence the 16+ to 1 compression ratios. However, I've heard that an engine that burns a lot of oil will tend towards detonation. Anybody out there able to enlighten me?
Click to expand...
Straight diesel knocks like crazy if you can get it to run in a spark ignition engine. It is extremely low octane. Maybe 40.
 
quote:
Originally posted by ikeepmychevytoo:
How about the catalytic converter? If converter is exposed to diesel fuel exhaust long enough it may be clogged up sooner in the future. As far as I know Honda's CVCC engines (also used in the Accords) doesn't have cat. converters. Back in the 70's they qualified the emission standards without it.
Click to expand...
Given that most cars won't even run with diesel fuel, or at least not for very long, I don't think this is an issue. I'd think you'd have to run for quite a while to clog the converter.
 
It's much more exciting when gasoline is pumped into a diesel's tank.

Saw it happen once.... to a semi-truck. Sure ran good and fast for about 150 feet.
 
Bad news!

The car is now leaking oil like crazy!

I checked it today and you know what: EMPTY, the dip stick show NO OILs AT ALL!

Got under the car and there are a lot of leaking. Checking all the seals, gasket and they are good. However, the oil filter (Fram) has some holes in the body and over tighten, realy tight. I can't diag. anything but just replaced the oil filter (used Supertech) and refill with 4 qt. of oil (no draining, it just leaked all out)

AFAIK, the car ran for a day or two without oil.

My question are:
-How much damage has been done?
-What can I do now?
-Is there any possilbe leak that leaked all the oil out?

It is the first time I saw car running without OILs! Amen to that
shocked.gif
 
You know some people just shouldn't own a car.

I'm sorry but your friend needs some education.


#1) Highly unlikely a leaky Fram oil filter with holes was caused by diesel fuel.

#2) You're just making this up as you go along, aren't you?
 
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