Thread: Diesel in a gasoline engine

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Well I'm gonna fess up!

About two weeks ago I got up early started up the A model and went cruisin'. Not much unusual yet. Then I remember I need to squeeze some juice into it. I roll into the servo, look for the unleaded pump and start pumpin' away. I look down and hear "gurgling", "gurgling" I think to myself....mmm that smells like "OH MY GOD ITS DIESEL!" I stop imediately to realise I have put about 7 litres in my tank. (gal and a half) I go inside and pay then I drove her home in disgust. A few wiffs of smoke out the exhaust but I think I have a ratio of about 7:1 or 8:1. From what I can tell, its just giving me some pinging. Driving her slow at the moment till I run it out. I hate laying off it. I was thinking about a squirt of that octane booster in this tank till it runs dry. Anyone else want to fess up to being such a dickfist?
Andy.

Awwwww heck....Yup, me too. On a pickup with a big tank, so it wasn't a problem.

I know guys that have done it the other way. NOT GOOD

We used to pour some diesel down the carb supposedly to clean the valves and combusion chambers. Don't know if it worked or not, but it sure put out a cloud of white smoke.

This gave me an idea. I was about 17 and had a '53 Stude with a 283 in it, and I hooked up a lawnmower fuel tank under the hood, with a hose running to an old electric fuel pump I had. I terminated the hose by clamping it to the aircleaner stud on the carb. Hooked it up to a push button on the dash. I filled the tank with diesel, and when I pushed the button, diesel would get pumped into the carb throat.

My idea was to drive around the local hamburger joint that night, hit the button, and smoke the whole place out. (Don't ask me why this made sense, but in my 17 year old head, this would be great fun )

We had two hamburger joints, The Dog House, and Stringhills Pizza, and the weekend game plan was to drive in circles around these places, to see who was there and to be seen. Maybe even pick up a date there. So on this Saturday night I drove around both places, and held the button down, and the smoke started rolling out of the exhaust. By the time I got around the full cirlce, you couldn't see a thing for the white smoke. People were choking and yelling profanities at me.

I thought it was funny, nobody else did, so I took off the contraption and never did it again. Dumb things we did as kids, but they somehow made sense at the time.

Don

I to did the same thing.Back in 1973 ,just out of high school I got my frist job at Foxborugh raceway on the track crew.My job was to drive a John deer puddle jumpper dragging a harrold around the track to soften the ground for the horses houfs.Well the boss told me to make sure to fuel it up for the night shift would be all set for the nighty races. Well that,s just what I did Put fuel. The grandstandes were choking all night.Didnt go over to good with the boss but the track bought a new tractor the next day.The big boss became my fatherinlaw four years later . we laughed about it for years.God Bless Him It didnt hurt the tracter It hurt my feelings. Marco

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

My idea was to drive around the local hamburger joint that night, hit the button, and smoke the whole place out. (Don't ask me why this made sense, but in my 17 year old head, this would be great fun )

I thought it was funny, nobody else did, so I took off the contraption and never did it again. Dumb things we did as kids, but they somehow made sense at the time.

Don

Hmmmm...........we used to put Marvel Mystery oil in the secondaries, then drive on the primaries through a crowd or street party.......punch it and get the same results. Yep, seemed like fun..........at the time.

deisil in gas with older cars will work to a point until too much of course ie pingin etc . on the new fuel injected cars things seem to be a little different . the ability for them to handle a differnce in fuel is less. the just wont run or the computer mgmt fiddles with the engine until it shuts down.
i have handled a few fuel misdelivery claims at gas stations and thats what i have found
being fro the farm i used to always but a galllon or more every once in a while in a full tank as its supposed to clean the fuel syst as it supposed to have high detergent factor.
did that one a long time agao with my wifes fuel injected cavalier and it just would not hardly go . i think i put a little much in but it still should have run.

I got a shot of diesel in my Ford cabover years ago. Seemed to run okay, so I thought I'd just use it up. Melted the tops out of four pistons. Live and learn.

Yeah I have heard lots of stuff about detonation and the like. But with the windows down front screen up as high as I can get it. I can hear everything, from a rattly lifter to the start of some pinging. If I hear it I back off and it goes away. Its just an ole Chevy anyways.....

Andy

In the old days we had a Fordson tractor that had two fuel tanks one for diesel and one for gasoline. you would start it on gas then when it was good and hot switch to diesel for economy at shut down time switch back to gas for about two minutes to burn it out then finish on gas so you could start it the next mornig

thres a few old tractors like that, i helped and our homecoings tractor pull this summer and saw one of these things. no one could explain to me how the heck it worked as it could work on either fuel.

the tractors that can use both probably have very low compression gasoline engines probably 7:1 or lower, which I think only needs like 60 or 70 somthing octane to run correctly, diesel probably has that kind of octane.

In my high school days, we had an interesting combination:
a kid that had a 53 Plymouth flathead six and another kid that
had the key to his dad's farm diesel tank...... car smoked on
gasoline and it smoked on diesel. Didnt ping on either. Ran
like crap on gasoline, ran like crap on diesel. Diesel sure was
cheaper though.

mike in tucson

On the way home from work yesterday, the old girl finnaly started loosing cylinders.......sounded like an old truck with a hole in the exhaust. Most people probably thought it was a genuine ford motor
Any hoo I drained it out last night looks like I have 20 litres for the Mower now. The wife used it today and said it was just a bit smoky...hehe. I can afford a blown up mower. Since putting some high performance fuel in the Hotty, all seems to be right in the world again.
Looks llike one of those life learning curves again. They really are great!

Andy.

Probably won't hurt a thing other than a chance at fouling a plug...and smelling like a semi truck...
In the Studebaker world, with today's crap gas, vapor lock is a big problem.
One of the tricks used a lot is to keep your old quart oil bottles and fill them with diesel fuel. Then, at fill up time, add a quart of diesel to the gas tank. The added cetane helps with pinging, and it helps prevent vapor lock. I do this all the time with my truck, as it keeps the rattle down without adding expensive octane boost.
Cheap is good.
Jeff

Originally Posted by gherkin350

On the way home from work yesterday, the old girl finnaly started loosing cylinders.......sounded like an old truck with a hole in the exhaust. Most people probably thought it was a genuine ford motor
Any hoo I drained it out last night looks like I have 20 litres for the Mower now. The wife used it today and said it was just a bit smoky...hehe. I can afford a blown up mower. Since putting some high performance fuel in the Hotty, all seems to be right in the world again.
Looks llike one of those life learning curves again. They really are great!

Andy.