Gas in a diesel engine, what is the damage?

That GM350 Diesel couldn't be driven like a "regular" gasoline car. Which most where.

It had zero tolerance for gradual acceleration... err well minimal pushing of the pedal.

Push it to the MAT and then let up when you get to your speed. I got quite a bit more than 35K most grandpas got out of it. Infact add 100K to that. I got one of the early "D" blocks. a 1981 Olds Cutlass Supreme.

Diesel motors need hard work to live long lives. Other wise they build up crap all the time and basically cake themselves to death.

The only reason it stopped working @ 130K was I forgot to plug it in one cold winter night (I worked long swing) I used ether on it to get it started... Bent the crank a tiny bit. Eventually and it shook itself to death by bending a rod and cracking it off... oops. But that only took seven months.

Those blocks are highly sought by racers, because of the extra nickel and beefy webs. They can be converted back to gasoline... High compression and a big lumpy cam.

Wondering -
presumably there is a 'dashpot' / spring-loaded accumulator in your fuel supply line, as in most fuel-injected engines. Its function is to keep a decent pressure in system - for a time - after shutdown; also to maintain a constant supply pressure to injectors, at both high/low demand.

Likely that 'small reservoir' in the hi-pressure line supplied the drive-away diesel fuel. Big Q: how far from the filling station?

So then -

1) The diesel fuel ran out.

2) Gasoline w/ higher ignition temp hit the injectors.

3) Unless an (unwanted) hot-spot existed - engine died.
But then, your glow plugs just might retain enough combustion heat, while driving, to keep the fires burning, even with gasoline (??)

If I'm not missing something -- I'd think that $damages would occur only if some hot-spot indeed allowed the engine to function: too long, sans fuel-lubrication, as Peter reminds. Obv nicest if engine stopped from non-ignition, quickly and soon after fillup - than from ___ (well, you know.)

Luck...

Post #270,103 by bluke 10/12/06 10:58:35 AM Reply	Gas in a diesel engine, what is the damage? By accident I filed up my diesel powered van with gas. On the way home it stalled and died. What kind of damage if any can I expect from this? Is it just simply a matter of draining the gas tank?
Post #270,105 by Steve Lowe 10/12/06 11:38:57 AM 10/12/06 11:42:30 AM Reply	Re: Gas in a diesel engine, what is the damage? You'll need to drain the tank, lines, pumps, injectors, manifold, and regulators; and change all filters - could be a big job. Hopefully, the engine suffered no damage - did it make any unusual noise when it stalled, or did it simply quit running? I doubt any major damage. [link\|http://www.faqs.org/qa/qa-12004.html\|This thread] shows a guy who had a similar problem with a VW golf - cost him about $200 for the work. -- Steve [link\|http://www.ubuntulinux.org\|Ubuntu] Edited by Steve Lowe Oct. 12, 2006, 11:42:30 AM EDT Expand All History
Post #270,109 by bluke 10/12/06 12:01:04 PM Reply	Re: Gas in a diesel engine, what is the damage? It simply quit. It was running fine and then suddenly it just lost power and stalled. I can't believe that I did this.
Post #270,111 by Steve Lowe 10/12/06 12:06:55 PM Reply	good cool, I bet it's fine - just needs a good cleaning. I bet you could drain the tank and fill it with fresh diesel and then crank on the starter til it goes - but I think I'd spend the time and/or money to clean it out good. -- Steve [link\|http://www.ubuntulinux.org\|Ubuntu]
Post #270,124 by bluke 10/12/06 12:46:23 PM Reply	That is what I am going to do I just hope it doesn't cost me a fortune.
Post #270,125 by folkert 10/12/06 12:52:21 PM Reply	As long as it turns over... and no rattling/banging sounds (well besides the typical diesel sound), you should be good. I did a similar thing with the old GM 350 Diesel (the converted gasoline block) and it lived out a happy life. In fact, it ran better after the episode, but that was old ring and piston technology. Dunno how these new high silicon pistons and high chrom-moly rings will do. Should be fine. Cringers Fossed. -- [link\|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net\|greg], [link\|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry\|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ *i_wethey* Freedom is not FREE. Yeah, but 10s of Trillions of US Dollars? SELECT * FROM scog WHERE ethics > 0; 0 rows returned.
Post #270,127 by bluke 10/12/06 1:14:22 PM Reply	I will find out tomorrow It died in the evening after all the garages closed. Tomorrow morning I will have it towed to the garage and they will asess the situation.
Post #270,132 by tuberculosis 10/12/06 2:29:00 PM Reply	Re: As long as it turns over... >GM 350 Diesel (the converted gasoline block) and it lived out a happy life. What was that, about 6 months? That motor was a lemon. [link\|http://www.blackbagops.net\|Black Bag Operations Log] [link\|http://www.objectiveclips.com\|Artificial Intelligence] [link\|http://www.badpage.info/seaside/html\|Scrutinizer]
Post #270,137 by folkert 10/12/06 2:46:41 PM Reply	You see... That GM350 Diesel couldn't be driven like a "regular" gasoline car. Which most where. It had zero tolerance for gradual acceleration... err well minimal pushing of the pedal. Push it to the MAT and then let up when you get to your speed. I got quite a bit more than 35K most grandpas got out of it. Infact add 100K to that. I got one of the early "D" blocks. a 1981 Olds Cutlass Supreme. Diesel motors need hard work to live long lives. Other wise they build up crap all the time and basically cake themselves to death. The only reason it stopped working @ 130K was I forgot to plug it in one cold winter night (I worked long swing) I used ether on it to get it started... Bent the crank a tiny bit. Eventually and it shook itself to death by bending a rod and cracking it off... oops. But that only took seven months. Those blocks are highly sought by racers, because of the extra nickel and beefy webs. They can be converted back to gasoline... High compression and a big lumpy cam. -- [link\|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net\|greg], [link\|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry\|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ *i_wethey* Freedom is not FREE. Yeah, but 10s of Trillions of US Dollars? SELECT * FROM scog WHERE ethics > 0; 0 rows returned.
Post #270,147 by tuberculosis 10/12/06 5:04:41 PM Reply	My dad had one It was in the shop so much he had to buy a backup car. As for driving it like a car - how could you? It had no balls and was routinely floored. It would lose a drag race with heavily loaded VW Microbus. At about 30k miles the undersized hoses came apart, it vented all its steam, boiled itself dry, and melted down. My uncle (GMI grad - worked on the vette as auto engineer through the 60's-80's) told me that motor was a total kludge based on taking a regular 350 and trying to beef it up a bit. Yeah, no shit. I'm very pro-diesel (got a VW Pathfinder driving my boat) but not that one. [link\|http://www.blackbagops.net\|Black Bag Operations Log] [link\|http://www.objectiveclips.com\|Artificial Intelligence] [link\|http://www.badpage.info/seaside/html\|Scrutinizer]
Post #270,240 by lincoln 10/13/06 1:44:58 PM Reply	ICLRPD (new thread) Created as new thread #270239 titled [link\|/forums/render/content/show?contentid=270239\|ICLRPD] lincoln "Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from." -- E.L. Doctorow Never apply a Star Trek solution to a Babylon 5 problem. I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a *Citizen* of the United States. [link\|mailto:bconnors@ev1.net\|contact me]
Post #270,151 by boxley 10/12/06 7:00:35 PM Reply	best thing about an older GM diesel? The title Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 50 years. meep
Post #270,112 by pwhysall 10/12/06 12:08:42 PM Reply	Re: Gas in a diesel engine, what is the damage? Anything from no damage to a completely ruined engine. Diesel is the lubricant in a dagdag and petrol washes it all away. You drove it. Which is bad. It died quickly, which might mitigate the badness. Either way, it needs the attention of a spannerman. Peter [link\|http://www.no2id.net/\|Don't Let The Terrorists Win] [link\|http://www.kuro5hin.org\|There is no K5 Cabal] [link\|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org\|Home] Use P2P for legitimate purposes! [link\|http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?pwhysall\|A better terminal emulator]
Post #270,149 by Ashton 10/12/06 6:32:56 PM Reply	'.. on the way home' Wondering - presumably there is a 'dashpot' / spring-loaded accumulator in your fuel supply line, as in most fuel-injected engines. Its function is to keep a decent pressure in system - for a time - after shutdown; also to maintain a constant supply pressure to injectors, at both high/low demand. Likely that 'small reservoir' in the hi-pressure line supplied the drive-away diesel fuel. Big Q: how far from the filling station? So then - 1) The diesel fuel ran out. 2) Gasoline w/ higher ignition temp hit the injectors. 3) Unless an (unwanted) hot-spot existed - engine died. But then, your glow plugs just might retain enough combustion heat, while driving, to keep the fires burning, even with gasoline (??) If I'm not missing something -- I'd think that $damages would occur only if some hot-spot indeed allowed the engine to function: too long, sans fuel-lubrication, as Peter reminds. Obv nicest if engine stopped from non-ignition, quickly and soon after fillup - than from ___ (well, you know.) Luck...
Post #270,188 by bluke 10/13/06 5:46:54 AM Reply	It was less then 10 kilometers from the gas station which would take about liter og fuel. Your scenario is probably right.
Post #270,189 by bluke 10/13/06 5:49:25 AM Reply	All's well that ends well I took the car to the garage this morning, they emptied the tank, cleaned the fuel lines and injectors, and put in a new filter. I just got home after filling up with diesel. The engine sounded fine and it seemed to run fine (it wasn't rough or noisy and accelerated fine). It cost me about $300 in total. Hopefully this is the end of the story.
Post #270,196 by drewk 10/13/06 8:07:28 AM Reply	Not a bad price to learn a valuable lesson Wait, you arleady knew. Hmm ... uhh ... well, it was better than it could have been, how's that? === Kip Hawley is still an idiot. === Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link\|http://DocHope.com\|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats]. [link\|http://DocHope.com\|http://DocHope.com]
Post #270,212 by folkert 10/13/06 9:49:29 AM Reply	I am sure he will be GREEN Handle Friendly From now on. -- [link\|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net\|greg], [link\|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry\|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ *i_wethey* Freedom is not FREE. Yeah, but 10s of Trillions of US Dollars? SELECT * FROM scog WHERE ethics > 0; 0 rows returned.
Post #270,214 by Another Scott 10/13/06 9:52:20 AM Reply	Pumps might be different in that part of the world. ;-)
Post #270,225 by folkert 10/13/06 11:24:09 AM Reply	I dunno... thunkitsastandard -- [link\|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net\|greg], [link\|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry\|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ *i_wethey* Freedom is not FREE. Yeah, but 10s of Trillions of US Dollars? SELECT * FROM scog WHERE ethics > 0; 0 rows returned.
Post #270,256 by jbrabeck 10/13/06 2:54:17 PM Reply	Story in reverse While I was stationed in Germany (1978), I took a trip to Italy. Stopped to get some gas. This is when vehicles had a label "Unleaded Gasoline Only". Attendant didn't speak English, saw the label and filled up the van with Gasolio(sp?). For those not fluent in Italian, gasolio == diesel. Made it out onto the street when the van started to sound like Jed Clampett's truck. Pumped out 30 gallons of contaminated fuel, refilled with gas, and took off. No damage done (at least none that I ever found out about). Green handle? Not back then... A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. (Herm Albright)
Post #270,373 by bluke 10/15/06 11:03:54 AM Reply	The pumps are different ... what happened is that I drive a gasoline powered car to work every day. I drive a lot so I fill up a few times a week. My wife drives the kids around with the diesel powered van. Last week I took some time off and we went on a long trip. I drove the van so when I pulled into the gas station on the way I just took the regular gas pump by rote.
Post #270,227 by Steve Lowe 10/13/06 11:33:39 AM Reply	Glad it worked out :) -- Steve [link\|http://www.ubuntulinux.org\|Ubuntu]
Post #270,281 by a6l6e6x 10/13/06 11:20:39 PM Reply	Good show! Glad you got off cheap. Alex When fascism comes to America, it'll be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross. -- Sinclair Lewis
Post #270,801 by Nightowl 10/19/06 2:13:55 AM Reply	Really glad to hear that! "When you take charge of your life, there is no longer need to ask permission of other people or society at large. When you ask permission, you give someone veto power over your life." -- By Geoffrey F. Abert ************************** "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind, don't matter - and those who matter, don't mind." -- By Dr. Seuss ******************************* "Sometimes it takes a whole lot more strength to walk away than to stand there and fight." -- By the character of John Abbott: said on Young & Restless on 5/19/06 *******************************

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