Now what: Gasoline in diesel

[jzumi]

My buddy borrowed my '03 Silverado and put 2 gallons of gasoline into the tank before realizing his mistake. Tank was about 3/4 full before he stopped for fuel.

Unfortunately, he then drove 0.4 miles to drop the truck at my place.

The engine has not been started since.

How tolerant is the older vintage Duramax? We will remove the contaminated fuel and replace the fuel filter. Can we then see how it runs with fresh fuel? Or is that too risky? The reason I ask is that my friend who is a Ford truck mechanic said that even a small amount of gasoline will cause major damage current Ford diesels but he did not know how sensitive my old LB6 would be.

Thanks for any info!

 

[Chevy1925]

well you either do as you stated and run it (i would also drain all the injector hard lines and rails), then hope for the best or put all new CP3 and injectors in right off the bat.

3/4 full of diesel, half mile drive and full drain including what i added in, disconnect the glow plugs upon the first start up and drive and id run it and see what happens down the line. i dont see that little bit adversely affecting it but stranger things have happened. if you had a truck with a cp4, i could understand your ford buddy's worry but the cp3 is pretty resilient.

 

[Dozerboy]

I wouldn’t sweat that. I’ve used gas to lower the gel point in diesel often as much as 20%. Now I wouldn’t do it regularly on any diesel with a a high pressure fuel system. Drain the tank if you want, but I would just top off the tank with diesel dump a qt or 2 of Ashless 2 stroke oil in it.

 

[jzumi]

Okay, I'm sensing we might duck a bullet here. Thanks for your responses. I'll post what happens.

Fingers crossed!

 

[jzumi]

Yippee! Found a shop that drained the tank and changed the fuel filter. We put in fresh diesel and she runs great. So my buddy will pay $420 for tow, repair, and new fuel. I told him he got off cheap and that he'll have to borrow someone else's truck in the future.

I'll put a bottle of Motorcraft PM15 into the first tank.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[2004LB7]

I would have dumped a gallon or so of motor oil or 2 cycle in the tank and called it a day

 

[clrussell]

I would have dumped a gallon or so of motor oil or 2 cycle in the tank and called it a day

Me too. Especially on an older truck. lml I would be a tad more Leary