Quote:
Originally Posted by mr_rye89
I thought a little diesel wouldn't hurt a gas car. When my step dad got his Peugeot 505 (gas) he accidentally put diesel in it (his previous car was an 80-something Volkswagen Quantum/Passat Diesel) We just pumped most of it out and put gas in, no problem. That car also has a low compression engine, so I don't know if that is a factor.
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A little diesel won't hurt a gas car, it'd just make it smokey. I suppose if you ran it too much, the soot might foul the catalytic. It's the other way around you have to worry about. Gas in a diesel engine can detonate rather violently. Detonation is when the fuel charge instantly explodes in the combustion chamber, as opposed to just burning from top to bottom, which is what you want. Detonation (or "knock") is never a good thing in any internal combustion engine, but diesel engines have a very high compression, so gas detonates with much more force.
If the amount of gas mixed into the diesel isn't that much, it doesn't do much damage usually. Draining the fuel tank is usually all it takes.
The only time I've dealt with this was with a BRAND spanking new 2018 Sprinter van. Hadn't even got its first oil change, and the guy driving it filled the tank to the brim with E85. It did still run, but wouldn't take any throttle. I believe the computer knew something was wrong and refused to do anything but idle. I also think it was fortunate that it was E85 instead of gas, as ethanol doesn't like to detonate nearly as much as gas does.