https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dfwPFxPhCY
A friend running his diesel Suburban after sitting in a field for years.
It's important to remember that diesel (at least in America) was a very low quality fuel back in the day. It's been getting steadily better, and combined with tougher emission standards, diesel's a pretty decent fuel in this country, now. I'm only 30 years old, and I remember buses and trucks spewing soot everywhere when they took off from a stop, when I was little. This is a rare occurrence now.
Also, while I don't hate diesel, and I understand (better than most) that new diesel cars are pretty clean, I'm VERY thankful that most of our cars are gasoline. Because I've been to India. Where EVERY car is a diesel. Let's just say, it only took a day for my white shirt collar to become black.
Speaking of putting the wrong fuel in a vehicle... my shop's neighbor has a fleet of 3 Dodge Sprinters. One of them is BRAND spanking new. The idiot they let drive it (mind you, he's the same guy who drives the other diesel Sprinters) filled up the tank to the brim from empty with E85. Miraculously, it still managed to run, but not well. I had to siphon the tank, all 20 or 30 gallons, and fill with fresh diesel. It was perfectly fine, afterwards, thankfully.
I still have about 10 gallons of that useless contaminated fuel. It is probably about 90% E85. My dad put it in some car and it understandably didn't like it that much.