Duramax 75 miles on gas?!

[AZjeff]

Last week the president of the company went to a meeting with our 2 engineers to discuss some potential new business. It didn't go well and they were talking about things when he stopped to fuel up and he put gas in it then drove 60 miles back. It wouldn't start at the end of the day so I was told to get it to the Chevy garage to find out the problem. It's an 07 GMC with 120K on it and there's been a couple of no start deals that were fixed with a new fuel filter housing. The quick fix was to pump the primer and it would start. It started for me in the morning so I drove it to the dealer. They called as I was getting back to let us know it had gas in it. Turns out he put 16 gallons in and there would have been 10 gallons of diesel in the tank. I noticed on the 15 mile drive to the dealer it was maybe a bit more clattery than normal but it ran fine. We were told they weren't worried about any long term damage, that would only occur if it were run for a week on gas.

Can no damage be possible?? Everything I've ever read said if you run gas in a diesel truck it will destroy the injectors and pump almost immediately. Should we expect a meltdown sometime? Hoping for some thoughts from our resident expert technicians (and everyone else with 2 cents).

Stupid boss comments aren't really necessary, this is his company truck and he drove a diesel before this one, sometimes dumb stuff happens.

 

[CT8]

Drive it.

 

[bullwinkle]

I once ran my 6.0 PSD company van with 50% gas & 50% diesel-other than the fact it took Ford 6 injectors to figure out the fuel was the problem, it didn't do any long term damage. Of course, they didn't put the old injectors back in, either!

Speedway should have gotten the bill for that one, but they were a HUGE customer of ours at the time, so I'm guessing the company didn't want to make any waves over having gas in a diesel tank & pump.

 

[David2431]

Head bolts may be a problem. When one or more "go" it probably will overheat - if you're lucky that's all that will go.

 

[dogememe]

I wouldn't stress about it, I was just having this conversation with someone last week... They put gas in their Audi diesel. Well after all the gas was out and a few other little things it's running fine now.

 

[SZR48207]

Since gasoline is a solvent, you would just end up with a really diluted diesel right?

 

[tiger862]

Drain tank then replace filter. Seen this at dealer with a few that had pumps and injector failure. Only seen one engine failure and that was from eather start after shut down then towed to dealer. Mechanic didn't know that gas was put in nor did he check filter .

 

[AZjeff]

I failed to mention the dealer drained the tank and changed the filter. It sounds fine.

 

[Shannow]

Forget about it until it caused problems (if at all).

There's nothing to be gained going searching for what may not be a problem.

If it was either of my common rails, then it would be fingers crossed time, and probably high pressure pump and debris time (Mazda BT50 is a 3.2l 5 cylinder, and a workmate did $14,000 damage)

 

[Chris142]

All you can do now is run it and see what breaks.

 

[maxdustington]

Originally Posted by Shannow
If it was either of my common rails, then it would be fingers crossed time, and probably high pressure pump and debris time (Mazda BT50 is a 3.2l 5 cylinder, and a workmate did $14,000 damage)
Wow! Wish they sold those here! No gasoline option in a truck that small? Sign me up!

 

[Dinoburner]

If this were mine I`d use two ounces of top oil per tank for three fillups and keep a close eye for fuel leaks. Slight possibility all the clatter stressed the head gaskets.

 

[Linctex]

I'd add 1/2 gallon of 2-cycle oil and just drive it.

 

[14Accent]

I had the opposite happen, filled up with 3/4 tank of diesel in my Marauder (Super America f-up). Ran pretty crappy when the remainder of the gasoline burnt off, but it drove. I just kept diluting it down and changed the filter twice, plugs once. Cashed in a nice little check for $1,400 from SA's insurance company. Cost me ~$30 in parts and an hour of my time in the end.

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted by maxdustington
Originally Posted by Shannow
If it was either of my common rails, then it would be fingers crossed time, and probably high pressure pump and debris time (Mazda BT50 is a 3.2l 5 cylinder, and a workmate did $14,000 damage)
Wow! Wish they sold those here! No gasoline option in a truck that small? Sign me up!


in 4x4 dual cabs, all rated to carry one tonne, with 3-3.5 tonne towing.
Colorado - diesel only - baby duramax
DMax (Isuzu Colorado, their engine)
Mazda BT50 - diesel only (3.2 5 cyl)
Ford Ranger (same as above)
LDVT60 - diesel only (adaptation of the VM Motori in the Colorado
VW amarok - 4 cyl gas, 4 cyl TDi, V-6 TDI
Nissan Navara - diesel only (2.3L, with two variants...120Kw single turbo, or 140KW compounded twin turbo)
Foton Tunland - diesel only (Cummins 2.8 made in China Plant - Chinese ZF and Dana drivetrain)
Great Wall - diesel
Mahindra - diesel only


Think that's it.

 

[Shannow]

Forgot THE Toyota Hilux in that list...$10k premium for the Toyota badge

 

[Ducked]

Originally Posted by Linctex
I'd add 1/2 gallon of 2-cycle oil and just drive it.


Will the lubrication do any good now? If the tanks been drained and its been driven some, the petrol will be mostly gone. Spose it wouldn't do any harm though.

I did this with a hire Renault Clio in the UK Maybe 10-20% petrol.. Realised before I started it, but the filling station didn't have any 2-stroke.

Here I'd have put some in.

 

[AZjeff]

Guess it's lucky that the 60 miles it ran is downhill from Flagstaff to the shop and the 15 miles to the dealer are mostly under construction and 45 mph. This is the back-up truck and is occasionally used to haul a 20 foot flatbed with up to $300k of our product to the customer in Phoenix. Glad I'm not the truck driver.