Be sure what pump you pick!


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A vehicle got towed into our dealership over the weekend because some lady filled her 2010 GMC Acadia up with diesel fuel. It was pretty much right empty and she filled it to the brim with diesel and drove it until it stopped. About 5 or 6 hours later we had it running down the road again. Dropped the tank and drained it all, wiped the inside of the tank out with a chamois and rinsed several times with gasoline. Blew the fuel lines out. These engines have direct injection, so they have a high pressure fuel pump driven by one of the camshafts on the engine. Had to cycle that and get the engine running on brake clean to get it to fire and pulse the injectors. Finally got it to prime the pump with gas and get the injectors all flushed out so it'd run under it's own power. Expensive mistake to say the least, our labour at $100/hour, $100 of wasted diesel then another $100 or so to fill it with gasoline. So when you go to fill up, make sure you grab the right nozzle! :D

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Shaun, I'd bet she paid less than the guy who had his Dodge pulled in a year ago. His new girlfriend borrowed his truck and filled it up for him with regular gas. Nice gesture except the truck had a Cummins diesel motor. He got a new motor, one heck of a bill and from what I understand a newer yet girlfriend.

Lynn

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Shaun, I'd bet she paid less than the guy who had his Dodge pulled in a year ago. His new girlfriend borrowed his truck and filled it up for him with regular gas. Nice gesture except the truck had a Cummins diesel motor. He got a new motor, one heck of a bill and from what I understand a newer yet girlfriend.

Lynn

Ouch! Yeah bad things happen when gasoline hits a diesel engine. Not good at all. The gas engines start pinging when diesel hits them and eventually die when the diesel:gas ratio increases. :D

Are the Canadian pumps the same size? Most around here are larger than gas and will not allow you to put the nozzle into a gas burner filler neck.

A lot of stations do have the bigger nozzles for the diesel, but have noticed a few where both were the same size. Makes no sense to me. The diesels should have the bigger one everywhere, not just certain places.

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Most diesel pumps in these parts have a larger nozzle that won't fit the filler neck of gasoline vehicles. I have seen a few that have the same size though, those are usually on seperate pumps at those stations where you have 3 grades of gas on one pump and a totally seperate pump for diesel.

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Are the Canadian pumps the same size? Most around here are larger than gas and will not allow you to put the nozzle into a gas burner filler neck.

:yes:

Neighbor put kerosene in his brand new John Deere rider mower one year. :oops: It chugged and smoked quite a bit before he finally got the gas to the carburetor. :D

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Here in NY state the gas nozzles are smaller than diesel or kerosene. Federal regulations require restrictors in the fuel filler neck to accept only the smaller nozzles. This came about in 1975 when catalytic converters came on the scene. Regular gas [ leaded ] still had the larger nozzles, the same as diesel.

Now it is nearly impossible to put diesel into a gas fueled vehicle. Leaded fuel is extinct for the most part.

As part of our periodic motor vehicle inspection we are required to check to be sure the restrictor hasn't been removed or tampered with.

We even have regulations on gas cans taken to the pump. Gasoline must be put into a red can and diesel into a white can. Kerosene to be put into a blue can. These rules exist but probably aren't enforced widely. We also have regs. to have only for sale the EPA approved sealed gas cans which have no vent and a pour nozzle very difficult to use. These things aren't supposed to let fumes escape to the atsmophere. Try to pour out of it without spilling gas all over! Great idea by some brain dead engineer!

Lynn

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We also have regs. to have only for sale the EPA approved sealed gas cans which have no vent and a pour nozzle very difficult to use. These things aren't supposed to let fumes escape to the atsmophere. Try to pour out of it without spilling gas all over! Great idea by some brain dead engineer!

Lynn

My wife's cousin and I were just discussing this a couple days ago while filling up a mower. I think we only spilled about a pint or so. :bang: I'm tempted to drill a small hole in the top next time the can is empty.

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