Adding gas to Diesel???

oldguy · Jan 6, 2004

OK I got to thinking today about something the service writer at the ford dealership said last summer. My truck just up and died the day after my wife came home all proud of herself that she filled it up with GAS on the way home. I went ballistic but she assurred me she meant diesel. Just by coincindence the camshaft sensor went out on the wayto work and I had to have it towed in. I told the writer what my wife said and his reply was
a full tank of unleaded would destroy the engine but a couple gallons mixed in would do no damage. In fact during the winter many guys actually top the tank of diesel with a couple gallons of unleaded to help with extreme cold weather starts
Today we had a high of about 0 and after sitting out all day it started but ran real rough until it warmed up. Would a bit of gas inthere help or is it to risky to make it worthwhile?

KiwiBird · Jan 6, 2004

Gas in a diesel is NOT a good idea, use a good diesel treatment additive for cold weather.

a454elk · Jan 6, 2004

Actually DIESEL in diesel is a great idea, huh Kiwi.:):moon: Note to self, When Kiwi says, "We can make it", kick him square in the jimmy!

ktmboy · Jan 6, 2004

I'm sensing one of those 'you had to be there' stories like the red rag incident! :p

KDX1 · Jan 7, 2004

I am getting ready to start driving tractor trailers for a living and in going to school and learning as much as I can, it seems to be pretty normal for a lot of truckers this time of year to add kerosene to the diesel tanks. This little bit of kero helps to keep the diesel from geling.

Patman · Jan 7, 2004

The kerosene helps lower the waxing point of diesel but also reduces power. Most colder locations have diesel #1 for cold and diesel #2 for the warmer seasons. When you pump your fuel it's typically already setup for whatever season you are in at your location if they do any volume of diesel sales. The winter blend (#1) already has a percentage of kerosene blended in to lower the waxing point.

I suppose a bit of gasoline might not hurt but there sure are better options! Stanadyne makes several good products, Power Service has a couple and is usually availabe at Wally World and Tractor Supply Company, Amsoil makes one as well and they all typically increase Cetane (diesel version of Octane) plus lower the waxing point so your fuel doesn't turn into a candle. Once the fuel gets that bad it's a bit of work to get it liquified again, there are some products that you can add if this happens and wait like 30 minutes but I don't know what it's called as it's usually not an issue here.

The powerstroke has a valve off the turbo that closes to help warm the engine in cold conditions. This typically causes it to run rough until the valve opens and the exhaust is free to flow normally. If it's really cold and the E-brake is set the truck will go to a high idle state to help reduce the wait for temps to get warm enough to open the valve. Plugging in the block heater for a couple hours prior to starting helps this quite a bit. Putting it on a plug in time with an extension cord keeps ya' nice and toasty in bed too.

The CPS is a known 7.3 issue and your's went out at about the known failer point if I'm not mistaken even though Ford isn't real open about it being a problem. Some people get a spare to have on hand as it's a one bolt operation to change on the side of the road. Typically you can get one for less $$$ at the International dealer since it doesn't have the Ford logo on the box.

Now if we could get GasGasMan in here we'd all get a Ford diesel endmakation :thumb:

ktmboy · Jan 7, 2004

I've heard of people adding ATF also. It's supposed to clean up the injectors.

Patman · Jan 7, 2004

Originally posted by ktmboy
I've heard of people adding ATF also. It's supposed to clean up the injectors.

Old school mechanical injector pump days. Any of the products I listed above will do a better job.

You can also use WD40 as a type of starting fluid like ether for gas engines. I wouldn't really do that either now though. Dodge Cummins, Chevy/GMC Duramax, and Ford Powerstroke all are much more complicated than the old style engines. High pressure injection systems that send a pre-charge to quiet them down, variable turbos, injectors that go for $300 a pop,....

jaction125 · Jan 7, 2004

No gas in it please! Cam sensors on any engine built by Navistar=P.O.S!

All of the additive producers have a degelling agent they sell. I only know the name of penray's, it's called Winter Thaw. The Ford dealers around here typically don't know which end of a diesel goes down the road, so I'd take what they say with a grain of salt :thumb:

oldguy · Jan 7, 2004

I haven't resorted to the gas option just thought I'd throw it out for feedback. I pretty much got the answer I expected.
I trust the station I get my diesel from since all the school busses fill up there so I know he does a big volumn and keeps it up to season.
I really have to pick up the extra sensor one of these days because some of the places we go I don't want to wait for help and yes Pat mine went out at the 49,000mi mark just like Ford won't admit is normal:think:

zio · Jan 7, 2004

what's the "special" diesel that Truckers get? I think it has a different #, or is "purple" or someting wierd.

Kav · Jan 7, 2004

The diffrent color could be because they pay differnt tax on the fuel, like farm equipment

Patman · Jan 7, 2004

Truckers run the same diesel as any other road going vehicle that burn it. Off road users such as farm and construction equipment and I think even military (Kav?) run the "special" diesel which is just normal diesel either #1 or #2 depending on temps with a red dye added. If you get busted with red dye diesel in an on road vehicle it's bad news! The red dyed fuel just means that no tax was charged on the fuel because the vehicle using it doesn't use the road.

evenslower · Jan 8, 2004

Military gets whatever is "cheap" and available. I know we used to have a couple of dozers, earth movers, and other horribly worn out heavy equipment that seemed to enjoy a little gasoline on a rag placed strategically around/near the intake to assist in starting on cool morning. Most of the equipment had an ether assist button in the cab but I never saw one that worked. These things were from a different planet technology/emission wise than what we enjoy today.

Smitty · Jan 8, 2004

Originally posted by evenslower
...heavy equipment that seemed to enjoy a little gasoline on a rag placed strategically around/near the intake to assist in starting on cool morning....

Edit: Actually now that I remember it did not catch fire. Instead the man with gas soaked rag did not know to pull it off as soon as the motor got going. Then when the motor started screaming (old crane, LOUD exhaust) he got rattled and jumped off and away from it. The thing ran wide open for about 30 seconds and melted. :scream:

I'm just glad it wasn't on my project, that put a big dent in the schedule and the budget.

zio · Jan 8, 2004

On the way home from DW this year, I pulled up at a truck stop to fill up, used a wierd pump (not like usual diesel pump) and the fuel had a different name. can't remember now. Anyway, the lady at the desk treated me different. I signed some paper or something. Really can't remember. It was about 5 a.m. in New Mexico or something.

Patman · Jan 8, 2004

Soy blend diesel maybe. There are some truck stops that offer a "premium" diesel also. Maybe some other form of blended fuel.

MrLuckey · Jan 8, 2004

Originally posted by Patman
Soy blend diesel maybe. There are some truck stops that offer a "premium" diesel also. Maybe some other form of blended fuel.

If you've ever been around a farming community that had a CO-OP service station you'll probably remember the diesel they sold (at a slightly higher cost) was called Ruby Red :silly:

Patman is right on with the #1 being used for winter. A lot of folks that owned kerosene heaters would buy #1 diesel and use it instead of kerosene. We typically used to have at least a couple farmers push their luck too long (avoiding the higher cost of #1) and gel up a tractor.... it's was no fun trying to get them running again.

Kav · Apr 15, 2004

Patman said:
Truckers run the same diesel as any other road going vehicle that burn it. Off road users such as farm and construction equipment and I think even military (Kav?) run the "special" diesel which is just normal diesel either #1 or #2 depending on temps with a red dye added. If you get busted with red dye diesel in an on road vehicle it's bad news! The red dyed fuel just means that no tax was charged on the fuel because the vehicle using it doesn't use the road.

We mainly use JP-5 Jet fuel in place of diesel for most of our trucks, but when we use diesel it's just like what you can buy at the gas station with out any die added

Tony Williams · Apr 20, 2004

The red dye means that no road taxes were paid... i.e., it's for farm, construction, or other off highway equipment / vehicles.

That's why you can't use it on the road.

Okiewan · Apr 20, 2004

So what is/was "mogas"? I always thought it was a diesel/gas mixture. That's what we used when I was in.

Kav · Apr 20, 2004

when we talk about MoGas we're talking about unleaded gas.
But some old trucks were made to run off just about anything be it gas or disesl, or a mix of the two

Ol'89r · Apr 25, 2004

Kav said:
when we talk about MoGas we're talking about unleaded gas.
But some old trucks were made to run off just about anything be it gas or disesl, or a mix of the two

Believe it or not, some of the old tractor type diesels used both. International made an engine that started on gas and once it was started, you switched it over to diesel. They used this engine in road graders. Had a insert in the head that moved in and out to change the compression ratio.

Wouldn't recommend using gas in a modern day computer controlled diesel engine though.

Could cause this--- :flame:

Adding gas to Diesel???

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