Knucklehead FAIL. 15 gallons of E85 on an empty tank.

OK, I pulled the ultimate diesel owners nightmare. I put 15 gallons of E85 in an empty tank. Drove 100 ft while the engine was knockin and shut her down.

Please direct me to a thread with some knowledge on emptying, purging and priming the fuel system.


Thank you.
 

talkinghorse43

Well-known member
OK, I pulled the ultimate diesel owners nightmare. I put 15 gallons of E85 in an empty tank. Drove 100 ft while the engine was knockin and shut her down.

Please direct me to a thread with some knowledge on emptying, purging and priming the fuel system.


Thank you.
IIWY, I'd call Dennis (lindenengineering) @ 720-344-1877 (Golden, CO)
 
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220629

Well-known member

smiller

2008 View J (2007 NCV3 3500)
If you ran the engine on a high concentration of gasoline and it got the high pressure pump and injectors then you will be lucky if all you need to do is purge the system, but fingers are crossed for you and as above you might be OK. Much will depend on whether the mixture was 5% gasoline or 95% gasoline. As you probably know, do not start the engine again for any reason until the system is examined.

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krisinak

New member
lee, here is hoping it all works out well. here in mexico the green pump handle is for regular petrol, black for diesel. i often stop myself in mid reach.. best of luck, let us know how it shakes out. cheers,kris
 
D

Deleted member 50714

Guest
Damn, purge fuel system well. If you shut-down soon enough, you may be fine. There's videos on YouTube of diesels running on gasoline for quite sometime, If I remember correctly, I saw one run for half an hour, YMMV.
 
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ranchworld

'06 158 2500 Passenger
I did the same thing, about 15 gallons of gasoline into the sprinter. On my way home across the country after buying it... On the 4th of July. In a tiny truck stop on a reservation in deep back country Wyoming. I noticed before starting and disconnected the fuel line at the filter inlet and used the fuel pump to drain the tank. An adventure in MacGyver solutions to get the tubing and containers. Refilled with diesel and drove around the truck stop slowly for a while to make sure it was ok. Then drove on home.
 

MillionMileSprinter

Millionmilesprinter.com
What year is your van? If it's '04-'06, you can use the in tank fuel pump to purge the system and pray you didn't do any damage. If it's and '02-'03, it will be a lot more work.
 

Cvollmar

New member
Don't feel bad my people do it at least three times a year. I had one guy fill the crankcase to overflowing with DEF. Had a girl fill the washer bottle with DEF. Had an ISUZU reach DEF tank filled with diesel still have not figured that one out. I could go on and on.
 

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