Uh oh! Filled up with diesel

[smp]

So I'm at a marina and they filled me with diesel. They are taking responsibility and calling a guy that will pump out the tank. How worried should I be? I realized the error before firing up. So none is in the lines. Did a search nothing came up and I'm a bit panicked because we're three days from home!!! Thank you for any help.

[edwardc]

You're in good shape since you didn't try to start it. Just need to pump out the tank.

Depending on how they pump out the tank, there will be a certain amount of diesel left in the bottom. If you can get them to do it, the best thing is to put back in about 10 gals of gas to dilute that residue and then pump that out too. The remaining amount of diesel now left, when further diluted by a full tank, should be fine. After all, we often deliberately put oil (MMO) in the gas to the tune of about 100:1 without ill effects. May smoke a bit for the first tank after the cleanout.

Depending on the condition of your tank bottom, this pumpout may stir up sediments that have long laid there undisturbed. If you start getting uneven or rough running after this, try replacing your filter(s). Lay in some spares now before you depart the marina.

[smp]

Thanks. I was thinking the same. I just installed the Moyer polishing filter before this trip. I have a spare. So, not that big a deal save for wasted time by the sounds of it. I hope it's that easy!


This is my first time using a fuel dock! I always Jerry can my fuel because we keep the boat on a mooring. I failed to tell them it's gas not deisel but the cap does say 'gas' on it and it was full serve... I should have pointed it out but I didn't think to.

[Mo]

How big is your tank and how accessible...lets say it an 18 gallon and the pump hose is on the bottom and it picks up everything that it can...then fill with new gas you won't have a problem. They guy showing up to do this ...probably not his first time

[sastanley]

I worked at a fuel dock as a kid. You only make this error ONCE.

I was instructed to always ask, "gas or diesel, sir?" In my case, the skipper came up to the dock, pointed at the gas and said, I'll take that. It even had a little nozzle and a "gas" tag instead of the big dirty green nozzle and a green diesel tag.

I always asked after that, no matter what they pointed or gestured at.

[tenders]

Before setting off on a 1-week, 1-way trip through the Erie Canal, the boatyard in my departing city filled up my freshwater tank with gasoline right after completing a repair on my mast step.

The water fill is on the starboard side of the boat ahead of the shrouds, clearly labeled WATER. The gas fill is in the cockpit deck, clearly labeled GAS. I don't know how it happened, either.

It took four days to figure out that the gas smell in the boat was definitively not coming from the engine, and that it was related to the odd-smelling water coming out of the faucets.

Ended up backflushing the freshwater tank for many hours, sloshing dishwashing liquid around in the tank for a week, and still did not remove all the traces of gas.

Time, however, eventually did, and while there still is odd stuff that gets picked up from time to time in the filter before the freshwater pump, I don't think much of it has anything to do with the gasoline.

[romantic comedy]

I kept my boat next to a marina fuel dock, when I was a kid. Some days I would man the fuel dock for fun. Actually I did it for the tips. One fill up would usually pay for my fill up.

One day a worker pumped over 50 gallons of gas into a boats rod holders.

[edwardc]

I end up using fuel docks pretty often on our cruises. They are always surprised that I want gas instead of diesel.

Often, while I'm lining up for a docking in front of the gas pump, they're wildly gesticulating to get me to go in front of the diesel pump.

[joe_db]

Diesel has an octane of around 60. It can cause severe damage to high compression engines*, but thankfully the A4 is not one. Anything under a few percent you would never even notice. My A4 runs just fine on 50:1 two stroke mix when I run out of regular gas and need to raid the dinghy tank.


* airplanes designed for 100 octane avgas do not get far when the fuel gets mixed with jet fuel (kerosene)

[romantic comedy]

I just found this discussion about running kerosene in a gas engine...

http://www.smokstak.com/library/technical-information-7/running-kerosene-in-a-gasoline-engine-23/

[Mo]

Before setting off on a 1-week, 1-way trip through the Erie Canal, the boatyard in my departing city filled up my freshwater tank with gasoline right after completing a repair on my mast step.

The water fill is on the starboard side of the boat ahead of the shrouds, clearly labeled WATER. The gas fill is in the cockpit deck, clearly labeled GAS. I don't know how it happened, either.

It took four days to figure out that the gas smell in the boat was definitively not coming from the engine, and that it was related to the odd-smelling water coming out of the faucets.

Ended up backflushing the freshwater tank for many hours, sloshing dishwashing liquid around in the tank for a week, and still did not remove all the traces of gas.

Time, however, eventually did, and while there still is odd stuff that gets picked up from time to time in the filter before the freshwater pump, I don't think much of it has anything to do with the gasoline.

I have to Jerry Can my gas aboard as we don't have pumps at the marina. That said, my stb water tank fill is amid ships stb side and the fuel fill is stb quarter...that would be easy to mix up...I'll be sure to keep that little incident in the back of my mind.

[old-sailer]

Actually a gas engine will burn diesel... it doesn't do it well but it will burn it.

How do I know....?? Well when I was stationed in the middle east I had an R&R in Spain (lovely country) and I rented a Seat... which is a Spanish Fiat. Not something you sit on.

At my first fill up they too put diesel in the car while I was in the washroom. (diesel cars are more common in Europe) When I came out, I paid, jumped in and drove off. After maybe 100 meters the car started running rough and blowing black smoke, but it kept going. I knew right away what had happened. I went around the block and drove back to the station and even the people on the streets knew what had happened and were laughing at me as I drove by.

The station removed the diesel (sucked it out) and replaced with petrol and off I went... no engine issues at all after a few minutes as it coughed out the diesel.

So I know you won't have a problem with a good old A4.

[toddster]

How do I know....?? Well when I was stationed in the middle east I had an R&R in Spain (lovely country) and I rented a Seat... which is a Spanish Fiat. Not something you sit on.
.

Actually, SEAT is a Spanish Volkswagen. I've rented a few and they seemed very volkswageny. Except for that petrol thing. I did, in fact once ask an attendant to put diesel into it and he had to correct me. It seemed to drive like all the other little turbo diesel cars I had been renting. They pump 99 octane over there.

OK, I stand corrected. Looked it up. They made Fiat's from 1950 to 1982. Dating yourself dude...

[tenders]

My dad had a diesel Mercedes in the 1970s and during winter cold snaps (below 10 degrees) he'd put a gallon or two of gasoline into the tank to help the thing start.

I'm still not sure if this was a good idea or not. At the time it seemed to me like mixing matter with anti-matter, since diesel fuel was so hard to find in the first place, except at truck stops.

[romantic comedy]

My VW diesel rabbit would not start below minus 5. It was like a thermometer.