Corsa running on Off Road Diesel !

[CorsaVern]

My '65 Corsa Conv is running on Diesel. Friday I pulled up to the front pump at the Ethanol free gas station, and the gas snout was sticking in a piece of plastic pipe stick’n out. I put it in and started it and thought that it didn’t seem right in that pipe. There are no traditional pumps here. Looks like 250 gal tanks.

Them as I looked up I noticed it going in real slow like and noticed it was diesel off road with dye to identify off road. Stopped it at 4 gals. A senior moment if I ever seen one !

I walked over to get the 93 octane and spoke to a guy fillin’ up 3 – 5 gal cans of 87 for his boat and I told him I put diesel in. He said he would drain the tank. That wasn’t going to be easy or feasible so I finished it with 10 gals of 93, started it with no problem and went over to pay. A mechanic that worked there said it will run with a 10/4 (83/17 %) gal diesel/gas mix but may ping.

It pinged whenever I pushed the accelerator past 1/3, but was able to run 65 mph. I pulled up to a stop lite on US 60 and a pickup pulled up beside and ax’ed me what the car was and I told’em. He ax’ed if it was a 2 stroke as I was putting out a cloud of smoke when shifting. It also was running about 60 deg hotter at 65 mph, 325 normal/390 now.

While entertaining, this didn't help with my mix:

http://www.cartalk.com/blogs/dear-car-t ... el-gas-car

This was better. Now I don’t know if I need to have it drained as it’s a real plus having old technology. I mean it does run Ok when driven easily, but won’t shut off. I have to let the clutch out in gear to stop it.

http://blogs.tech-recipes.com/qmchenry/ ... s-vehicle/

“((Amount of diesel / Size of your tank) x 15) + ((Size of your tank-amount of diesel) / Size of your tank x 114) = >87”

So:
4/14 * 15 = (4.28 + (14-4) 10 = 14.28/(14 *114) = 14.28/1596 = .0089

HuH ????? I’m Ok ? .0089 < .07%

“It is unlikely that your car will be ok if you put in more than 0.7% diesel”

“And up to .7% can be fixed with 93 alone.”

I'm gonna run it out unless advise otherwise. Thanks in advance. I am following up with a post about what I'm planning. I want to sell the Corsa and get a C5 Corvette, if I can go thru with it !

[lostboy]

Honestly, it's kind of like if you ran a shit ton of marvel or something. You'll probably have a nice clean top end once you're done running it through. You can always adjust your timing to run better without pinging at the cost of performance.

[bbodie52]

What Happens If You Put Diesel in a Gas Engine?

April 7, 2015
With diesel-fueled cars growing in popularity, most gas stations are starting to sprinkle in diesel pumps among the standard gasoline ones. I know I've been caught off-guard a few times and accidentally pulled up to the wrong pump without paying attention. Fortunately, I've noticed the difference before lifting the nozzle into my tank, but not everyone is so lucky to stop there.
So what happens if you accidentally add diesel fuel to a gas engine? In general, your car will turn out a sluggish performance before it stops running altogether. You might have heard horror stories from a guy, who heard from a friend, that your car will never work again. That isn't necessarily the case. As long as you fix the problem immediately, putting diesel fuel in a gas engine won't always cause permanent damage. Before we figure out how to solve this problem, let's take a look at how diesel fuel affects a gas engine.

Gas vs. diesel engines

Before you panic about making this mistake, keep this in mind: diesel nozzles usually can't fit into new gasoline tanks. Also, diesel has a distinct smell that's very different from gasoline. However, if you don't detect the smell and somehow jam the diesel nozzle into your gas tank, you should know this key difference between a gas and diesel engine:
Gas Engine: Since gasoline is blended with chemicals to avoid self-ignition, this type of engine runs a vehicle by using spark plugs to ignite gas and air.
Diesel Engine: A diesel engine doesn't have spark plugs because diesel fuel can ignite on its own with highly compressed hot air.
Diesel fuel doesn't need assistance to ignite, and it has a thicker consistency than gasoline. As a result, diesel can jam a gas engine's fuel injectors, filters and lines. Since a gas engine doesn't give off the necessary heat and pressure for diesel to combust correctly, this can cause severe timing and cylinder issues. Your vehicle might start and run for a while, however its performance slowly slips, and the car eventually stops running.

How to remove diesel from a gas tank

So now what do you do? It depends on how much diesel you put in your tank. If you caught your mistake early on, filling the rest of the tank with mostly gasoline might be an adequate remedy. When you fill the majority of your tank with diesel, it's a whole different story.

The first step is to stop your car and have it towed back home. You need to fix the problem immediately, as the longer diesel sits, the more damage it can do to the fuel system, engine and injectors. Next, use a siphon pump to remove the diesel from the tank and fill it up with gasoline. In some cases, it could take a while for your vehicle to start up, and the ride might be bumpy until all the diesel naturally flushes out.

The other solution, and most times the safest one, is to call a professional. A mechanic will properly flush out the entire fuel system and clean up the surrounding parts. In some cases, the spark plugs, engine gaskets and filters might need to be replaced if they were seriously affected by the blunder.

https://community.sears.com/Articles/Wh ... Gas-Engine

The initial mistake was compounded by starting the engine with the diesel/gasoline blend. The fact that the diesel fuel was diluted with gasoline permitted it to run at all, but the damage incurred may be worsened if you continue to try to drive your pinging, detonating, misfiring, gagging Corvair with diesel in the mix. I would recommend draining the tank, flushing the fuel line, and getting fresh gasoline into the fuel system. If the percentage of diesel is low enough, the carburetors and fuel pump may be able to flush themselves out. Manually pumping the diesel out of the fuel pump by disconnecting the fuel lines from the carburetors and then cranking the engine while pumping the fuel pump outlet into separate container might help. Disassembling the carburetors and cleaning/rebuilding them may be needed. But don't force the engine to try to continue running on a fuel tank full of gasoline that is blended with diesel fuel. You are risking permanent damage to your engine while using it to pump almost 14 gallons out of the tank!

[CorsaVern]

Thank you Brad, as usual you are rock steady in your references. I am going to speak to my mechanic, as I spoke with his boss, the owner of Clover Hill Auto on Sat. I am inclined to add octane booster and run it out. A good friend says he can't figure out that formula shown above, albeit it has to do with octane. I'll get a more firm estimate on the draining. I will say the nozzle did not have the square snout as this is kind of like a home gas tank, which we had for the farm back in the 60's to fuel up our John Deere and Oliver tractors, complete with a hand crank, which was my job as a kid ! I have made some poor decisions in my life and I don't really want another "learning experience" LOL !

Now I believe that this 140 engine has 115,000 mi as it runs well, aside to the slight smoking when cold and sometimes cutting out a bit when the other 2 carbs kick in as accelerating to 5000 rpm in 2nd gear is quite thrilling, albeit like a V-8.

[terribleted]

Drive it gently and dilute it along the way. I would bet it will just be smelly and perhaps a bit smoky until the diesel is mostly gone.

[toytron]

As you noted it is better than the newer cars. My daughter had the same dilemma. She worked at a BP which had as their low octane a green handle. On day when she had our newer minivan she stopped at a Casey's and used their green handle (diesel) 3/4 of a tank later the car died on the on ramp. Had it towed home and had to drain 15 gallons of mixed not useful for anything fuel. Clogged 2 injectors but can ran afterward.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Corvair Forum mobile app