Can gas or petrol fuel be used in a diesel engine or vice versa can diesel fuel be used in a gas or petrol engine?

Answer 1

Gas or petrol CANNOT be used in a diesel engine and Diesel fuel CANNOT be used in a gas or petrol engine.The engine will be seriously damaged - or probably wrecked beyond economic repair - if you put some of the wrong fuel into the tank by mistake.

Even if you don't let very much of the wrong fuel get into the tank you should NOT start the engine.

If you have not started the engine then none of the wrong kind of fuel will have gone into the fuel pipes or into any part of the engine. Then the fuel tank can be drained, rinsed or swilled out with some of the correct fuel and drained again. That has to be done a couple of times to be sure it is "clean" before the correct fuel is used to fill it again. That work of cleaning the tank will cost a lot of money to be done at a garage or repair shop but the cost will be much less than having to pay for a damaged engine to be repaired. If any of the wrong fuel gets into the fuel pipes, the fuel pump and fuel injectors the whole fuel supply system will have to be dismantled and cleaned out, all in the hope that none actually reached the engine....

More than a few drops of the wrong fuel is likely to wreck the engine. If the engine gets wrecked, that will mean you would have to buy a new or reconditioned engine and also the whole fuel supply system will still have to be dismantled and cleaned out anyway to prevent the replacement engine from being damaged too.

A diesel/air mixture has to be compressed much more than a petrol/air mixture so the engines are built differently from each other.

There is a lot more that could be said about the engineering technology used to build diesel and petrol engines and why only the correct fuel can be used for each one, but I'll leave that to someone else to contribute here one day, if they have time to do it.

Note: Petrol = "Gas" in US/Canada, etc.

<><><>

If diesel fuel gets into a petrol engine the engine gets clogged and dies.

<><><>

Well, it may or may not get clogged, it might in fact still run, but it will run very poorly. If you, on the other hand happen to add petrol in your diesel-car... That's where the damage might occur. (SERIOUS PROBLEMS.)

<><><>

If that happens and you put the wrong fuel in, get advice from a professional first, as was mentioned already.

<><><>

My girlfriend actually put diesel in my gas tank somehow only 5 bucks worth(2 gallons). I spoke to a mechanic and he informed me that if i filled the gas tank with high octane gas(super or ultra 90+) and drive around awhile the diesel will get dilluted and i should be fine. However he also informed me to add fuel injector cleaner so those dont get clogged up. He said my car might smoke for a little while and might smell funny but i should be fine seeing as it was only a small amount. So far so good no blown motors or fuel systems needing to be replaced

<><><>

Must say this: what happens all depends on the particular car make, model and engine... Just because someone was lucky once with theirs does not mean everyone will be...

<><><>

For more information please see the Related Linkalso.

<><><>

In large part it depends on how much of what fuel you used.

A little bit of diesel in gasoline usually won't hurt you--by that I mean less than a gallon in a 20-gallon tank. It'll burn really smoky, but the engine should survive.

A little bit of gasoline in diesel will reduce the fuel's gelling temperature. Before products like Lucas Fuel Treatment and Howes Meaner Power Kleener were introduced, most truckers running in winter would put one or two gallons of gasoline in the tank then fuel up. They had 100-gallon fuel tanks, so that was okay. Modern drivers usually don't do this; they use the additives.

Too much gasoline in diesel will wash the lube out of your injector train and could damage your fuel system, and too much diesel will clog your fuel injection. But a little is all right.
It will turn over, but will not run.