What happens if you put diesel in a gas car and what to do? Mistakenly pouring fuel such as diesel into a car with a gasoline engine is less common. But once this action is taken, many serious problems will take place with the car and the catastrophic consequence is that the owner loses tons of money. However, do not worry because Wapolabs’s article “What happens if you put diesel in a gas car and what to do?” will guide you on what to do if you ever put diesel in a gas car
What happens if you put diesel in a gas car?
What happens when you put diesel in a gas engine, that could be your worst nightmare. You will encounter a number of errors that may cause you the price of your car. So why diesel is the worst thing to put in gas tank, let’s find out.
The difference between gas and diesel?
The most basic difference between these 2 types of engines is in 3 factors:
- Type of fuel used
- Combustion chamber mechanism
- Performance
For Diesel engines, diesel fuel is used, there are no ignition spark plugs, the engine is powered by the process of compressing the mixture of fuel and air in the cylinders. Gasoline engines use gasoline fuel, which equals the combustion of the air-fuel mixture in cylinders by sparks in spark plugs.
For gasoline engines using carburetors or electronic injection alone, the gasoline/air mixture is mixed before entering the fire chamber. In diesel engines, the combustion mixture is mixed directly inside the fire chamber.
The performance of a diesel engine is about 1.5 times greater than that of a gasoline engine. Diesel fuel is usually cheaper compared to gasoline, 1 liter of diesel when fully burned gets about 8,755 calories while 1 liter of fully burned gasoline gives about 8,140 calories. The fuel consumption of a diesel engine is 200-285g/kWh less than that of a gasoline engine is 260-380g/kWh.
How is it going to affect your engine?
What happens if you put diesel in a gas car? This case does not cause as many consequences as the above case, the most important issue here is that the octane of gasoline will be reduced.
In the process of burning gasoline of the engine, the octane rating plays a role in assessing the combustion capacity of gasoline at the right time, not too early. Lower octane gasoline burns very quickly after being pumped into the combustion chamber, when the gasoline has exploded but the piston is still moving up, thereby causing a strong impact on the engine and causing damage to the piston and transmission.
More simply, the octane rating slows down the combustion process, the car only works for a short time and will stall.
Gasoline needs to reach an octane rating of 87-91 to match today’s engines. Diesel has an octane rating of about 25-40. Mixing 2% diesel into gasoline will reduce the total octane rating by 1 unit, mixing 10% diesel reduces 5 units, enough to cause many problems for the engine. The greater the percentage of diesel fuel contaminated in gasoline, the lower the octane rating, leading to engine damage if not repaired in time.
And because it’s denser, just a little bit of water poured into the gasoline engine instantly clogs the ducts, causing stiffening of the injector system, and gasoline filtration system, and quickly stalling the machine.
If the driver does not promptly detect the wrong fuel but tries to restart again when the car stalls, it can cause an explosion or breakage of the engine. The biggest consequences will be piston failure, machine bundle, affecting the life of the machine, even having to replace the machine.
If the amount of diesel poured in is less (less than 10%) compared to the capacity of the fuel tank and the engine of the car belongs to the old model. Without using electronic injection, it is possible to fill the gas tank to dissolve the diesel and the car still runs normally, with only slightly more smoke.
If it is the current engine, the best way is to pull the car to the garage to suck all the fuel out, pour new gasoline into the engine, high-pressure pump, gasoline nozzle … then refuel to be able to run the car normally.
What to do if you accidentally put diesel in a gas engine?
Shut down the engine
What happens when you put gas in a diesel? And if the wrong fuel is detected, do not start the car to avoid the worst thing to put in the gas tank. If a mistake is detected when refueling, absolutely do not start the engine. If the car is starting, it must be turned off immediately (some people have a bad habit of keeping the car on while refueling).
Towed your car to the nearest repair garage
If the wrong diesel is poured into the gasoline engine, then as said, call the rescue car to take it to the nearest dealer so that they remove all the diesel, flush the fuel system, and replace the fuel filter. Usually, the towed service will cost you 3 to 7 dollars per mile.
Why is it necessary to do this? Because even if you have chosen not to start or drive, diesel will begin to clog the fuel system, causing damage to the engine and injectors. But if you still drive away after pouring the wrong fuel, the car will not go far. The gasoline engine could not burn all the oil fuel, and the engine began to make strange noises, and on an unlucky day caused disaster in the cylinder system.
What it might cost you?
If you mistakenly pump gasoline for a diesel engine, it is better to rinse the whole engine system. In the opposite case, it is not necessary to do this.
Quickly take the car to change the fuel filter, it will cost between $ 400 and $ 500. Unluckily, if your cylinder engine is affected, you can spend anywhere from $4,000 to $17,000 on mistakenly pouring diesel into a gasoline engine.
Tips for your next gas pump
Always double check
Try to check several times what kind of fuel the engine of your vehicle uses. Repeated vehicle checks will save you from confusion. If you refuel, you should get out of the car, announce the type of fuel and check that the employee is pouring the right type of fuel.
Notice the nozzle
Usually, on the fuel tank lid of an oil motorcycle, there will be the word “Diesel”; with the opposite color to create a highlight and attract attention. However, for those who are not careful or in a hurry, it is very possible not to pay attention to this inscription. Therefore, you should actively stick a decal indicating the type of fuel the car uses right on the outer cover, and also the inner cover, if not already.
You can even change the fuel tank cap to avoid confusion. For cars lent to others, especially oil motorcycles, to prevent confusion, you should fill the fuel tank before lending and carefully instruct.
And that is “what happens if you put diesel in a gas car?” In any case, pouring the wrong type of diesel fuel into a gasoline engine can have serious consequences. You should always be careful with the fuel you put in your gas tank, or it will cost you a fortune. The article “What happens if you put diesel in a gas car and what to do?” gave you a workaround for this situation if you mistakenly put in the wrong fuel. Hope you find this article useful and let us know if it helps you.
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