IDIOT !!!!! used Diesel

tonupdave

tonupdave

Joined
May 29, 2013
Messages
49
Location
Exeter UK
Bike
Pan 1300A
I accidently put 4.1/2 litres of diesel in my Pan:confused: this has been topped off with V.Power so a full tank:D the bike seems to be running O.K. if a little smoky on acceleration .....Do you think I can get away with it until another top up?....
 
Get yourself a really big container ( or a smaller one, just empty it out a few times) and disconnect this hose from the fuel pump and attach another hose the same size to it, that goes to your container (be fast though, it will start draining the moment that hose is removed.). This will drain out both tanks, entirely!

FuelPump-lowerTank-drain.jpg

If you don't drain it, you will have a very good chance of gumming up your injectors!
 
fnmag said:
You should siphon it out.
Click to expand...

...... every gallon or 2 top up again, don't add any more diesel. I also probably wouldn't drain it, adding gas to diesel is a different matter but I found draining a tractor in a field was really easy.
 
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Saw a 1980 CB750 run on pure diesel (elderly owner, accident). The normally white spark insulators were tinted blue, the plastic dipstick was melted off. Had a little crankcase fire...limited by the small amount of air venting into the crankcase. Diagnosis is from the Honda mechanic...I did see the damage personally. Needless to say, the engine required a rebuild.

Get the diesel OUT of your bike. A little oil is fine. This is way too much.
 
About a gallon out of seven, but I'd run it through myself. It'll clean your carbon out and loosen up your rings, though I don't know what effect it'll have on your cat.
 
TPadden said:
:bsflag: It wouldn't run, nIt DIDo fire would result.
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Well TP..It DID run. Owner said for about five miles....station home, then home to the shop. He took it to the shop because it was running 'rough'. Don't mind if I abbreviate you to TP until you admit that YOU haven't seen everything yet?
 
Fight nicely guys...

How empty were you when the diesel went in? My problem is the bottom tank will have a high concentration of diesel, not much mixing going on with the volume of the upper tank.
 
Oldbikefixr said:
Well TP..It DID run. Owner said for about five miles....station home, then home to the shop. He took it to the shop because it was running 'rough'. Don't mind if I abbreviate you to TP until you admit that YOU haven't seen everything yet?
Click to expand...

Anything is possible; the fact that I haven't seen everything yet doesn't negate the fact that I don't believe everything I've seen posted on the Internet. :)

TP is fine with me; I even have my very own "Smiley"! :tp1:
 
All my years as a mechanic and I have never seen a gas motor run on pure diesel, Not enough compression to fire it let alone a crankcase fire with no oxygen to keep it alive.
TPadden said:
It wouldn't run, no fire would result.
Click to expand...
 
I filled my lawn mower with kero once. It had gas in the bowl. Started it fine and it started sounding like a diesel. It ran. Definitely ran. Not good but ran.
Finished the lawn. Topped it off with gasoline and been working fine since..like 7 years ago.
I would get it out of the bike before using it. Lawn mowers are cheap. ST's not so much.
 
On the Suzuki Madura forum, a lot of guys would add a litre of diesel to their tank(13l fuel tank) of fuel pre and post season riding. Clean out the carbs and burns the carbon deposits on the heads. I did it once, didn't notice a big difference.
Leave it in, dilute it with more regular fuel when you can.
You'll be OK
 
If you decide against siphoning it out, keep a check on the oil level. I had a 50/50 mix of gasoline/diesel several years ago, due to an error on part of the tanker truck driver, and immediately made a 100 mile trip. Near the end of the trip, noticed the oil light came on as I made a turn at idle speed. I stopped to checked the oil level & found it to be WAY above the full mark. I went straight to the nearest service center & had the oil changed....smelled like diesel. I topped the tank off with 93 octane & returned home. carried it to the dealer & had tank siphoned, oil changed & engine checked. Mechanic said no harm done....though the oil level was about a quart above full. He said the unburned diesel was just working its way past the rings.

John
 
old old tractors were made with two tanks for fuel, you fired it on gasoline, then when it got to temp, switched to Kerosene or diesel.
Modern bike with F.I.? I'd siphon and use the mix in my mowers. Diesel when burned could bring the temps up internally and do a number on the plugs ... or it doesn't burn well and "washes" the walls and as above, finds a new home, or worse, hydraulics a cylinder. Though at 7/1 it likely isn't that big of an issue, I'd still likely drain it.
 
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