Diesel in a Red Gasoline Can ?

[gunDriller]

I have filled up my stash of yellow diesel cans and I have a few extra red plastic gasoline cans.

I emptied the red cans of gasoline, but I can't get it all.

What happens if you get a trace of gasoline mixed in with diesel fuel ?

By trace, I mean max. 1 ounce in a 5 gallon can, 1 ounce that "just won't rinse out".

1 gallon = 4 quarts = 4 x 32 ounces = 128 ounces. total, 640 ounces.


>> 1 ounce of gasoline mixed in with 640 ounces of diesel - will that screw anything up ?

just trying to load up before IsraHell hijacks the world economy (and gas prices go sky-high or gasoline & diesel become unavailable) by attacking Iran.


Obviously I will mark the red can THOROUGHLY if I put diesel in it.

[horseshoe3]

If it gets thoroughly mixed with the diesel, it will make it run a little hotter and cause slightly accelerated wear. Not real bad.

If, for some reason, it doesn't mix and you hit a pocket of gasoline, it will be very bad. Anywhere from seriously accelerated wear, to catastrophic failure depending on the engine design.

Have you tried blowing it out with air? How about leaving it open and letting it steam out - gasoline is very volatile and should steam out quickly.

[zap]

I don't know, but I have used gas cans for diesel lots of times, and there is always a little gas I can't get out ,I usually rinse the gas can out with a little diesel first, at least that dilutes the gas a little, then I fill it up with diesel, I haven't ever had any problems.

[osoab]

rinse it out with diesel.

burn what you are using to rinse out with

[hoarder]

It would take quite a bit of gasoline to make a difference. Just filling it wih diesel will thoroughly disperse the gasoline.

When I worked construction, a Mexican filled a diesel tractor with gasoline by mistake. He filled the entire empty tank. Fortunately he noticed something sounded wrong and didn't drive it more than 3 minutes. He changed fuels and we never had another problem.
Another time on another job, a Mexican filled a F600 Ford gasoline truck with diesel 200 miles from the shop. No problem, he just pulled the choke out and drove it back. It smoked and wouldn't run faster than 45 MPH. No harm done.

[Neuro]

If you mix it with 10 oz's of Diesel and rinse it out so that you have only an oz left, you will have about 1/10th of an ounce of gas left, which definitely should be harmless, but probably much more is ok too, as hoarders story showed, but maybe it is dependent on the engine too? I think the modern more advanced diesel engines may be more sensitive than older ones...

[Neuro]

A little outside the thread title, but I used some diesel that I had stored for two years in plastic cans, without putting any stabilizers in the fuel, and it worked fine, didn't notice any strange engine sounds or difficulty starting either, but I already had fresh diesel in the tank, so maybe it would have been worse if it was only the stored diesel...

[BrewTech]

A little outside the thread title, but I used some diesel that I had stored for two years in plastic cans, without putting any stabilizers in the fuel, and it worked fine, didn't notice any strange engine sounds or difficulty starting either, but I already had fresh diesel in the tank, so maybe it would have been worse if it was only the stored diesel...

Diesel doesn't really break down like gasoline does.

[horseshoe3]

If you rinse it out, you can pour that into a gas tank. It will be slightly lower power, but will lube the engine real well. Some farmers used to pour a gallon or two of diesel into a bulk gas tank to reduce wear after the switch to unleaded. It may not have helped, but it didn't hurt.

[skid]

Jesus, you're worried about 1 oz of gas in 5 gallons of diesel? Old timers used to mix 1 gallon of gas with 20 gallons of diesel to make winter diesel and to clean the combustion chambers. That certainly isn't recommended today though, but one oz won't hurt anything...

[Neuro]

Diesel doesn't really break down like gasoline does.

Any idea about approximate storage times for untreated diesel? Still usable after ten years? Assuming no sunshine and not too much variation in temperature...

[BrewTech]

Any idea about approximate storage times for untreated diesel? Still usable after ten years? Assuming no sunshine and not too much variation in temperature...
You know, I was under the impression that diesel was orders of magnitude more stable than gasoline over time, but then realized I had no real reason to believe that. I do know that if diesel absorbs water, it no work so good, and that water separator filters on diesel engines need to be changed quite often.

Here's some info... I'll ask around today and find out what the real-world experience is with diesel fuel stability from people that would know (I don't do much diesel work).

http://theepicenter.com/tow021799.html


Diesel fuels fare a little better, but not much. Most all diesel fuel, including the EPA's mandated low sulfur version, has shelf life of from 3-to-6 months. Again, this varies widely. Recently we tracked a diesel fuel produced at a refinery in Texas to its final destination in Florida. When tested at the refinery the same day it was produced, the fuel barely met the specification for stability. After being stored, pumped into a coastal tanker, offloaded at Port Everglades, stored again, delivered to the fuel jobber, and finally to the customer, 23 days had passed. Again the fuel was tested. This "fresh" fuel now tested out of "spec."

[gunDriller]

it depends a lot on what you're putting the diesel into.

last year i talked with a Biodiesel enthusiast on Mt. Shasta in Calif. who put straight veg. oil into his 300CD, the 1977-1985 vintage diesel that is the favorite of Biodiesel folks.

he said he had to let the fuel sit in 5 gallon buckets in the very hot sun, to get the water out.

the end result - he put in his fuel tank.


so i think it matters how humid the air is when you open the tank. if the air has water in it, it will condense when it gets cold.

not the only factor, but one of them.