Don't use normal petroleum gasoline on a vehicle with a diesel engine. It typically results in disaster.
When you accidentally put gasoline in your van, light truck, commercial truck, or some other diesel engine vehicle, you can prevent serious damage by catching the problem early enough and fixing it, like getting the gas attendant to pump the fuel out of your vehicle and replace it with diesel.
You don't want serious damage to happen to your vehicle by using the wrong gas type. If you do keep driving your vehicle with the wrong fuel, you can expect to experience the following issues.
Driving with a Diesel Engine Running on Gasoline
- Ever-Worsening Engine Damage: If your truck or van has a tank full of petroleum, your engine will get damaged and the vehicle's parts will get contaminated. The severity of the gasoline-related damage can go all the way to your engine outright dying and requiring immediate replacement. The longer you drive your vehicle with gas, the more your engine will get damaged until it becomes busted beyond repair. If you've been driving your truck for sometime with gas inside it, shut your engine down and accept that the damage has been done.
- Don't Panic and Save Your Vehicle: Replacing the entire engine can be quite expensive, so as soon as you realize there's gas in your diesel fuel tank, shut your engine down. Save your vehicle from sustaining damage by not even allowing your automobile to run on gas even while on idle. Don't start the engine. Leave the vehicle exactly as it is and then get a gas attendant or someone else to help you out. Don't you dare touch that ignition! It's because that is where the damage begins.
- Call a Tow Truck and Get It to a Gas Station Pump: If you've already driven far away from the original gas station where you made your mistake, then call for a tow truck to get you to the nearest car repair shop or even the dealership it came from. A trustworthy mechanic should be able to know what to do, which typically entails total fuel drainage of the fuel tank and engine damage assessment. You're lucky if you realized your mistake before turning your vehicle on or driving with it.
- The Reverse Is a Bit Different: The effects of diesel fuel on a gas engine aren't as disastrous as the effects of gasoline fuel on a diesel engine. As soon as you start your car, the fuel injectors of your gas engine will inject that wrong fuel all over your motor's cylinders. From there, your spark plugs will fire but nothing will happen. This is because diesel doesn't evaporate as efficiently as gas, so there's no evaporated fuel for the spark plug to ignite. Your car will simply not start until the diesel is drained and replaced with petroleum.