On Thu, 6 Jun 1996, brian verbeek wrote:

> Hi Martha,
>  
> > 1.  If I run out of diesel, what happens if I get stuck and put
> >     regular gas into the car?  Explosion?
> 
> You have to use diesel again and the air that entered the fuel system
> must be bled (sp?) out of it, just like a brake system, some cars
> have a handpump on the fuel filter to do that. Putting normal gas in a
> diesel will give a lot of power and will destroy the engine in a
> few minutes, the diesel has a very high compression ratio compared
> to a gas engine (2 to 3 times as high) it will constantltly detonate,
> pre-ignite etc, ytou may even find that the only thing that will stop
> a diesel running on gas is blocking the air inlet.

Do not use your bare hand for this job.
Smack the fuel pump with a ball peen hammer.

> 
> > 2.  And just for theoretical fun, what about the reverse - if my
> >     regular gas cars runs out, and I put in diesel, what will happen?
> 
> Heavy smoke, car drives like a drunken mule :) , that's what my mom said
> when it happened to her.

I'm personally amazed it ran at all, it must have still had a lot of 
gasoline in the tank.

> > 3.  Theoretically speaking, if I can't find a diesel station, and am
> >     about to run out of fuel, what happens if I use home heating oil
> >     in the car (apart from it being illegal).  Is it EXACTLY the
> >     same substance?
> 
> >From what i know is that it's technically OK to do so, here in Holland
> both versions of the fuel have their own color, sometimes the douane
> takes samples of diesel from diesel powered cars and trucks to check
> if nobody is cheating. I know that some people use the home heating
> oil regularly in their cars, there seems to be no difference in performance.

Furnace oil isn't nearly as clean as "engine" diesel...  When a friends 
diesel rabbit went through it's third fuel filter in a year, I asked if 
he was running furnace oil... I didn't get a straight answer, but he 
quit going thru so many filters afterwards.

Cheers,

SStones,  Toronto Ont. 
<sstones@io.org>