HELP! I accidently put diesel into my gasoline car!!?
I went to start my car yesterday and it was nearly out of gas. My husband keeps gasoline jugs in the garage and I grabbed one and added the contents of it to my gas tank. I started it and it ran really rough for a few seconds then died. I realized right there something was wrong..well I called my husband and he told me I had just put diesel, not gas, in my car!!! The car is a little 94 Pontiac Sunfire, is a 6 cyl and has a 3.1L engine. Trying to syphon out the diesel hasn’t been easy. My husbands trying but there is an anti-syphon screen in the tank! Please tell me how to get past that or another way to get the diesel out. I assume I will have to change the oil, spark plugs and clean the injectors-any other suggestions on how to handle this? Please don’t tease me. I feel stupid enough. I am 8 months pregnant and live on a farm. I’m stuck here until I can get this fixed. Please help! What is the best way to save my car? I’m so worried I’ve wrecked it and I have no money to buy a new one
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Filed under Gas Conservation FAQ by on Sep 8th, 2010. Comment. 
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Comments on HELP! I accidently put diesel into my gasoline car!!?
Take it to a mechanic. Don’t mess with it yourself, it’ll only get worse.
I have to agree with the first responder. It will require a complete cleaning of the fuel system, and that is no job for an amateur.
diesel should be kept in a yellow can not red. somehow your car needs to be drained. diesel wont kill it but it wont run to good either. once its drained you should be able to run your car sitting still till it burns it all out.
unless you can find a plug on the bottom side of the tank to empty it out you will have to remove the tank to dump it out
If you only poured a gallon or so, fill the car with gas to dilute the diesel. Once you get it started it will smoke a little.
If it has an electric fuel pump you can disconnect the filter then turn the key on & pump it into a shallow container prior to filling with gas.
find a jack, and take out tha gas tank and dump out tha diesel, add gas to it then try to start tha car if it misses press on tha gas peddle a couple of times while tryin to turn it on
(note): gas tank is heavy may require more than one person
I’m no mechanic, but if your fuel pump isn’t inside your tank, then I think there should be a fuel line near the bottom of your fuel tank. You should be able to disconect it with a wrench, and drain the fuel. Fill it back up with fuel and add a bottle of carburator ( injector ) cleaner to it. It may run with just that fix…… but maybe a little rough for a while. I’d change the spark plugs and fuel filter as soon as I got a chance.
Just fill it up with premium fuel to dilute the diesel. Both are flammable petrol products. Both will burn in the cylinder. once you have burned 1/8 tank fill with premium fuel do this three or four times, then run it low and fill back up with your usual fuel.
Well your car is not wrecked but what you need to do is unhook the main fuel line going to the fuel tank under the vehicle.Drain out the diesel into a large container or whatever fits.
After you have pretty much emptied the fuel tank reconnect the fuel line and put gasoline in filling spot and put in as much as possible.Remember that we must get as much gasoline through the fuel system as we can and as fast as we can so that the engine can ignite with the gas when it enters the com bustion chamber.Basically all we are doing is trying to dilute the diesel so that the engine will run.Over a few fuel fills the diesel will be gone out of your vehicles fuel system and no harm will have been done to the engine what so ever.
If your fuel tank is not totally full of diesel you could just put more gasoline into the tank and fill it if you can!The car will run once the gasoline gets added trough out the fuel system.
The car will likely smoke badly and might even run very rough.You will just have to maintain a full tank with gasoline in it and it will gradually dilute the diesel enough so that it will eventually be diluted right out of the fuel system not hurting the engine.
Diesel itself will not harm the engine but it will not combust very well in an engine that is meant to operate solely on gasoline.
How much diesel did you put in the car? few gallons,. no harm done, fill tank with gasoline and start it. it wil most likey smoke alot when running it, but it will clear up as the diesel is run outta the tank.
disconnect the fuel line from the engine and turn the key on for the pump to run and empty the tank like that, change the spark plugs and fuel filter and go get some gas and put enough in the tank to get it started and to a gas station.
They didnt make a 94 Sunfire. Also NO sunfire came with a 6 cylinder. Are you sure its not a Pontiac Sunbird? Either way they others are right, either pull the fuel tank, and empty it, or use the fuel pump to pump the diesel out into a container and put a FULL tank of regular gas in and start the car. It will probably take a few times to get it to run, but it will eventually blow the remaining diesel out. Expect to see alot of whitish smoke from the exhaust.