My experiment with diesel two strokes.

[dodge man]

This should probably be titled my latest screw up. I drive about 20 minutes to a small town that has 91 octane ethanol free gas. I buy two gallons at a time and mix with two stroke oil. It also happens to have a diesel pump next to it, near it might be a better description. You’ve all probably figured it out by now, yep two gallons of diesel mixed with oil.

I have two leaf blowers, one really old Homelite and a newer Stihl. The Homelite got it first. Amazingly it ran at about 3/4 choke but smoked like crazy. It’s old so I just figured it had just bellied up. Then the Stihl got it next. It would start but not stay running. A new spark plug, cleaning out the muffler, looking at the piston through the exhaust port didn’t give better results. I finally got it running briefly and I realized it smelled like a diesel truck.

At this point I acknowledged the fact I had diesel in them and dumped everything out. Of course it couldn’t possibly be my fault, some idiot truck driver filled the wrong tank at the gas station. Upon further reflection and looking at the pumps in Google Earth Street View I realized there was a slim chance I filled from the wrong pump. OK, there is a 99% chance it was my fault.

I went back today and got two gallons of mix from the correct pump. A lady in a Dodge dually with a Cummins pulled in and was starting to get gas instead of diesel. I stopped her and about 5 seconds later the attendant came running out to stop her also and directed her to the correct pump.

This is a long post just to say don’t screw up mixing up gas and diesel pumps.

 

[Roadworthy]

One must learn from the mistakes of others. Life is too short to make them all yourself.

 

[jyoutz]

Did your saws survive?

 

[MossRoad]

This should probably be titled my latest screw up. I drive about 20 minutes to a small town that has 91 octane ethanol free gas. I buy two gallons at a time and mix with two stroke oil. It also happens to have a diesel pump next to it, near it might be a better description. You’ve all probably figured it out by now, yep two gallons of diesel mixed with oil.

I have two leaf blowers, one really old Homelite and a newer Stihl. The Homelite got it first. Amazingly it ran at about 3/4 choke but smoked like crazy. It’s old so I just figured it had just bellied up. Then the Stihl got it next. It would start but not stay running. A new spark plug, cleaning out the muffler, looking at the piston through the exhaust port didn’t give better results. I finally got it running briefly and I realized it smelled like a diesel truck.

At this point I acknowledged the fact I had diesel in them and dumped everything out. Of course it couldn’t possibly be my fault, some idiot truck driver filled the wrong tank at the gas station. Upon further reflection and looking at the pumps in Google Earth Street View I realized there was a slim chance I filled from the wrong pump. OK, there is a 99% chance it was my fault.

I went back today and got two gallons of mix from the correct pump. A lady in a Dodge dually with a Cummins pulled in and was starting to get gas instead of diesel. I stopped her and about 5 seconds later the attendant came running out to stop her also and directed her to the correct pump.

This is a long post just to say don’t screw up mixing up gas and diesel pumps.

Glad you figured it out and helped someone else as well.

Back in the 80s a friend of mine bought a used diesel Oldsmobile with lots of problems, and swapped in a gas engine. Trouble was, he left the sticker on the fuel tank door that said diesel, as well as the gauge in the dash. TWICE he loaned out the car, told the people not to put any fuel in it, and TWICE they both thought they were doing him a favor and filled it with diesel.

 

[dodge man]

Did your saws survive?

It didn’t get run in my saws. I might have fueled one of my saws with the diesel but didn’t run it. I dumped it out just to make sure. Amazingly it didn’t seem to hurt the leaf blowers. The Homelite was probably sort of running because it was about half diesel and half gas. The Stihl wouldn’t stay running because it was all diesel.

 

[GrandpaSmurf825]

I was ready to read a story about a Detroit Diesel in a John Deere 435 or 8010/20.

You aren't the first person to grab the wrong nozzle and you can rest assured you won't be the last. Whether it's at that station or some other one. Hope everything is running good again.

 

[flyerdan]

Is it just us here in Oregon that has the green plastic on the diesel pump nozzles to differentiate them from the gas nozzles?

 

[dodge man]

Is it just us here in Oregon that has the green plastic on the diesel pump nozzles to differentiate them from the gas nozzles?

I looked today, the gas nozzles were green and the diesel was black. The pumps were clearly marked though.

 

[Rustyiron]

I looked today, the gas nozzles were green and the diesel was black. The pumps were clearly marked though.

Well that right there covers about 85-90% of the mistake!
Hold your head up high.

 

[MarkMac]

This exact scenario is a major fear of mine, given a lot of rolling stock of both the gasoline and diesel fuel variety.

 

[big bubba]

This should probably be titled my latest screw up. I drive about 20 minutes to a small town that has 91 octane ethanol free gas. I buy two gallons at a time and mix with two stroke oil. It also happens to have a diesel pump next to it, near it might be a better description. You’ve all probably figured it out by now, yep two gallons of diesel mixed with oil.

I have two leaf blowers, one really old Homelite and a newer Stihl. The Homelite got it first. Amazingly it ran at about 3/4 choke but smoked like crazy. It’s old so I just figured it had just bellied up. Then the Stihl got it next. It would start but not stay running. A new spark plug, cleaning out the muffler, looking at the piston through the exhaust port didn’t give better results. I finally got it running briefly and I realized it smelled like a diesel truck.

At this point I acknowledged the fact I had diesel in them and dumped everything out. Of course it couldn’t possibly be my fault, some idiot truck driver filled the wrong tank at the gas station. Upon further reflection and looking at the pumps in Google Earth Street View I realized there was a slim chance I filled from the wrong pump. OK, there is a 99% chance it was my fault.

I went back today and got two gallons of mix from the correct pump. A lady in a Dodge dually with a Cummins pulled in and was starting to get gas instead of diesel. I stopped her and about 5 seconds later the attendant came running out to stop her also and directed her to the correct pump.

This is a long post just to say don’t screw up mixing up gas and diesel pumps.

hey that's not only honest but a laugh as well, well done

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

A few years ago I was mowing along our road frontage with a push mower instead of the weekender I usually use. It's a 4 stroke Murray 20" and in a hurry filled tank with 2 stroke mix.
It ran fine, certainly didn't hurt the motor but smoked like you can't imagine.
Hardly any traffic on our secondary road but a car pulled up beside me & a young guy blows horn. He leans over his girlfriend, rolls window down and says "I want one of those! It cuts grass and kills all the mosquitoes!".

 

[BravoXray]

I looked today, the gas nozzles were green and the diesel was black. The pumps were clearly marked though.

Diesel nozzles are green in Indiana. Pretty sure that's case everywhere for obvious reasons.

 

[ning]

Diesel in gas can be a mess but it's not catastrophic.
Gas in diesel on the other hand...

 

[number two]

When I still had a highway diesel vehicle,I made it a habit to buy fuel at different stations.
So I always grabbed the correct pump.
Worked for me!