Can a diesel engine run on gas. .

[JWR]

I used to put Gas in my tank when I had a Mercedes diesel in the winter. It helped keep the fuel from gelling and helped the engine start but I didn't use much at all.
If you think you put a can of gas in the tank, pump it out.

Good advice. In the 1970's both VW and GM advised 10% gasoline mixed in with the diesel fuel to avoid gel in very cold weather (below around 10deg F.) Then GM research found that the gas mixture was far more combustible and made the vehicles more vulnerable to explosions, etc. or probably their lawyers said so. Anyway they rescinded the recommendation for gas mixing. #1 fuel oil (kerosene) is the right stuff for that purpose at about a 50/50 mixture. My wife filled my 79 VW diesel with gas one time. Made it about a mile or two and it sputtered and quit. Would restart for 20 seconds or so. Was about 1/4 mi from home all down hill and I pushed it home. Then discovered she had filled it with gas. No harm done. Syphoned out the gas (most of it and refilled with diesel and all was well from then on after an initial few starts to get the pure gas out of the lines.)

All that said the OP's description did not sound like he put a high majority of gasoline in his tank (as would have been the case if it was near empty and he put in 5 gal.) Sounds more like some other issue like contamination or maybe the injection sucked air a bit ? For sure GO TO THE CAN and pour a little residue out of it and see if it was gas or not. Regardless it is a good idea to suck out most of whatever is in the tractor tank and replace it with clean diesel fuel.

 

[CincyFlyer]

Actually if they provided octane ratings of diesel it would be higher. Diesel is rated by Cetane which is the energy in the fuel. Octane rating is the resistance to self combustion. That is why you need higher octane fuels in the high compression engines. Fuel will only combust once it is vaporized. If you drop a lot match in diesel it will go out before the fuel ignites. Drop it in gasoline it will ignite before the match hits the fuel

Do a little research; probably most kerosene-ish fuels have a RON of under 30.