gas mixed in diesel

[pumba]

I heard from a trucker one time that it is ok to mix a little gas with diesel fuel. he said it increases the volatility and keeps fuel from gelling also it helps them start easier in cold weather and it works better than additives im just wondering cause #2 diesel is cheaper and I have a 7.3 powerstroke ford that likes to sleep on cold days. I heard that some cat engines have the same style fuel injection systems. is there any damage that can happen to the injectors themselves like ruining seals lines or filters. Im not sure of this myth and no one where im from has a clue about what im talking about they just say get a gasser so to hell with em I say that's why im here any info on this would be great not only for my question but for other systems that use injection pumps and different kinds of fuel injectors cause stalling up cause of gelled fuel sucks and could be deadly in some situations thanks

 

[Oxbow]

Welcome pumba!

I have heard this as well but have never known anyone has has actually tried it. I do know this - the price of #1 or blended fuel seems cheap relative to gelling up.

 

[HATCHEQUIP]

Yes they did it on the older diesels but don't about the newer ones basically it just made the fuel hotter

 

[powerjoke]

We do it all the time, new trucks old trucks I'd doesn't matter.... About 2 gal gas to 30gal fuel but I have mixed it a lot stronger and have had no ill side affects

Honestly one time my hand messed up and mixed gas/diesel about 50/50 and we just through a quart of synthetic 5w engine oil in it and trucks still going strong, the fuel economy went down a little because there is not as much btu in a gal of gas as there is diesel ....... Oh and it was a brand new duramax

 

[Birken Vogt]

Are you sure the glow plugs, or at least most of them, and the air intake heater, if equipped, and the relay that powers them, are all working at the moment?

 

[pumba]

the glowers are workin if I lay a wrench across the solenoid then turn the key to start it I wasted a 100 bucks on a non returnable solenoid that wasn't the problem its just that I live on a hill in northern nd with no cover in any direction and the temp likes to bottom out and the wind blows like hell makes it hard to get going in the morning just to get to a frozen truck and start the fight sll over again

 

[powerjoke]

There is not as much btu in gasoline as there is in diesel fuel, with that being said you need to check each individual glow plug. Throw an ammeter on the solonoid wire and then start unplugging them and make sure your amp draw drops in equal amounts with each glow plug that you unplug, we had several 7.3's and NOT A SINGLE ONE did we NOT replace the glow plugs and the solonoids every 2yrs, if I remember right there is two solonoids on some of them ?

The very first power strokes were temperamental on oil level as well, if I remember right fords fix for it was a shorter dipstick ! LoL kinda like the '88 Chevy blowing the trans stick out.....the fix to that was a locking dipstick, or the old tahoes/suburbans had a horrible grease smell.... The fix was grape scented rear end 80-90wt lmao






GGE Calculated for Gasoline in US Gallons at 114000 BTU per Gallon,
or 7594 kilocalories per litre[2]
Fuel - Liquid, US Gallons GGE GGE % BTU/Gal kWh/Gal HP-hr/Gal Cal/litre
Gasoline (base)[3] 1.0000 100.00% 114,000 33.41 44.79 7594.0
Gasoline (conventional, summer)[3] 0.9960 100.40% 114,500 33.56 44.99 7624.5
Gasoline (conventional, winter)[3] 1.0130 98.72% 112,500 32.97 44.20 7496.5
Diesel #2[5] 0.8800 113.64% 129,500 37.95 50.87 8629.8
Biodiesel (B100)[5] 0.9600 104.17% 118,300 34.80 46.65 8629.5
Bio Diesel (B20)[5] 0.9000 111.11% 127,250 37.12 49.76 8437.7


Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline_gallon_equivalent

 

[powerjoke]

the glowers are workin if I lay a wrench across the solenoid then turn the key to start it I wasted a 100 bucks on a non returnable solenoid that wasn't the problem its just that I live on a hill in northern nd with no cover in any direction and the temp likes to bottom out and the wind blows like hell makes it hard to get going in the morning just to get to a frozen truck and start the fight sll over again

I just re-read this...... Are you saying that when you jump the glow solonoid that you have amperage draw ? Meaning the computer isn't turning on the glows ? Have you considered a engine temp sensor or an intake air temp sensor ? ...... If the solonoid was doing its job you should not have any arcing across the lugs.....unless your shorting the lug to ground which I wouldn't recommend in any situation

Edit; I remember one cold morning many years ago the shop hand got in early and started firing up all the trucks, a half dozen powerjokes (hence my screen name) and a half dozen big trucks and all the white smoke we almost shut the highway down near the shop lol oh the old days

 

[powerjoke]

the glowers are workin if I lay a wrench across the solenoid then turn the key to start it I wasted a 100 bucks on a non returnable solenoid that wasn't the problem its just that I live on a hill in northern nd with no cover in any direction and the temp likes to bottom out and the wind blows like hell makes it hard to get going in the morning just to get to a frozen truck and start the fight sll over again

I just re-read this...... Are you saying that when you jump the glow solonoid that you have amperage draw ? Meaning the computer isn't turning on the glows ? Have you considered a engine temp sensor or an intake air temp sensor ? ...... If the solonoid was doing its job you should not have any arcing across the lugs.....unless your shorting the lug to ground which I wouldn't recommend in any situation


EDIT; ah crap I posted twice, can a mod delete this post, sorry bout that

 

[planecrazzzy]

Gas in Diesiel

I heard from a trucker one time that it is ok to mix a little gas with diesel fuel. he said it increases the volatility and keeps fuel from gelling also it helps them start easier in cold weather and it works better than additives im just wondering cause #2 diesel is cheaper and I have a 7.3 powerstroke ford that likes to sleep on cold days. I heard that some cat engines have the same style fuel injection systems. is there any damage that can happen to the injectors themselves like ruining seals lines or filters. Im not sure of this myth and no one where im from has a clue about what im talking about they just say get a gasser so to hell with em I say that's why im here any info on this would be great not only for my question but for other systems that use injection pumps and different kinds of fuel injectors cause stalling up cause of gelled fuel sucks and could be deadly in some situations thanks

I first saw this about twenty five years ago....

Old Minnesota trick this California boy won't forget...

It keeps the Diesel from Gelling in cold weather...

We were going down the road when the truck was running rough....

They dumped a couple gallons of Gas in the tank...

Works cheaper than those additives I see people buying...

I tell them about putting gas in it instead...

They can search for information from there...
.
Gotta Fly...
.
.

 

[pumba]

the manifold heater works fine there is a solenoid behind the fuel filter I jump it straight across from the power side to the other side of the solenoid that runs the glow plugs if I don't do that it wont start I never ever use starting fluid I just put the ash pan from the wood stove on a brick and blocks under the oil pan heats that bitch right up after all they are thermal engines

 

[pumba]

so jumping the solenoid to heat the plugs taught me my lesson I was doing this as I always did but with a different wrench and well the wrench grounded out on the high pressure oil line for the passenger side head and popped it oil every where and no starting for me left me screwed in -11 at night what a dumbbutt I felt like no one in this area could make a line for me and the international guys said that the ones they have wont work I think they were lying to me though like they changed so much about the engine jus to put it in a ford truck I hate arguing with the idiots that go strictly by the book and computer an d that could lead me to rant about it so I said hell with yall and found a guy with a junker got the part I needed installed it in the dark and cold and the moral of the story is some wrenches are to long and riggin things up to get by will bite your backside hard I got 30 bucks worth of connectors wire and a push button

 

[JBGASH]

We mix gas in the diesel in winter also at appox. 5% this keeps everything from jelling here in Missouri

 

[maddog]

Why not mix kerosene instead of the gas?

 

[JBGASH]

Never thought of kerosene, it would prolly work too, but we have gas readily available in bulk tank beside diesel tanks so gas is our choice.

Why not mix kerosene instead of the gas?

 

[Nige]

Is #1 diesel fuel not available in areas like that in winter ..? That would save all the hassle.

 

[Birken Vogt]

I would just be concerned about o-rings and other soft seal material in the fuel system. Some of it is buried deep in the engine and expensive labor wise to replace.

The old indirect injected Fords used to say 1/3 gasoline was OK if the fuel somehow got mixed but they did not recommend it either.

My advice would be to do anything but messing with the fuel in the engine. Glow plugs, UVC harness, fuel bowl heater, air intake heater, make sure they all work as designed, tarp the truck and put a salamander under it, use a block heater and generator, even leave it running or put on one of those auto-starter-keep warm doodads, whatever you can think of to make it start. I just know that I would hate to be digging into the injectors come spring if they start to leak, if I could have done it another way.

Kind of like putting on chains when you are not sure if you really had to, beats shoveling yourself out of the ditch if you didn't.

 

[maddog]

Birken Vogt, I do agree with you for the most part, but those of us that live where it can be below 0 for weeks at a time, sometimes mixing fuel is our best prevention. A few winters back I had a real pain in the___ time messing with a gel'd line on my SS, high temp was 5 plus there was a wonderful breeze, took 3 days to get it running. I'd much rather put an additive in then go through that crap again. I do not see a problem with additives as long as they're not over done, much like beer

 

[Oxbow]

Is #1 diesel fuel not available in areas like that in winter ..? That would save all the hassle.

Nige, #1 fuel is available, and most distributors will begin blending #1 and #2 when they think that it will get cold, the problem is in occasions like right now where the temperature has dropped from about freezing to well below zero in a day we often get caught with our knickers down. Personally, when I have had to run in 20 below zero conditions or worse I just run straight #1. Fortunately we typically don't get that cold for long periods of time in my location.

We use additives such as Howes fuel conditioner to help drop the waxing point of fuel when we do not have an adequate blend of #1, and this usually gets us by. Perhaps the proper amount af gas will accomplish the same thing, but as Birken suggested, I am leary of the potential related repair costs. We actually run a small amount of additive year round for the sake of lubricity in our ULSD (ultra low sulfur) diesel. In a gell up situation it would sure be worth adding a bit of gas if that would dissipate the wax for an emergency fix, and if the proper dilution resulted in the same fuel properties as #1 fuel it sure would be a less expensive solution.

I am hoping for a definetive answer in this thread. Evidently many people get by just fine mixing gas, but I know how my luck is.

 

[Birken Vogt]

First off, I don't even know what material the orings in a 7.3 Powerstroke are. Maybe they can handle gas just fine. If I knew they could, I would not have much problem with gas in the fuel. It is fear of the unknown that is gnawing at me. It depends on the engine type, what you are going to do to it to make it run.

Also, it depends on how much you care about the truck. Most of the 7.3s I see any more are pretty much absolute beaters so who cares, really? Only the owner can decide.