Can You Put Diesel Fuel in a Gas Engine? (Quick Answers)

The diesel fuel is quite thicker. And diesel oil has an octane rate quite lower than any other petrol-based engine fuel. There are different types of engines, one is full liquid oil-based, and another kind of engine is gasoline-based. 

Generally, you cannot put diesel fuel into a gas engine. Let’s find out more about it. 

Can You Put Diesel Fuel In A Gas Engine?

It is not safe to use diesel fuel in a gas engine. Less than 10% of diesel contamination is allowed to be used in a gas engine. If anyone put diesel in a gas engine. In that case, it can severely harm the engine performance and the catalytic converter. It converts toxic gasses to less toxic gas.

Different fuels are derived from the refinery to use in the vehicle. People choose the fuel as per their vehicle need. Generally, a bigger vehicle such as trucks, trains, buses, etc., uses this thick fuel. Moreover, nowadays, there are different types of engines available. 

These engines require particular fuel to operate.

Here, some vehicles require oil with a higher-octane level. High horsepower or high compression engine vehicles generally need high standard fuel. High horsepower or high compression engines are attached to performance vehicles used in races.

Vehicles such as small trucks, Sports Utility Vehicles, or SUVs require regular-grade Gasoline.
There is always some extra gasoline in the gas tank. But just after you use all the Gasoline from the engine, the engine will stutter while using diesel fuel.

Moreover, the engine will lose a huge amount of efficiency. Then it will not produce enough power for the vehicle to run. Eventually, it will shut down by damaging the engine’s internal parts and the catalytic converter. 

As the catalytic converter goes down, the engine will emit toxic fumes to the environment. Sometimes it will emit black smoke as well. 

Which is dangerous for the environment. Gasoline or Petrol is quite clean and thinner than regular diesel. While Gasoline needs only -40 degrees Fahrenheit to start the engine, a diesel engine needs 125.6 degrees Fahrenheit of temperature. 

The difference in ignition shows how much pressure a regular gasoline engine needs when diesel is put inside of a gasoline engine. So, it is a must to use Gasoline in a gasoline engine or diesel in a diesel engine.

Is diesel bad for a gas engine?

When the oil is put inside the refinery from the crude oil, they refine different oil from different temperature levels. The diesel oil is produced from the distillation column, where the oil is refined at 500 degrees Fahrenheit. 

And from 86 degrees Fahrenheit, Petrol or regular Gasoline is made.

This difference shows that diesel and Petrol or Gasoline are fully different. One has more carbon bonds, while another has fewer carbon bonds. A gasoline engine needs less power to ignite, while a diesel engine needs more power. 

In the combustion engine, there is a combustion chamber, which helps the fuel ignite and generate power for the vehicle. And that’s how an engine works. For different fuels, there are different engine mechanisms. 

So, a diesel engine will never work with Gasoline, and a gasoline engine will never work with diesel. So, if you put diesel oil into a gas engine, the gas engine may blow up.

Will diesel fuel destroy a gas engine? How long does it take for diesel to ruin a gas engine?

After the diesel fuel gets inside the gas engine, it will start making the engine work sluggishly, and your engine might stop working. If you caught diesel fuel initially, it might not damage your gas engine to an extensive level.

Even if you mix diesel with regular Gasoline, it will create a huge pressure on the engine. First, your engine will lose its spark plug, then your engine will misfire, and eventually, you will lose your engine.

It will not take too long to ruin a gas engine after putting diesel fuel inside it. It only needs two to three attempts of starting the vehicle, then the engine will be completely unusable. The engine will emit black smoke, and the internal combustion chamber will be harmed severely.

Why can’t you use diesel in a gasoline engine?

A few reasons behind why you can’t and should not use diesel in a gasoline engine have been discussed below –

Different Physical Properties:

Diesel and Gasoline are completely different from each other. Like two different species of trees, they are trees, but they are not the same. Diesel fuel is thicker and more intense in color. 

The temperature diesel needs to burn is much higher than Gasoline. Also, diesel fuel has more carbon bonds than Gasoline has. So, both are not the same in any way.

Combustion in Different Temperature:

Generally, all fuel engines are combustion engines. The oil is sprayed through a nozzle into the chamber, which combusts and helps the engine to run. So, a vehicle will not run if there is no combustion in the combustion fuel engine. 

For these combustions, different oil needs different temperatures to burn. Diesel fuel needs more temperature, as it has a lower octane level and higher thickness and carbon compound. 

On the other hand, Gasoline is lightweight and light in concentration, so it needs less temperature and pressure to combust. That’s one of the reasons why you cannot put diesel in a gasoline engine.

Different Engine is Tuned to Use Different Fuel:

As it is mentioned, the different engines need different types of fuel. Like before, let’s assume two different trees need different types of fertilizer to grow.

Similarly, diesel engines need diesel to run themselves, while gasoline engines need Gasoline or Petrol to run themselves. And different vehicles have different engine types, which need to have different types of fuels to operate.

What happens if you put diesel fuel in a gasoline engine?

Diesel is one of the densest fuels available in the market. Relatively, diesel is less purified, and it has more carbon bonds. This fuel is used in bigger vehicles such as trains, boats, trucks, and buses. Generally, regular vehicles such as sedans and SUVs require Gasoline as fuel. 

The diesel fuel dispenser is not the same as a gasoline fuel dispenser. Still, people mistakenly put the wrong fuel into the tank.
Suppose you accidentally put diesel fuel in a gasoline engine. In that case, your vehicle’s fuel pump will have a tough time injecting the diesel inside the system. The fuel will stick in the fuel filter as well. And eventually, your fuel filter will not work properly. 

Even the diesel fuel will clog the injectors. If the fuel somehow reaches the engine, it will take more energy to ignite and start. Black smoke will come out of the vehicle as the catalytic converter will meet the same fate as the injector’s fuel filter. 

And your wallet will drain a lot of money to fix all these problems to run the vehicle again.

What should you do if you put diesel into your gas tank?

Accidentally, if diesel fuel gets into your gas tank, you need to clean your gas tank and engine. By following these steps, you can easily clean your vehicle from diesel.

Disconnect the Fuel Line:

After putting the wrong oil inside the gas tank, disconnect the fuel line, which takes fuel to your engine as soon as you understand that you have put the wrong fuel in the tank. It will save you from losing a good amount of money.

Spill the Contaminated Oil Out from the Fuel Line:

After disconnecting the line, make sure that all the fuel from the line is taken out. So, starting the vehicle, it will spill the remaining fuel from the fuel line. Take the fuel inside a plastic bottle. Don’t take the fuel inside of a metal container.

Use Gas Caddy Machine:

The caddy machine can come in handy for you. If your engine sucked a little drop of diesel inside it, you need to suck it out again. To do that stuff, just plug the caddy machine with the fuel tunnel of your engine and take out all the remaining fuel. 

You can get this caddy machine at any gas store or repairing shop.

Manually Open All the Parts:

If you think a caddy machine cannot pull all the oil from the car, you should open all the parts separately. After separating all the engine parts, clean them well and ensure that there is no fuel left inside the vehicle.

Final Thoughts

Diesel is also a petrol-based fuel. Vehicle engines are designated with the type of fuel that they can run. So, putting the wrong oil in the wrong tank can adversely impact your wallet. The vehicle’s engine and other parts will be harmed severely. So, never put diesel into a gas tank.