Gasoline in a 2009 6.0l diesel E350 - How bad, what to do?

[elibenson]

One of the crews filled about 3/4 of a tank of gas. So, about 3/4 gas, 1/4 diesel. Then they ran it from the filling station to the crew station. It was about 5 miles, and the thing started sputtering when they got to the crew station.

It is a brand new 2009 6.0l, with about 5,000 miles on it. Why couldn't they do this to one of the old trucks with 300,000 miles on it??

Any how, what should I do to try to get it running again. Obviously if they had shut it down at the pump, I could have towed it to the shop and drained the fuel tank, changed the filters, and added a cetane booster and that would probably do it. *Now* I have gasoline in the head fuel rails, and all the way to the injectors. I can still do all that first part, but what do I do about the fuel in the heads?

More than that, do you know if the gasoline would hurt the new injectors in the engine?

Thanks, guys, for any information you might be able to provide.

[Snake]

Had a friend that accidentally put gas in his 7.3 and had it towed to the dealership. My buddy is the diesel tech there and here's what they did to get things right....

1) Drain the tank
2) Change fuel filters
3) Refill with diesel

I don't know how much things will be different for the 6.0 (I'm guessing this is a replacement motor since you said a 2009 6.0), but if you can do these yourself you're going to save a pile of money.

--Snake

[sthomps]

There's this video on the subject.
POWERSTROKEHELP.COM - The Information Source for Ford Power Stroke Diesel Owners

[1tonpower]

drain and refill the tank, change the filter on the frame and take the secondary filter out. you can flush the lines from the take to the secondary filter with key cycles and some kind of a drain hose in the fuel bowl, once you get clean fuel there change the primary filter again, install the secondary filter and cross your fingers. the truck should have shut its self down in time.

same thing happen to my 06 and i was lucky nothing happen

[Robsr]

These knuckleheads do that up here too, lol. drain tank as already suggested, I would pull the fuel rail plugs at the back of the heads and power up the fuel pump at the relay with a jumper before starting, this will flush the gasoline out from arounfd the injectors before starting, then wait for a 100 miles before changing filters.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Snake

Had a friend that accidentally put gas in his 7.3 and had it towed to the dealership. My buddy is the diesel tech there and here's what they did to get things right....

1) Drain the tank
2) Change fuel filters
3) Refill with diesel

I don't know how much things will be different for the 6.0 (I'm guessing this is a replacement motor since you said a 2009 6.0), but if you can do these yourself you're going to save a pile of money.

--Snake

The E series vans still get the 6.0 6.4 doesnt fit

[cajun1963]

I accidently pumped about 12 gallons in mine. My dad had been driving diesels for years and he told me to pour in a quart of automatic transmission fluid and top the tank off with diesel. It didn't hurt anything on mine. 2006 6.0

[dannyboy950]

Everything depends on how long gas was run thru the system. The mechanical parts of the injectors is lubricated by the oils in the diesel itself. Gas has no such lubricants.
The plunger can score up the barrel and cause leakage internally or seize up entirely.

[widman]

Dump it and clean everything out as mentioned above. My wife did it twice in my Turbo Diesel 4Runner. Fortunately each time someone was passing the gas station and did not let her start it. Towed it to my shop 1/2 mile away, pulled, drained, etc.

Normally my wife called me from the station and said "what kind of gas do I put in, Regular or Diesel?"

A mechanic tried to get my 6.0 Powerstroke running squirting gasoline in the intake. I had to hone the cylinders and replace the rings.

[elibenson]

Everything worked out fine. I talked to a mechanic friend of mine that works for AMR (American Medical Response), about the biggest ambulance company in the US. He said don't worry about the filters, since it is all just fuel after all. Gasoline will pass through a diesel filter. He said to drain the tank (which I planned all along), fill it with new diesel, and add a diesel additive to boost the cetane. After I pumped the tank, I added clean diesel and 'Diesel Clean', and cycled the key about 6 times till the fuel pump stops running. Then I started it. It started easily, and it had a little white smoke for about a minute. I took it for a slow drive to burn the remaining gasoline from the fuel rails. Seems to be fine.