Friend puts 30 gallons of GASOLINE in my truck, drives 20 miles

[abovetec]

Yeah, things happen. I got a call last night from a friend who had borrowed my truck. We are good friends. However, he said that after a fillup, the truck started to run like it had "bad gas." While talking on the phone with me, it dawned on me that he might have put perhaps half a tank of gas in the truck during a mixup at the pump. Later, he realized he put a full tank of gas in, not half, because he checked his two receipts and both said gasoline. I am not sure how he made it 15 or 20 miles on what amounts to 3/4 to 7/8 gas. Maybe the electronics nowadays are good at adjusting the timing of the injection due to, ahem, "bad gas." Good thing he wasn't pulling a load at the time.

Well, me and some other guys went to help get the fuel drained. The truck was on the side of the road parked on a flat grassy strip, thankfully. I'm not sure if a gravity drain was possible or not, but we ended up disconnecting the fuel return line near the first fuel filter, under the driver's side, and put a hose from there to some gas cans.

It took awhile doing it this way, which is why I wonder if there is a smarter way to do it. We just turned the ignition on and back off a few hundred times to pump the gas out into the cans. Once the tank was empty (hours later), we put about a half gallon of good diesel in and drained the tank once more (a little flush). I then added about 5 gallons of diesel plus a rich Cetane booster to the tank.

Since I figured that the fuel filters may not be in great shape after all of this, I went ahead and opened up the one in the engine compartment... but it was almost dry inside there, so I just sopped up a little diesel/gas and put it back in. For the bottom filter, I just drained the water plug and I didn't have the 36mm tool to remove the filter, so I just left it.

When we primed the fuel again and turned the engine over (by now we were being jumped due to a low battery), the engine fired up immediately. Someone was watching the tail pipe and said that it started on black smoke but cleared up pretty quick. I was at the front and noticed a normal sounding start, but a bit of a thud/thud/thud noise I wasn't used to hearing... It lasted from perhaps 15 seconds to 60 seconds after starting the engine.

I drove it home and it didn't seem to have any problems. If anything, the gray bottle of PS cetane booster probably gave the engine a bit better performance.

So... anything I should look or listen for? You think I need to take it to a dealer?

Side note: my friend drives diesel trucks all the time... he knows better. It was a fluke.

[Quadrunner]

That sucks hopefully everything works out for you.

[Banshee34]

That sucks!!!!!!

[Marty]

Ouch... g'luck bro!

[Clay Henry]

sounds like you may be okay.

[Strõkër~X]

ouch, that really hurts...

[06TWO50Diesel]

Bummer man- sorry to hear about that. hope all ends well!

[mschn99]

Replace those fuel filters when you can!! The gas will cause them to plug faster because of all the debris they cleaned out of the lines and such...

if you get any running problems, plan on replacing the fuel pump. Its lubricated by the diesel and its about the only thing you should really be watching for. There is always a chance of an injector problem but thats pretty rare...

[abovetec]

The fuel pump, yeah... I hate it when I hear that for a number of reasons. I used to deal with a Cummins/Dodge truck, and when I got involved with it, not being a diesel mechanic or familiar with it, I get it confused.

You mean the transfer pump? Would it be near the second fuel filter? What about a pump in the tank? I have owned this thing less than a year, so I get mixed up with what is what and where is what. I actually downloaded a "how to replace a fuel filter" PDF file last night before I went to the rescue of my friend on the side of the road.

I hope you don't mean the injection pump, which I hear is big $$. I was following a deal with a guy who had constant injector issues with his Dodge, but under warranty. My Ford is sitting at 80,000 so beyond some dealer good will.

But I will get a couple of filters ordered in. I need to change my oil, too, see my unrelated post about it.

[DoubleDpsd]

I would have been so pissed. congrats on handling it well.