diesel in a gas tank

[revbond]

This question is not about a Mercedes, but I figured you guys might be able to help. I have a friend with a cherry 1968 Chevy Camaro Z/28 who put about 2.5 gallons of diesel fuel into the gas tank. The advise he was given at the time (not from me) was to fill the tank the rest of the way with the proper fuel and "run it out". Well, that was two or three full tanks of gas ago, and the car still gives off excessively smoky exhaust. Is the continuing smoke due to residual diesel in the fuel tank/lines that will "run out" over time or will have to removed (i.e., clean or replace the gas tank and/or fuel lines), or has more lasting damage been done to the engine?

Any thoughts?

John

My father once put 1/2 tank of diesel in to his brand new Northstar V-8 (by accident, the idiot driving the tanker pumped diesel into the supreme tank)
It cost the station a new motor!

My vote is lasting damage to your friend's engine

------------------
William
76 240D - 550K miles
78 300D - 200K+ miles

Revbond,

It's hard to imagine permanent damage to the Z/28. It, of course, is a very high compression engine, even by '68 standards.

Of course, with todays fuels, I doubt if he can make it run right without all sorts of fuel additives anyway. I wouldn't think that there would be any residual diesel, but if he only ran out a half tank before these two refills, he could still have a good bit of diesel in the tank. It wouldn't hurt to put a can of gas in the trunk, run the tank dry, and then fill it up. That's the only way that you'll really know that the tank has been rid of the nasty fuel.

After that, it wouldn't be a bad idea to replace the plugs and give it a good going over. After that a good, hard run through the gears on an open road should clean it out. In the years when I drove cars like that, I was always looking for an excuse to run through the gears. Come to think of it, that may not be a true statement. I never needed an excuse to run through the gears in those days. Of course, we had no short supply of 102 octane for $.30 a gallon either.

Good luck,

------------------
Larry Bible
'84 Euro 240D, 523K miles
'88 300E 5 Speed
'81 300D Daughter's Car
Over 800,000 miles in
Mercedes automobiles