Ever put in the wrong fuel at the fuel dock?

[TylerFromEverett]

I stayed over in Edmonds, WA last night and hit the fuel dock on the way out this morning. There was a guy with an absolutely stunning Grand Banks Europa. It was a truly stunning boat.

So I’m watching him as I fill with diesel. He grabs a black handled pump and starts to pump. I say, “whoa, that thing has gas engines.” He says “no that’s diesel I’m putting in.”

I say, “you sure? I’ve never seen a diesel pump without a green filler handle.”

He says, “I’m sure”

So he pumps it full and burps a huge spill out of his vent into the water. When the attendant came over to help sop up all the gas in the water he looks and says, “you know this is gas and not diesel, right.”

The guy with the Grand Banks says, “uh oh, really?”

Then some expletives came flying as I pulled away.

Anyway, I know this has happened to a lot of folks, but it got me thinking. What do you do if you put the wrong fuel in your tank?

Also, who’s done it? I have not, yet...

 

[Submariner]

Nothing good will come of that. I'm pretty sure they'll need to drain the fuel tank. That's a bad day on the water.

We were up at Roche Harbor this past week. Green hose was gas, red hose was diesel. I'm assuming that's because it's dyed diesel (no fuel tax added). Then we spent a night at Friday harbor and fueled up. Red hose was gas, and green was diesel.

I always trace the hose back to the pump and verify it's gas for my boat (I have the outboard).

 

[TylerFromEverett]

Crazy. I’ve never seen diesel in anything but a green handled pump. I have a 21 so I only put fuel in a couple times a year. Sometimes at a gas station when it’s on the trailer.

 

[HookedUp]

I had a boat in for maintenance that ended up taking two months. They suggested removing the fuel since it was fairly old fuel to begin with and they'd had problems with low octane. It cost more per gallon to empty the tank than it cost to fill it. Cheaper than a new engine due to bad gas, but expensive all the same.

I don't know another option if you mixed fuels at the dock.

 

[Chimo]

I almost always refuel at my home marina, Van Isle in Sidney BC. Without fail when they hand me the hose they say something like “Here is your low flow diesel”. It’s part of their training.

When I had a SeaRay many years ago, with a 150 gallon tank, I added 10 gallons of diesel before realizing the error. Thinking to my thermodynamics classes at my engineering school I then filled with gasoline and went on my way. No issues. The reverse is definitely NOT true! Never want gasoline in a diesel tank.

 

[B95054]

In 1986 back when you could purchase pre mix on the floating docks, I asked the attendant for pre mix for my two stroke. He handed me the straight gas hose and it cost me an engine (the fuel dock denied any wrongdoing). Lesson learned and 35 years later I still verify that I am getting fuel from the right pump before starting filling.

 

[Someday*]

Sort of...I put about 4 liters of gas into the diesel rental car while in Scotland...realized what I had done and filled it the rest of the way with Diesel. Wife wondered why I asked her to Google "Gas in diesel car" when we got going...I kept adding Diesel every few miles for awhile...no problems that I could detect. 😳

 

[CaspersCruiser]

Sort of...I put about 4 liters of gas into the diesel rental car while in Scotland...realized what I had done and filled it the rest of the way with Diesel. Wife wondered why I asked her to Google "Gas in diesel car" when we got going...I kept adding Diesel every few miles for awhile...no problems that I could detect. 😳

One reason to not ever buy a rental!

 

[BB marine]

My father had a 29' Roughwater trailerable trawler built in 1982 Named (PLAN B). He owned 1 of 11 built. It was powered with a 80 hp Lehman diesel. My parents had a Summer home in Berkley MA. on the water and moored there boat in the river in front of their home. The Roughwater had two 80 gallon fuel tanks and when filled the boat had a cruise range of 900 to 1000 miles. When my parents cruised in that area for the summer it was a one time fill up for the summer. They too the boat to Tiverton Rhode Island to fill up for a summer of cruising. Filled at a small boat yard Standish. After filling they were cruising across Mount Hope Bay. I happened to be out cruising in my 17' Boston Whaler and Saw (PLAN B) and noticed white smoke bellowing out the back of the boat. I called on the radio asking " are you over heating" ? My dad responded "no over heat, but the engine is starting to knock" I told him " shut it down I will tow you back to the house" My little Montauk got the boat back and I then boarded to check it out. My dad started it and it sounded like a gas engine that had severe preignition knock. I then opened one of the drain petcocks located at the bottom of the fuel tank and pulled a sample to see if there was contamination in the fuel. He had just fueled it up and this issue happened. When inspecting it I smelled Gasoline. I said " Dad this smells like Gas" My dad said " impossible I just filled the tanks with diesel" Really??? No I think you filled them with gas !!! He did! My dad in his 70's drained 160 gallons of mixed gas/diesel into 5 gallon can and rowed back and forth to shore filling 3 55 gallon drums that my cousin had given him to use. My cousin has a boat yard and said he would take the fuel/gas mix and use it in his gas powered yard tow motor to get rid of the fuel.

I removed the 4 injectors and the injector pump to have it inspected and repaired if necessary. All components were fine and required no servicing. The benefit of the mishap was the fuel tanks were cleaned to like new condition. the gas acted as a solvent wash. My dad while dining the fuel filtered all kinds of crud out of the tank. So there was a positive.

It was fun telling the story! My dad passed away in 1990 doing the Loop. The boat was in Gulf shores Alabama at the time of his death. His dream became my dream !!

 

[TylerFromEverett]

Thanks for sharing that story, Brian. My dad is in late 70s now and he’s slowing down, but still has a lot of salt left in him. I’ll give him a call today and check in.

 

[FlyMeAway]

Older marine diesel (and some automotive) diesel engines can handle a bit of gasoline in the mix. Newer, high-pressure common rail diesel engines will have more issues and you're really playing with fire -- I saw videos on YouTube for this a while back; the result was explosive.

Having accidentally filled the diesel tank on my last sailboat with water (I blame my hangover that morning), which is actually (according to the team I hired) more difficult to remove from the tank than gasoline, you will pay quite a bit for a tank cleaning and a fuel line flush...

 

[PanaSeaAh]

Have not done it, but have seen it done. The newer the engine and the more electronic sensors, the worse it is. Every mechanic I have talked to says it must be pumped out (along with the junk it will free up in an older tank). Our City marina has done it a couple of times because of a mistake by a new employee. Summer help is rarely mechanically knowledgeable. It is expensive to remove, usually because of disposal costs. Last test after you are sure it is the right fuel is a sniff test near the fill pipe.