Diesel in the tank

Hypothetically speaking ...

If someone was daft enough to put diesel in their tank (full tank from
empty) and try to start their bike this morning (until the battery was
almost drained) before they sniffed the tank and checked, what would
be the best case scenario/best course of action for getting it fixed?

<fx: whistles innocently>

 

It is better this way than putting petrol in a diesel.

Drain your tank and charge your battery. Don't cause an explosion.
Drain the carb float bowls with the drain screws. Replace any fuel
filters.

Refill the tank with clean petrol and run it through the carb bowl
drains until clear. If you're keen you could take the plugs out and
spin it on an open throttle, but I'd leave the choke off and open the
throttle, then spin it over to get rid of most of the diesel.

Let it all calm down a bit and the battery get fully charged, then try
to start it as normal.

 

FFS put a rag or similar absorbing material over
the plug hole when you do this, as playing "catch
the flying liquid" is not really a game I'd
recommend...

 

I can't remember seeing an "it runs!" post, did you finish it?

 

I don't think they're meant to be that colour ... or was it [1] a
Kawasaki Triple? ... feckin' oiled plugs almost every trip out

[1] Rhetorical.

 

I won't ask you how you know.

 

Cheers for that (all) ... but I appear to be a fuckwit's fuckwit. ...

I sniffed it this morning, after it wouldn't start, and didn't get
that petrol head-rush, so I just presumed it was diesel, hence the
post. In my defense I was jet-lagged on Friday when I filled up at a
different station to usual. I'd filled up my little bro's car at the
same station the day before[1] and he pulled up to the diesel pump and
had to change. I appear to have put 2 and 2 together and come up with
22.

I got SWMBO to sniff my hole(*) when she got back after lunch and she
thought it was petrol. So I dripped some onto the drive and managed to
set fire to it easily enough, so it appears it *is* petrol.

I can therefore only presume it's an electrical fault (bike was fine
on Friday). I've tried it again since determining fuel and the bike's
turning over but not firing. There was occasional backfires so I know
fuel's getting into the pipes. Possibly main distributor lead(?) as
all fuses are intact (including immobilliser fuse) and there was no
hint of it firing up, not even on one cylinder. The backfires were a
good second or so after I'd stopped turning it over - dunno if that
indicates anything.

Perhaps I should point out here that it's a Suzuki GSX750F ... and
various sorts of cheese have *definitely* been used in its
manufacture.

[1] Long story involving snow and Newark -> Brum via Glasgow.
(*)

 

Were the guides that shot? How many miles on it?

Have you spoken to 'The Doc' at FJOC yet? He may have a s/h set of barrells
and pistons.

You won't need a 1300 kit if the rest of the bike is standard. FJ1100 carbs
and inlet rubbers and a decent pair of race cans will help. The FJ1200 was a
bit 'gelded' in the induction department compared with the 1100.

JB

 

Why so, out of interest? I know diesel in a petrol engine will pretty much
instantly kill a catalytic converter, if it's got one.

 

Granted - anything but finest unleaded will **** the guts out of a
cat. Let's assume this is a bike and it doesn't have a cat, though -
and if it had, tbh the first time that'll be a problem is when it
fails the MoT test.

Assuming a diesel car or similar - the pump that meters the diesel and
distributes it to the injectors, the funny-shaped bit of metal with
all the pipes coming out of it that lives under the bonnet - well that
is finely calibrated and it runs at high rpm to produce a high fuel
pressure. It is lubricated by the oily component of diesel. Petrol
doesn't have an oily component.

If the metering pump doesn't go **** immediately then it will, in
short order. Replacement <sucks teeth> somewhere between a grand and
a couple? I dunno any more, I don't keep up with prices.

Let alone the damage caused to the engine itself by suddenly getting a
big charge of highly combustible fuel, that will likely go bang just
on the heat in the cylinder let alone the compression. Pre-ignition
or detonation fucks everything. Top end and bottom, could well be
cheaper to fit a new engiine.

A fucked cat is chickenfeed in comparison.

 

Actually, LRP is OK, in smallish doses.

During the fuel blockades, five or six years ago, my employer's fleet
was all Vauxhalls. There was no unleaded around, but plenty of LRP[1].
We asked Shell if LRP would poison a cat. The answer, from their
chemists (who we asked): yes, but i'll take 50,000 miles.

So we asked Vauxhall. They prevaricated, but eventually said that cars
run on LRP wouldn't be covered by warranty.

 

I've got a cat on my diesel.

They do some wicked things to clean it while you're driving. It involves
hooooge[1] temperatures coming out your exhaust.

[1] Narf*ck accent.

 

Pip wrote;

This is a myth, somewhat encouraged by suppliers of new cats. A cat that
was originally in good condition will recover to 85-95 percent of it's
original efficiency after eating a gallon of diesel.
It'll take a week or three with average driving, but a tankful of
petrol will do it, and with greater efficiency, at constant motorway
speeds.
You may need to replace the Oxygen sensor, but even these recover in the
majority of cases.

I have been lucky enough to be allowed to test the above at other
peoples expense.

 

It was all Champ's fault anyway.

 

antonye says...

I don't think we need to hear about Champ's flying liquid.

--
Lozzo
Triumph Daytona 955i SE (Black with added black bits)
Suzuki Bandit 600S (Green with added shit bits)
Yamaha SR250 Delusion (It's "Special")
I'm a modern man, I don't mind buying tampons, but apparently they're
not a proper Valentine's present

 

Actually, LRP is OK, in smallish doses.

During the fuel blockades, five or six years ago, my employer's fleet
was all Vauxhalls. There was no unleaded around, but plenty of LRP[1].
We asked Shell if LRP would poison a cat. The answer, from their
chemists (who we asked): yes, but i'll take 50,000 miles.

So we asked Vauxhall. They prevaricated, but eventually said that cars
run on LRP wouldn't be covered by warranty.[/QUOTE]

I do wonder how much leaded fuel it actually takes to poison a cat
enough to render a vehicle an MOT failure. Admittedly that's not much
of an issue nowadays.

I remember the fuel shortages and the local petrol station attendant
saying mournfoully "sorry, all we've got is leaded".

"No worries" I replied, before filling my elderly pre-cat car up with
the stuff.

 

Is the cat ok if you don't check it?

 

Providing it was manufactured by Schrodinger Industries it will be
fine.

 

I use Schrodinger valve caps myself.