HELP! HELP! HELP! OH MY GOD, DIESEL GAS IN MY HIGHLANDER!!

Guys, a STUPID newbie question here.... My mom has accidentally put in DIESEL gas in my highlander. (I KNOW IT?S NONSENSE!!)

then she drove about 25 miles on freeway before it didnt accelerate anymore. we dropped it at a toyota service department at the dealer. they are saying they need to flush fuel lines and replace plugs.... (also saying the diesel may have damaged the sensors)...

I just need to know what exactly should be done to my car. So I won?t get ripped off. My friend was saying they could just flush the fuel lines.

Please advise....I?m in a deperate need of answers.... Thank you in advance.

Reply to
swinkim
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At the least, you will need to pump the bad fuel out of the fuel tank and flush the fuel lines. The mixed gas-diesel will be considered hazardous material so be prepared to pay a fee to dispose of it.

You will need to replace the fuel filter.

Spark plugs and sensors may or may not need replacement. Start with the flush and fuel filter and see what happens. If it doesn't start, replace the plugs and if you get a check engine light, replace sensors as indicated.

Reply to
Ray O

Well at least she didn't put gas in a diesel.

Let them flush the shit out and maybe you'll be ok. Keep your fingers crossed.

Reply to
"Dbu''

Diesel fuel nozzels are larger than Unleaded gasoline nozzels so she could not have fully inserted the nozzle into the filler restrictor. You can have nearly 50% diesel/gasoline before the engine has a hard time running. So your Highlander must have been pretty low on fuel when she misfueled the vehicle.

O2 sensors are the only items that may become fouled. You're ECM will light the Check Engine light if this is the case. All you need do is drain the fuel tank. NO need to replace filters or all that other BS. Spark plugs ... maybe.

Reply to
Philip

And don't *ever* let that broad use your car again - GEEZE

Natalie

Reply to
Wickeddoll®

Drain, flush and plugs yes, sensors maybe. They will consider ripping the customer off a stupid tax. I mean why was it there in the first place.

Reply to
NeedforSwede2

LOL! We used to charge a minimum 1/2 hour ($30) for computer repairs. If someone came in with something like, I can't load anything on my computer, we would first check their Internet Explorer cache, and sure enough, it would be about 150Mb. We'd delete the files, set up Task Manager to delete the files once a week (all of about 15 minutes...) and then charge them a full hour.

We had other "Stupid taxes" as well...

But in this case, it was not the OP's fault.

And it must have taken Mom some doing to put that square peg (the larger Diesel nozzle) into that little round hole!

Reply to
Hachiroku

No, but how many "My mom/dad/brother/sister, the inbred idiot put the wrong fuel into my car" do you reckon they get. Being cynical is easy when you are charging.

Agreed. To manage it you would have to be much stronger than a frail old easily confused woman. More like a big strong truck driving son?

Reply to
NeedforSwede2

My fleet includes a diesel powered Datsun pickup. The previous owner lent the truck to a friend who misfueled it with roughly 6 gallons of gasoline. The tank holds 13 gallons. It started up and ran for 50 miles. But before the guy shut it off, the engine was knocking loudly. It would not restart afterward. Fortunately, diesel systems have fuel tank drain plugs, filters, and a hand priming pump on the injection pump so correcting the problem was not a big deal. And, apparently no damage was done to the engine. That was

40k miles ago.
Reply to
Philip

Hell, maybe she got a kick out of it...

Reply to
Gord Beaman

We had this discussion before. As far as I can tell there is no rule/law/regulation that requires this to be true (at least in the US in general). After we first argued about this, I started paying attention to diesel nozzles. As you say, MOST are larger, but at three different stations I found nozzles that were the same as unleaded fuel nozzles. And I personally know a person who filled their S10 Blazer with diesel because the station had a small nozzle.

And interestingly, I watched a lady yesterday try to jam one of the larger diesel nozzles in the fuel filler on Her Ford Freestyle. At first it did not occur to me what she was trying to do. However, after her third try at forcing the nozzle in the tank, I gently asked her if she had the right nozzle. This was one of the pumps that has two nozzles, one for gasoline (all grades) and one for diesel. She had selected the wrong one. After my prompting, she realized her mistake and thanked me.

I'd be surprised if the diesel fuel hurt anything. Personally I'd just empty the tank, flush the lines, and replace the fuel filter. I'll bet it would run just fine. I believe replacing the fuel filter is probably a good idea just to make sure you get all the diesel fuel out of it and because I'd worry that the flushing procedure might have damaged it. Besides, it is cheap. I can't see how the spark plugs would be damaged - fouled maybe, but they'll be dry by the time you get the other work done. Running the vehicle for a few miles should burn any diesel deposits off the O2 sensors.

Ed

Reply to
C. E. White

As our previous exchange revealed, my references are based on what is done in my home state of California. We ARE the leaders in this country where vehicle emissions regulations are concerned.

snip

I was refueling the diesel Datsun recently. A black man approached me and asked if I would pay him a dollar for washing my windows and finish refueling my truck. I declined. Then he noticed I was MISFUELING the Datsun with diesel. He got very animated!! I started laughing and showed him the diesel sticker inside the fuel door. He'd never ever of such a thing in an old Datsun. He walked away in disbelief. This has happened before. What a hoot each time.

Reply to
Philip

Gord, you're channeling Tegger! This is never good...

:-)

Natalie

Reply to
Wickeddoll®

"C. E. White" wrote: snip.

I tend to agree with Ed, matter of fact I'd skip the filter too...hell, lots of people put a little oil into their fuel tanks as 'top lube'...(especially Wankel engines) the Diesel will just mix with the gasoline as it flows through the system...hell, might even do the engine some good because of it's better lubrication qualities.

I must confess that I have no idea how the various 'sensors' might be affected though...they didn't HAVE those when I was in the game. :)

Reply to
Gord Beaman

Next time that happens just say, "Yeah, but just LOOK at how much cheaper it is"...keep making excuses like, "Wadda ya mean 'it won't work'...how can the engine tell?, it's dark inside there"...give him a big story to tell his buddies. You might tell him that you gas up here every Monday...pretty soon he'll have a big crowd of buddies there to watch...till one of them'll twig!...then you better RUN...

Reply to
Gord Beaman

He's my straight man... :)

Reply to
Gord Beaman

How in the world can any IDIOT do something like that????

Most diesel fuel nozzles I have seen are marked by a green plastic cover on the hand part of the nozzle

gas is usually a black cover

Reply to
markansas859

She set the cause of women drivers back several decades

Natalie

Reply to
Wickeddoll®

My friend put diesel in his Harley motorcycle by mistake. We drained the diesel out of the tank, filled it with gas, then injected raw gas into the air intake while cranking. It sputtered a few times then died and it finally fired long enough to suck gas into his fuel injection system. The bike ran smooth after that with no subsequent problems.

I realize a motorcycle does not compare to a car; however, I thought I would pass the info along.

Gary

Please remove XXX in email address if email reply is desired.

Reply to
G Mulcaster

Diesel is MORE expensive than Premium gasoline, Gord.

Reply to
Philip

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