I'm an idiot!

Diesel is heavier than gasoline. Since you already had 1/4 tank of Diesel, you drove the truck with Diesel not gasoline. The Gasoline is floating on top of the tank.

All this Budget guy has to do is drain the tank. Check the fuel filter and if there is slight contamination replace it.

Don't buy the bullshit that you damaged the engine. Because you could dive it back. If gasoline was inside the engine, the engine would have stalled.

What you should have done was fill the tank the rest of the way with diesel fuel, thus cutting down the percentage of gas in the tank. Some diesel vehicles owner manuals state that the fuel can be diluted up to

Do you think that a Ford diesel V8 F350 says such a thing in its owner's manual? Where could I find this information out? I want to know because if that's the case, I want to make sure that the Budget Mechanic person doesn't screw me over and tell me that the injectors/fuel filters/whatever need to be replaced.

Quentin.

The OP did exactly the right thing. It wasn't his truck, and not his to diagnose or attempt to recover. If the Budget mechanic was willing to take the responsibility of having him drive the vehicle back, that mechanic is willing to take the risk. It may have been a good idea to get that recommendation in writing right on the contract from the Budget folks so they couldn't later claim the engine was damaged by the gas.

In fact that's what I did. I had to fill out an accident report. In it, I made sure to mention that I did not start the truck when I figured out my mistake, and that I was told to drive the truck to Budget. We both have a copy of it :)

Quentin.

I would expect at a Ford dealer.

A Detroit Diesel site states "The presence of gasoline in diesel fuel will reduce fuel cetane number and increase combustion temperatures." which doesn't sound too encouraging.

Then there's this page-

Probably clean them well, more likely.

JazzMan

PROBABLY no damage. The main problems with running gasoline in a diesel engine are a) gasoline doesn't lubricate the fuel injectors as well, and b) gasoline has a lower cetane rating (the antitheses of a high octane rating in fact) so that the combustion process impaired and can result in something similar to "detonation" in a gasoline engine.

Both of those shouldn't be a problem on such a short drive, but do you have it ON RECORD that you notified the company PRIOR to starting the vehicle, and that THEY told you to drive it back? My biggest worry would be that they didn't do a darn thing and just rotated the truck back out to the next renter rather than draining the tank immediately.

actually its more a habit to put gas in vehicles for most people which makes you reliable rather than an idiot. The idiot would be knowing what he did, but hopes for different results. (ie gas is the same a diesel this time). This also should be factored into the savings for diesal, how often is gas put inot deisals and its affect. for all quotes there is an equally opposite quote