HELP! dealing with diesel, unknowingly put 3 gal diesel in my 98 celi! Options

[natasha42]

Okay, so my husband had two 5 gal tanks of regular gas which he had obtained at the beginning of the hurricane season, and hadn't needed. He told me, let's use these in our cars before the gas goes bad. Okay, no problem.

So this afternoon, I came home, and saw what I thought was the remaining tank of gas sitting in the garage, and emptied it into my beloved celi. Literally seconds before I would have gotten into my car and started it up, my husband arrived home, and when he realized which tank I had used, freaked. Earlier in the day he had taken that tank and half-filled it with diesel, intending to use it to burn out a tree stump in our backyard (whatever).

So now I have three gallons of diesel in my 98 celi, I haven't started the car or anything. The general opinion of friends is that it should be enough to siphon out the diesel and fill it up with the right stuff, that it may smoke a while but otherwise should be okay. Has anyone else had any experience with this kind of screw-up? Should we just tow it to a mechanic or what? Thanx

[celica101]

I checked around for you and the consensus seems to be that it will lower your octane and you will experience some white smoke and knocking (because of the lowered octane). If you added more than a few gallons, siphon it out to avoid carbon deposits and a harsher knock.

[j0e_p3t]

you can try sucking out the gas with a hose or what-not.

[natasha42]

We have been told that we can pull the line off before the fuel filter and turn the car on to alllow the fuel pump to pump the gas out. Where is the fuel filter?

[toyotatech]

it wont hurt anything but it will smoke abit and you might notice some power loss. if it were mine i would probably remove the feul pump and siphon most of it out, you could use the feul pump the problem with that is right before the filter its a hard line and gonna be hard to get it in a bucketand may a potential fire hazard, if your gonna do that you need to secure a hose to it and in a bucket or something safe to put the fuel inor you could maybe take it loose at the fuel rail.

[6gcSTVT]

I don't know much about diesel in our tanks but what about an octane booster? like those outlaw brands. Could that pump up the octane of the diesel enough so its useable or should i just stop talking

[94celicadude]

my sister pulled the same thing, except it wasnt a celica and she filled the WHOLE tank up with diesel, she then proceeded to drive until the car smoked black heavily and sputtered to a stop. Then the car was towed toa mechanic, the tank emptied of its diesel, and since the car was carburated, the carb was cleaned out and such. Depending on how muc diesel you put into your tank, i would top it woff with 93 octane and maybe even throw some octane booster into it just to make sure your ok. Just my suggestion, i probably also expect some smoke and such, but yotherwise you celi should be fine. Good luck.

[hurley97]

race gas? 110 octane

[Bigmeanbulldog55]

Suck it out with a hose, and put gas in it. It'll be fine. My girlfriend as done this a couple times.

[natasha42]

Hey, everybody, just wanted to give y'all a follow-up. Turns out you can access the fuel tank very easily by going through the back seat. JP took the backseat out, and there is a plate thingy, and underneath that is the ... fuel pump? or something, which he unbolted and took out, then put the siphon in that way. He got all the diesel out, put in the 5 gallons of regular, then when I took the car out I went straight to the station and filled it with 93 octane. The car is fine, in fact, she seems pretty peppy with the 93 in 'er.

So all is well, and I thank you all for your help. I appreciate the fact that y'all helped me even though I rarely post! One of these days I'll post a picture of my beloved celi.

natasha

[celicamike]

If you're worried, you could drain the tank, fill it with gasoline, then drain it again just to get out the last bit of diesel before you fill it again with gas. You should be fine since you didn't run the car (it's a good thing your husband got home before you did).

This post has been edited by celicamike: Nov 22, 2006 - 4:09 PM