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.