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

[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