Diesel problems

[Fordf350]

Have had two riding buddies recently put diesel in their bikes. Small town stations pumps not very well marked. No excuse we tortured him anyway. One was a KTM we just took the tank off and dumped into a fuel can. The other was a Tenere. We tried to convince buddy into siphoning out as much as possible then refilling with gas. He declined and called roadside assistance to haul it to a shop. Would a little diesel hurt anything?

 

[Quique]

No, by my esperience. I did the same in a former bike, a Honda Transalp, just took out the diesel and refilled with gas. No problem at all.

 

[Squibb]

Depends if they started the bike &, if so, for how long it ran before they realised. Diesel will impact the cat & lambda, so likely will throw the CEL.

I have seen vehicles run with part gas part diesel & believe me the cat was glowing red hot & the motor just about firing.

Sounds like your KTM buddy did the sensible thing. No real need for recovery unless the bike has been run some distance & then staggered to a halt. In the UK, we have specialists that will attend wrong fuelling incidents & effect a rapid drain/flush -_ I guess distances in the US leave this impractical outside the big city.

 

[Fordf350]

The bike was not started, so I am confident we could have gotten enough out to make the diesel a non issue. That’s what I would have done. He will not tell us what his shop bill was, I bet they just siphoned, filled and repeat 2 or 3 times.

 

[Quique]

I have remembered that I was travelling when it happened to me. I burnt that tank and another one and another one... in a matter of hours or days. I don't know what it would had happened to the bike if it rests with some diesel in the tank.

 

[Sierra1]

I've been in some small ass towns in the middle of nowhere TX, but, have never seen a pump that could cause confusion between diesel, and gasoline. I'm paranoid of doing exactly that, so I try to be careful.

 

[Quique]

Atienza (Spain) It is a small town in the middle of nowhere Spain, but a nice town with medieval streets and Romanesques churches. The station belongs to a large company with many stations all over Spain. I am used to put petrol in these stations and the pumps are well identified as diesel or gasoline. Noone to blame but me. I don't know what I was thinking. I made a mistake.
On the other hand, Squibb might be right. That Transalp was tough like a rock, I think that if I had go on with diesel in the tank, the bike would had burnt it with no issues. Perhaps modern bikes aren't as tough as the old ones.

 

[Bmwdumptruck]

Early nineties I was working with a cousin in his garage in Devon. A year in we remodelled the forecourt including a nice new pair of pumps installed by the petrol companies engineers. Our electrician mate turned up and wired them up and then begged us to let him fill his van up even though the forecourt was still a rubble strewn building site. He squeezed in near the pumps and filled his tank. A few minutes later he came running back to the forecourt, swearing and cursing, they’d piped the pumps up back to front, he’d a full tank of diesel in his petrol van which had ground to a halt a mile down the road.
He moaned about it for months afterwards, convinced the van never ran the same.

 

[Fordf350]

Next time I am in the area I will post picture of offending pump.

 

[HeliMark]

I've been in some small ass towns in the middle of nowhere TX, but, have never seen a pump that could cause confusion between diesel, and gasoline. I'm paranoid of doing exactly that, so I try to be careful.

Stay away from BP stations. Never figured out why they use green handles for both the regular gas and diesel spouts.

 

[TheBucket]

Embarrassed to admit I did the same thing. Siphoned it out, refilled with premium and rode. No problems at all. Often these thongs don't need to get "over thunked". A cup or two of diesel iced in with 5+ gallons of premium gasoline? No problem

 

[OldRider]

The diesel spout won't fit through the hole in the tank for a reason. This should keep anyone from putting in diesel.

 

[Sierra1]

I remember my dad telling me that but, I'm not sure that's true like it was.

 

[tntmo]

If the key wasn't turned on, no diesel would have gone through the bike's fuel pump. Could likely siphon out all but a pint or so. I would then add a gallon of fuel, slosh it around and siphon out as much of that as I could. Then fill the tank and ride it forever because it's a Tenere.

 

[scott123007]

Stay away from BP stations. Never figured out why they use green handles for both the regular gas and diesel spouts.

I know. It sucks that we can't be in a coma all the time, and have to actually pay attention when we fill our vehicles.

 

[Fordf350]

I have a diesel truck truck so I am always checking diesel prices in different areas.Like I said this was a small town with old pumps, apparently the nozzle fit in his tank no problem. We rode 285 miles on Sunday and when it was time to fuel we all laughed and warned each other not to pump diesel.

 

[AusTexS10]

I've been in some small ass towns in the middle of nowhere TX, but, have never seen a pump that could cause confusion between diesel, and gasoline. I'm paranoid of doing exactly that, so I try to be careful.

There are more than a few of those small ass towns, and a lot of nowhere, here in Texas. I haven't found any problem differentiating any pumps, but maybe they were at the end of a long day of riding and had left their attention spans a few miles back, lol. I'm not sure about the nozzle fitment issue, but I don't plan to test it.