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Other contributors have said "What happens when you put in diesel gas instead of regular unleaded?" is the same question as "What happens when you put in diesel fuel instead of regular unleaded gasoline?". If you believe that these are not asking the same thing and should be answered differently, click here.


What happens when you put in diesel fuel instead of regular unleaded gasoline?
The answer to the question of: "What happens when you put in diesel gas instead of regular unleaded?" is this...

Diesel fuel (engines) rely on compression to ignite it. It isn't necessarily flammable.

Gasoline relies on a spark from a spark plug. Diesel engines have a higher compression ratio than gasoline engines do, and thus provide more torque to the drivetrain (that's why 18 wheelers use diesel engines, instead of gasoline engines).

So, if you put diesel fuel into a gasoline engine, there's not nearly enough compression to ignite the fuel. Probably the only thing that would happen is that your gasoline car or truck would run very rough for a time before all of the diesel fuel runs out.

If you accidentally put diesel fuel into a gasoline fuel tank, the best thing to do is siphon it out.

Finally, I can't imagine anyone accidentally putting diesel into a gas car since the diesel nozzle at the pump is a lot bigger than the gasoline nozzle...and it's that way for a reason. ;-)

Though it does still happen every day when people fill up their cars without thinking exactly what they doing...

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First answer by ID1090894093. Last edit by Martinel. Contributor trust: 556 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 48 [recommend question].

Answers.com > Wiki Answers > Categories > Cars and Vehicles > Auto Parts and Repairs > Fuel and Engines > What happens when you put in diesel fuel instead of regular unleaded gasoline?

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