I put a small amount of diesel fuel in my Murano (about a quart) and then realized what I had done. I really didn’t know what to do but I filled the tank with regular gas and the car was just a little sluggish on my 10 mile ride home. Can I just add some octane booster to burn off the diesel or do I have to get it towed and flush everything out? Thanks
Octane booster will do nothing. If you really only added just a quart, you are OK. Just fill the tank when it gets to about 3/4 to dilute it further.
Now if you added more than a quart… Same advice until you get to several gallons, then draining the tank is warranted.
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Thanks Mustangman! I know that it was only a quart because the pump only said 70 cents when I realized what I was doing and stopped (duh). I did add the octane booster this morning though. Should I also use Premium gas for awhile or add some fuel injector cleaner? The car is only 2 years old with 8,000 miles on it and is very babied.
Premium will not make a difference . Please tell us how you did this and where you are located. In the US most diesel nozzles will not fit in a gas fill pipe.
I pulled into a station that I ordinarily don’t use and had a lot on my mind. It wasn’t their fault. I was just stupid because I lined up the nozzle just right to get the fuel in for a couple of seconds before it registered what I was doing.
Don’t waste money on premium, don’t add anything to the gas. Drive as if nothing happened. When you get to about 3/4 tank fill up again.
If they’re using gas-sized nozzles on their diesel pumps, it is somewhat their fault.
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Premium gasoline will make a difference, it will help to bring the octane of your mixture up to normal.
Diesel fuel has a very low octane value, I have used tanks of gasoline that was polluted with approximately 25% diesel fuel and the engine will knock.
However one quart of diesel fuel in 16 gallons of fuel won’t be a problem unless you are driving 100 MPH up a mountain grade.
Thanks very much for the info Nevada. I’m getting relieved by some of these responses because the car is pristine otherwise. I did put some octane boost in it today too. I thought that I might top it off a couple of times with premium. Do you think that’s a good idea or should I just add fuel injector cleaner on my next 2 fill ups?
Just don’t drive at full throttle if you can resist during this tank of fuel. That amount of diesel fuel may have dropped the tanks octane value 2 or 3 points, not a big deal.