From Alaska A fuel supplier recently put diesel in the unleaded gas tank by mistake. Our 02 Explorer experienced black smoke out of the tail pipe and would hardly start. The local gas station is going to drain the tank etc. What would be the long term affect on the engine. This cost is being paid by the fuel supplier
Diesel fuel is a good lubricant. I don’t expect it would hurt anything except the catalytic converter. Diesel exhaust may plug it up.
Lars46 covered it well. That is about it. More damage is possible, but not likely. Expect that it may run a little funny for a tank or two.
If it’s still running you have nothing to worry about. It may take a few tankfuls of gasoline to get rid of all the smoke, but you should be OK in the long run,
If the situation were reversed . . .
Make sure you get a LONG term commitment from the supplier…trouble could pop up later. You’ll never know if you decreased the life expectancy of the converter by x miles for a while. The soot is really ugly stuff to run through the cat.