I put chainsaw gas into my new car’s gas tank on accident. I feel like the dumbest person in the world. How can I fix it? Is it even broken? I’m afraid to put regular gasoline on top of the chainsaw gas…
I feel like the dumbest person in the world.
It would be best to tell us what kind of car it is - my answer may vary a lot depending on whether or not it is a Rolls Royce or a Yaris. It would also be good to know how much gas we’re talking about.
The chainsaw gas is just gasoline with a little bit of oil in it. Most people don’t have very much of it around at any one time. E.g. the most I could ever accidentally put in my car is about a gallon. My own inclination would just be to fill up the gas tank with regular gas and forget about it. The ounce or so of oil mixed into a full auto gas tank will likely do nothing of great concern.
It is a 1993 Audi. And yes, I put a little less than a gallon in it.
I agree with Admitted. The amount of oil in one gallon of chainsaw mix when diluted with 12 or 14 gallons of gasoline is insignificant. Fill your tank with gas, add a bottle of injector cleaner if you’d like, and sleep well.
For years I have put two stoke gas/oil (trimmer,OB,chain saw etc.) into my trucks at the end of the year to use it up and not have it sitting around over the winter…never more than a gallon at a time when I filled it up, never a problem. May do more good than harm. We run fogging oil in some equipment prior to stowage…two stoke oil disperses very well, not like more oil at all. Much more environmentally friendly than “dumping”
Years ago, people used to add “Top Oil” to their gasoline in order to help lubricate the valves and to prevent deposits. The miniscule amount of “chain saw gas” also has a very minimal amount of oil in it, and the oil is likely not very different from the Top Oil that was used years ago.
If you added any kind of oil to the gasoline on a regular basis, you would run the risk of ruining your catalytic converter. But, a one-time instance, or even doing it once in a while is not going to ruin the catalytic converter.
While this gas/oil mixture is very unlikely to damage your engine, the absolute BEST way to mitigate any possible damage is to fill the tank with regular gasoline.
Like most of the others who responded, I support the idea of doning nothing more than filling the rest of the tank with gasoline and driving off. The small amount of oil will do no harm. Now the question is whether or not to mention this incident to your brother… It’s your move.
naaah, no prob mate, g’day
Don’t worry about (fagitaboudit). Your not dumb, you made a mistake. It will not hurt anything, top with gas but don’t pull up to any trees (joke).
People put lots of stuff in their gasoline, on purpose! The cheapest thing to do is just drive it after filling the tank with normal gas.
Actually, filling the tank with regular gas is exactly the right thing to do. It will dilute the very small amount of 2 cycle oil to a minuscule amount which will be so insignificant that you would be hard pressed to even detect it. The car won’t be harmed.
I just made the same mistake today and I was so glad to see that you posted this question because it really helped!! So you are not alone!!! Thanks to all of those who posted helpful responses.