^Wait…every Diesel pump nozzle I’VE ever used has been quite a bit BIGGER than a gas one. Pretty much need to be, to move the volumes required in a reasonable time. (And I don’t just mean truck stop Diesel with “satellite pumps,” I mean general service stations in the “aught” years.)
Not to mention, Diesel filler necks aren't "sized" to accept a nozzle; they're gaping chasms that you aim the fuel into, with no pretext re: vapor control. (Though I think my mom's BMW has a gasoline-style neck..."Euro thing?")
Yeah in the 20 years I had my diesel, the pump nozzle was always bigger than the unleaded one. So you could put gas in a diesel but not diesel in a gas. I have to say though that with diesel, unleaded, E85, E10, etc. you have to be very careful and double check what you are actually pumping.
The diesel is supposed to have a green nozzle cover and black for unleaded and yellow for the other crap. But I have noticed this is not always the case, especially out of state and have never noticed what they do in Europe. A family member fueled a diesel rental with gas in Norway. There was no marking on the car that it was a diesel. I was going to say maybe bring back full service but on second thought I trust myself better than some pump jockey.
Yep,no such thing as a universal fuel yet,there were a few “all fuel” engines produced(you can burn about anything in a turbine)Caught myself at the diesel pumps a time or two.
Our local Co-op gas station has a huge yellow nozzle on the left side that says “DIESEL ONLY”. The gas hose is on the right beside the panel to select you grade. Other major stations have a similar type of arrangement.
One would have to be half asleep to mix up the nozzles.
I have heard of stories about US tourists in Europe renting gasoline cars and putting diesel in by accident, since diesel is very prominent there, especially in France and Italy.
UncleTurbo wrote:
It seems putting gas into a diesel car is a really easy mistake to make. As more cars in the US are diesel I guess this mistake will occur with greater frequency. Is there a fix?
There is a fix for at least some cars. On my wife’s diesel BMW X5, there are some tabs that have to be triggered by the nozzle on the way in before you can actually insert the nozzle fully. If you try to insert a gasoline nozzle, which is smaller than the auto diesel nozzle, it won’t activate those tabs and you can’t get the nozzle in. The mechanism can be a bit finicky, so sometimes you have to jiggle and twist the nozzle around even when it’s the correct one. Out of today’s current diesel cars, I have no idea who else includes this feature.
On another note, we’ve found a few gas stations out of town that use the gas nozzles on their auto diesel pumps. This is bad because we can’t use those pumps (unless we use an emergency funnel that came with the car) and also because someone could accidentally put diesel into a gas car there. I’ve even e-mailed a few of those companies after the fact, but no one ever replied.
All that you can do is try it out and assure your friend that you will “do the right thing” if there is an issue afterwards. Fill it with good fuel and drive, then have it assessed by a mechanic and see where you are. Rocketman
The Mobil station where I usually go (now owned by Coop) had a kerosene pump last winter where I’d get self-service kero for my space heater. In the spring I went to fill my kero can and noticed the sign had changed to “racing fuel” for the summer. Sheesh glad I noticed it.
Sorry but seeing a number of stations in different states, some of the pumps are very confusing and takes some study to see what you are actually putting in the tank. And the pictures with water drops or whatever they are instead of words doesn’t help any.
In that previous life I mentioned before I also worked as a mechanic for a while on tractor trailers . The company had some old Diamond Reo tractors that had gas engines . A new driver filled one of those up with diesel . We had a service truck that the mechanics would take when a truck had a problem out on the road . This repair was assigned to another mechanic & I don’t know what the repair entailed . I never personally ran into this problem .
Some of those old trucks would get mopery { sp } tickets out on the interstates .