It won't happen to me - she'll be right

[kblof]

Yep it won't happen to me!
Blew the diesel motor up in Ceduna, stupid me ran out of fuel the night before 5 km out of Ceduna on our 2 week trip from Adelaide to Perth for Easter. Nice bloke stopped and helped us out with a lift into town and back with a new jerry full of diesel, started the car and stayed in Ceduna as planned. Awoke day 2 checked the oil etc. as I do each morning when travelling and all good. 1-2 km from caravan park whilst driving a huge bang followed by a huge white cloud of smoke. I knew straight away she was knackered and kicked myself for
1; letting the old girl run out fuel, stupid rookie mistake
2; buying a new set of spotlights instead of the secondary fuel filter
3; not carrying a jerry can on the camper trailer full of diesel
4; not swapping out the fuel filter that night with a spare i carry (don't think this would have helped tho)
Looks like some crud from the tank has gone through the factory filter and hit and blown the end of a maybe suspect injector shooting a hole through the piston and BANG!
Had the car towed to McEvoy Transport in Ceduna, who were awesome, they had my car and trailer back in Adelaide in 3 days for me.
MORAL of the story guys is for the sake of $300 do the secondary filter it could save you $8-10 k as it is about to cost me

[benckj]

Ouch, sorry to hear about your misadventure and thanks for sharing. It just may help someone else from same predicament. Speaking for myself I've learned a great deal by following this forum and have thus avoided some bad situations.

Best of luck and hope it works out for you.

[Brownie]

How do you know the crud is from your tank - could have been from the supplied diesel. Would be smart to collect a fuel sample and get it analysed. Some insurance companies will cover the damage caused by poor quality fuel.

[kblof]

thanks benckj me too.

Good question Brownie my mechanic was going to confirm for me as well as remove and clean the tank, see how it goes?

[JoshF]

How do you know the crud is from your tank - could have been from the supplied diesel. Would be smart to collect a fuel sample and get it analysed. Some insurance companies will cover the damage caused by poor quality fuel.

Some fuel companies also if fuel analysis proves it was them

[Hill]

I'm suspecting some petrol entered tank at some stage and entered fuel system. Petrol "floats" on diesel.

Hill

[Aspey]

That sucks kblof. Cant tell if anything you did caused it for sure but it would be interesting to find out if bad fuel was the culprit.

[ticky]

I'm suspecting some petrol entered tank at some stage and entered fuel system. Petrol "floats" on diesel.

Hill

As I was reading the story, I was wondering about Petrol. Maybe the new Jerrycan had been used before???

[ticky]

I'm putting a secondary Filter on next service. Ive made the bracket up and the car is about due for a service now.

I have a couple weeks off of my studies so maybe next week.

[erad]

I'm suspecting some petrol entered tank at some stage and entered fuel system. Petrol "floats" on diesel.

Hill

I thought it was once considered a good idea to add a small amount of petrol to the diesel to improve performance etc. Surely they would mix?

[razorback]

Not petrol, never ever!! But 2 stroke oil is seen to improve fuel efficiency. As far as I remember 200ml on a tank full.

[kiwi1973]

Crud from the tank shouldn't have got passed the fuel filter. More likely fuel contamination, petrol in the jerry etc. Please do update thread when cause and full extent of damage known.

[Nxnmmnmk]

Could it have been metal filings from the diesel pump caused by running out of fuel?

[erad]

OK - so people reckon that petrol in diesel is a bad thing - I agree, but what about those people who have accidentally put petrol into their diesel tanks? They have driven for a while and then discovered the mistake. What then - if petrol doesn't mix with diesel, does this mean that there is still petrol in the fuel tank even after they have drained the tank (you never fully drain it)

[Dicko1]

OK - so people reckon that petrol in diesel is a bad thing - I agree, but what about those people who have accidentally put petrol into their diesel tanks? They have driven for a while and then discovered the mistake. What then - if petrol doesn't mix with diesel, does this mean that there is still petrol in the fuel tank even after they have drained the tank (you never fully drain it)

Petrol does mix with diesel. I,ve accidentally added petrol once. No damage --thank god!!