ULP in diesel
Submitted: Monday, Mar 28, 2011 at 20:15
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John259
Well, according to my mechanic I'm not the only one who hasn't been entirely focussed during the regular trip to the bowser. I argue that the TV on top of the multi-hose bowser showing footy highlights of Round 1 distracted me, coupled with the hour of the Sunday morning, but the fact remains that I picked up the yellow nozzle instead of the black one to fill my almost empty '08 D4D Prado. Fortunately, the fact that the diesel meter on the bowser wasn't ticking over when I eventually checked alerted me to something being wrong - 36 litres too late though. The bloke who owns the workshop next to the servo was in sweeping up and was good enough to come over and
check what I had found, that there was no visible drain plug for the fuel tank. His suggestion was to fill the whole tank up to its 180l capacity with diesel which would give me a 20% ULP content, and which he said would not be a problem by the time all of the fuel mixed together. I did this and then crawled the 2km
home at barely above idle, then started checking ExploreOz for similar problems. The
feedback I found from other contributors confirmed what I really thought, which was to dump the tankload of fuel. Luckily, my mechanic is only just down the road and was happy to have the car in this morning. He said if the engine was running rough to turn it off and he would come and get it, but all seemed ok so I drove it there. Picked it up this afternoon to be told that he really only needed to drain the rear section of the tank which was accessible after removing the underguard, as the ULP went in first and sat at the bottom of the rear tank. He drained the whole rear section and then pulled out seats and carpet to
check the front section via the strategically placed opening for the fuel pump to confirm that none of the ULP had made it over the reservoir wall, so the engine had only drunk diesel. Changed the fuel filter, filled it up with distillate and a gave a full seal of approval. Lucky I didn't follow all of the advice from the Sunday morning workshop owner as my mechanic explained that as soon as the front tank was used up, the engine would have started sucking from the bottom of the rear tank, which was almost pure ULP when emptied, but at best would have been about 40% ULP content. A $300 lesson, but wont be repeated and better than a $7,500 repair job.
Reply By: Bushranger1 - Monday, Mar 28, 2011 at 20:30
Monday, Mar 28, 2011 at 20:30
I did a similar thing to you some years back in my diesel Hilux.
It was only a single tank & I ended up with about 20% ULP to 80% diesel mixed together. Called the RACV & he said to put some redex fuel system cleaner & pump lube to prevent damage to the injector pump.
Worked a treat & i reckon the old girl ran better after such a good cleanout!
Cheers
Stu
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Madfisher - Monday, Mar 28, 2011 at 21:34
Monday, Mar 28, 2011 at 21:34
Yes the older diesels did go better after a big decarboning, but you would not want to risk it in a modern diesel.
Cheers Pete
FollowupID:
721884
Reply By: Member - reggy 2 (VIC) - Monday, Mar 28, 2011 at 20:45
Monday, Mar 28, 2011 at 20:45
This post has been read by the moderation team and has been moderated due to a breach of The Foul Language Rule .
Forum Moderation Team
AnswerID:
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Reply By: beergutz - Monday, Mar 28, 2011 at 22:08
Monday, Mar 28, 2011 at 22:08
Hi
John 259,
i fuel every day & one day last year my local prefered servo had a semi trailer fuel tanker doing a delivery when i wanted to fuel so i tried 4hrs later & tanker was still there . Next day the checkout chick told me the driver filled his truck with unleaded & only discovered it when his company fuel card would not pay for petrol , had to get company mechanic out & drain tanks.
So, you are not the only one to do it
cheers bruce
AnswerID:
449523
Reply By: Mike L - Monday, Mar 28, 2011 at 22:21
Monday, Mar 28, 2011 at 22:21
Friend of
mine did it in a NSW country town, and was told it happens at least once every week!!
Mike.
AnswerID:
449525
Reply By: Holiday Maker - Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 07:25
Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 07:25
Last
Easter we where getting ready to cast off our yacht from the marina, engine had been running for about 10 minutes.
I was talking to another boat owner when my wife yelled out "Don't forget to fill the water tanks."
Dutuful, I grabbed a hose and proceeded to fill the "
water tank on the port side" while coninuing to talk to the other person.
When the water started to verflow after about 5 minutes, I thought "Gee that was quick to fill 250 litres of water. Then I noticed the colour of the water overflowing. I had just topped up the diesel tank with water.
Moving faster than "Speed Gordon" I jumped up and turned the motor off. Checking the engine compartment, I had just managed to turn the engine off when the water had reached the first filter unit. Took us the rest of the day and night to empty the tank of the 200 litres of fuel/water as there is no drain on the tank. Had to suck it our 6 litres at a time thru the fuel line.
Lesson
well and truly learnt.
Dusty
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Troll 81 (QLD) - Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 11:23
Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 11:23
ouch
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Reply By: Road Warrior - Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 11:33
Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 11:33
In a past life when I worked for a petroleum distributor we had a tanker driver who was a few cans short of a six pack and dropped a tanker load of diesel into the ULP tanks (and vice versa) at 3 different petrol stations. It wasn't pretty and you can imagine the grief this caused when the first few diesel and ULP customers got a gutful of the wrong product through no fault of their own!
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: spudseamus - Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 11:43
Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 11:43
nearly did this with
Caltex as the have the name Vortex on diesel and ulp
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Reply By: Alloy c/t - Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 11:41
Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 11:41
Said it before and will say it again , Its time that so called sevice stations [ where is the actual service ?] and bowser companies and oil companies got their act together and used the U.N. colour coding system for their products and delivery systems , ,,,,,, RED = ULP ,,, YELLOW = DIESEL ,, GREEN = 2 STROKE ,, BLUE = WATER ,,, how hard is /would that be to follow ,, no mistakes be it at the bowser or from a jerry can ,
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Follow Up By: Hilux fan - Wednesday, Mar 30, 2011 at 16:20
Wednesday, Mar 30, 2011 at 16:20
It would be hard to follow for the nearly 10% of males with some sort of colour vision problem. My son couldn't tell the diference between blue and green. I've known people who can't distinguish between red and blue or red and green. You'll still need to put names on things, even with the colour coding.
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Reply By: John259 - Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 18:28
Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 18:28
Thanks all for the
feedback - nice to know I'm not Robinson Crusoe. Another point I failed to include is that on some threads the suggested remedy was to disconnect a fuel line to the filter and then turn on the ignition to let the fuel pump gradually empty the tank into a drum or other receptacle. My mechanic said that the ULP would damage the diesel fuel pump as they use different lubricants. Something else to watch out for I guess. Cheers to all.
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Reply By: Ruffy-Dan - Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 22:47
Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 22:47
Yes it certainly does happen more than most people realise.
Only last week we repaired a D40 that had been driven with petrol in the tank.. Nearly $8k later all was good..
Something that most people don't realise or think of is most insurance companies will cover you for the repair.
DAN
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Reply By: Dave(NSW) - Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 23:04
Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 23:04
ULP in Diesel is onething I've never done. But I've put a couple of liters of diesel into an SS Commodore once, Just lucky I realised staight away.
Cheers Dave..
AnswerID:
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Reply By: Member - Boo Boo (NSW) - Wednesday, Mar 30, 2011 at 12:22
Wednesday, Mar 30, 2011 at 12:22
John259
You can probable guess how I got the name Boo Boo,,,,, but I haven't put the wrong fuel in to the troopy,,,,,,,,yet. LOL
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Reply By: Member - SKL - Saturday, Apr 02, 2011 at 15:59
Saturday, Apr 02, 2011 at 15:59
probleem is diesel is heavier than ulp and will settle to the bottom of the tank close to the pick up. ANy more than 5lts in a 100 and you have a big problem. Also beware
CAltex sites they call there products Vortex 95 ,98 and diesel so good idea to look at the digital metre as soon as you pull the trigger and make sure the colour codoing is right Iv e worked in the fuel industry 30 years and filled my disco to the max 92lts of vortex 95 instead of vortex diesel
AnswerID:
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