Another Serious Diesel Fuel Result..

Gday Baz
Petrol is made of thinners, so they put it in the wrong tank, thats all.

I don't speak 'fluent diesel' Oldbaz, but would you buy your food from a "lesser known discount outlet"?

Oldbaz,
I would be interested in more details when you get them. It would be even better if you knew something before you posted.
Skull

To answer your question Baz, I would imagine that water is the only nasty that can be detected in fuel easily. Anything else such as thinners/petrol etc, having been derived from oil in the first place, would be way too hard to differentiate from diesel, especially in a recreational vehicle. The best bet would be to buy fuel only from reputable (big name) companies and always keep reciepts for fuel bought as that is usually the only proof you have. Keen to hear the rest of the story when it comes to light.......It is not uncommon for older people to fill up their diesel vehicles with petrol........

Petrol is not made of thinners. Thinner is typically 20-30 octane and doesn't have the capability of cranking an engine. This is one reason why adding thinner to diesel or petrol will result in engine failure.

Thinners is usually dearer than petrol, all the thinners I buy is. Usually 3 times the price or more. My bet is the refueller of the fuel tank topped up with petrol. A very common thing. Plenty of people are putting petrol in their CRD engines by mistake.

Easiest way is to not read the bowser carefully and if at a Caltex they have VORTEX Diesel and VORTEX petrol. These are often mistaken.

Always do the sniff/smell the fuel test before you squirt it into the tank. I always make sure the stuff going in is the oily stuff. Many people have never been taught the difference.

As a detection device goes, go and sniff petrol, thinners and diesel so you know the difference. If the fuel you are pouring into your tank doesn't smell clean diesel, don't continue. Thinners or petrol in diesel will create a different smell as they are both highly aromatic.

Never trust, always check, and cheap may not be cheap at all.

Gidday

If my memory serves me correctly there was a bit of a scandal 10 or 12 years ago that involved dodgy servo operators in NSW diluting petrol with toluene, which was much cheaper to buy than petrol. Not sure how it ended up.

Cheers

A work collegue of mine got caught with paint thinners (or so they say) at United Mildura, just a couple of months back.
Fortunately he has an old Dosco with a V8 Petrol motor in it.
No damage, just high blood pressure, and a lot of swearing, when he lost time travelling to Mungo NP.

Next problem he had was proving it !

Cheers
Bucky

if you didnt already know, the majority of throwing wrong fuel in the tank is actualy government vehicles..
sadly we pay for this, and the mechanics charge around the 500 to pull the tank and clean the lines..
it happens that often that they are putting decent sized stickers on the fuel cap!!

sadly we pay for this..

its way to early to say he threw petrol in his diesel tank..
only one of those chinese whispers again!!

Thanks, firstly to Dreadnought, who actually answered the question I posed re
filtering.
Thank you also to Skulldog & Aussie Traveller, who have suggested I should not post
without substantiating facts..truly enlightening .
Thanks also to those who pursued the petrol/diesel mistake issue. You may be correct.
My efforts to talk to the owner have not been succesful yet but I will pursue the issue
&, as I said originally, will pass the info on. cheers....oldbaz.

In WA, imo, it is very hard to mistake the diesel for fuel pumps. All the diesel pumps I can think of have an extra metal cover over them marked diesel.

Hi Oldbaz,
Ever noticed that many of the responders who say "Get more facts before posting"
or "Need more info before we reply" do so in a slightly abusive manner and most are non members. Just a partial obsevation of mine.

This is a social website, I assume, so it would be nice if more people were more socially oriented on these pages.

Looking forward to your follow ups Baz.
Sort of points up that a lot more developement works is needed on these modern engines for reliability improvements in the real world where mistakes are common.

Cheers, Bruce.

just to clear up a couple of things.

As has been said, there is no way of filtering or detecting other solvents or fuels in diesel.

diesel is a relativly light oily fraction of the oil as refined......it is common for the unscrupulous to try to plam of heating oil as diesel.....it is very much chepaer because it does not have the heavy excises on it.......it is similar but perhaps not as clean or of the right character.....some vehicles will run on it without advent...some most certainly don't.

I am curious why someone would try to sell paint thinner mixed with diesel and how they would get the volumes delivered.

Paint thinner varies depending on what it is for.
most paint thinners are bassed on a clean white hydrocarbon commonly called "white spirit" it or similar fractions of the refining process make up the bulk and basis of petrol and many other solvents & fuels.
Mineral turps is more or less white spirit with some light oil added.
Enamel thinners is mostly white spirit with a small amount of more agressive solvents added
Laquer thinner is arround 60% white spirit, with arround 30% metho a dash of MEK and a few other bits and pieces.

Again I simply cant see why someone would spend good money diluting diesel with paint thinner.

BTW a small amount of petrol in the fuel tank of an older style mechanical diesel is a non issue.....If its only a few litres full right up with diesel and don't push it.

Common rail diesels its another story all together, some of the manufacturers recomend complete replacement of fuel tank and all lines...IF the engine was not started...if the engine was started it can get very expensive.

cheers

Hello,
Going back a few years the 4X4 mags used to advertise kits that check the quality of diesel don't know if they worked.

Australian Customs had a crew driving around the outback checking quality of fuels. They did this to make sure fuels were not "watered down" to ensure the correct excise was paid.

May be a phone call to Customs would help.

Cheers