Mixing gas with diesel fuel

Ran out of blended diesel fuel and was wondering is it save to mix regular gas with it? If so about how much would you mix with 20 gallon of #2 diesel. That will get me by till Monday. Thanks for any help. Mark

I wouldn't mix it and wouldn't go more than about a quart if that for 20 gal.
If the fuel is good it will stand on it's own I run all over the US in my semi and don't treat fuel. I just keep in mind where I am if in FL I buy fuel as I go north. Yes I go to ND,WY,MT,ID. So no I don't think I run north if I get to KY or MO.

Mercedes Benz used to recommend 10 gal. diesel to 1 gal. gasoline.

Mark,
Our safety man gave us information on this subject years ago when I worked for this one big company.
In this article it said mixing gasoline with diesel fuel is a very dangerous mix and very volatile, especially if someone doesn't know they're mixed.
Most people know that diesel fuel is hard to ignite outside an engine but if they don't know gasoline is mixed with it look out.
I wouldn't do it and haven't heard of any one doing it for years.
Most refineries blend their fuel for winter long before you get it. If you don't have that many days to wait then I would wait it out.

Happy Holidays,
John in
Illinois

wouldnt it make more since to just go to a auto parts store and purchase some type of diesel additive and be done with it. i would certainly think so .

I would go get a couple cans of kerosene and blend that in your fuel, and/or an anti- gel fuel additive .

I mix it 20:1.

Allan

Trouble is with newer trucks,especially ones with Detroit engines they return lots of fuel,so after running a while the fuel gets hot.Some have fuel heaters in the fuel line.I dont know how much this helps on gelling,but it does help because if you are running it wont gell nearly as fast as shutting the engine off overnight is when you have trouble.I have been running down the road going into colder weather and my truck would start gelling while I was running,but it was below zero when it happened and I was lucky enough to have additive to pour in every time.Unless it was going to get below 20 below,and I couldnt find any additive,I would not mess with gas.Its dangerous because static electricity can set off the fumes while you are pouring it in,and it cuts the lubricity of the diesel,besides cutting your mileage down.Good additive mixed right is the best,blended in before the fuel gells.That doesnt completely guarantee it wont freeze water in the line or something,but it gives you a whole lot better chance of getting something at least running in the cold.If it gells up its hard to ungell it.If you can get it running it might get better after it warms up.Setting there cold and wont start is hard to do anything with.Blended diesel usually does not get as good of mileage as fuel with a good additive mixed right.Plus besides that you have more power with fuel additive.Gas might work in an emergency,but you wouldnt want to mix any more than you had to,and you probably wouldnt want any alcohol in it because if you had any water in the tank,the alcohol would carry it with the alcohol and could freeze the water in the line some where.I have heard of people using Heet,and even bought some,but never had guts enough to pour it in because it had alcohol in it,and was always able to find the good stuff before I had to use it.Thats about all I know about it.I drove over the road for 15 years and never gelled up to where it quit running,but I always used additive,or kerosene,or number 1,or a few times had to resort to Power Service,gas a couple of times years ago.I always tried not to buy blended fuel because of the mileage,but once you get far enough north its all you can find.Unless its going to get real cold a 8 ounce container of Fppf Fuel Power concentrate would probably treat 240 gallons.Dont know what it sells for now,but its surely not even 10 dollars.I used lots of that stuff with no trouble,but you need to put it in before it gells,otherwise you need Power Service or something that ungells fuel.

If your engine has a fuel lubricated injection pump, I would worry that adding gasoline to the already low lubricity of ULSD would make that situation worse. I would go with an anti gel additive with a lubricity additive like Power Fuels brand.

The ND highway dept puts out a bulitin every winter stating that " the vapor in the top of a gasoline tank is too rich to explode, while the vapor in the top of a diesel fuel tank is too lean to explode, but a gasoline/diesel vapor may be volitile enough so a tiny static electricity spark may ignite it. "

i have mixed it 30 up to 50 to to one depending how cold it is. never had one bit of trouble. my big truck with a 400 cummins and my 82 chevete with a 1.8 deisel. 140thousand miles on the chevete-still runs perfect

Volkswagon recommends 10% gasoline to diesel to prevent gelling at below freezing temperatures. A neighbour of mine used to truck into northern Ontario in the winter and he put 20 gallons of gas in his 200 gallon tank so that's ten percent and he said he never had any problems.

I just need some to do chores with, it will be used in a 4960 JD. I live aways from town, just thought there was more in the barrel. Live and learn. Thanks for all the replies. Think I'll chance it with some gas. Mark

I see you used the word "CHANCE" and many of the replies used the words "USE TO".

I would read between the lines here.

I'm not sure what that means, or what you're alluding to.

I've been using gas in diesel for cold starting for close to 40 years and still DO. Never had a problem - ever. When kerosene was cheap - and legal - I preferred to use it instead of gas. Technically not even legal to use the kerosene anymore since, in my area, it's all dyed.

I wonder sometimes how many of these "safety experts" have even worked on an tractor, or even used one.

GM even recommended it in warm weather when the first 350 (5.7) Olds diesels came out - when someone was in a pinch, was low on fuel, and could not find a diesel station. GM allowed up to a certain percentage of gas to be mixed with diesel - cold or warm outside.

Bad bad bad idea. They will seperate, the diesel being of heavier gravity will sink to the bottom, and the gasoline will end up on the top. After the diesel is run through, will be pure gasoline being fed. I can prove it from personal experience. When was in the Army living up on some mountain top in Germany with a bunch of other guys in a GP Medium tent, in the winter, we used pot-bellied stoves that burned diesel. The manuals very clearly said never thin the diesel with gasoline, only use denatured alcohol. We didn't have any denatured alcohol up on that mountain to thin that diesel that was thick as mud, but the jeeps sure had gasoline, so guess what we did. Yep, cut the diesel with gasoline and it worked for awhile until they seperated, the diesel ending up at the bottom being burned first. As they seperated the diesel became thicker and someone(s) kept adjusting the burner to keep the fire burning. We all crawled into out sleeping bags on our cots and went to sleep for the night, only to be awakened later by the pot-belly burning out of control and overflowing after the much thinner gasoline hit the burner. That tent burned down to the ground with some twenty sleeping bags, cots, and everything else while we scrambled out of there for our lives. The batallion commander, a colonel was so ticked off at us that he left us up on that mountain living in heated communications shelters for a week with no coats, nothing except the clothes on our backs...because we should've known better.

You have my personal guarantee that mixing gasoline with diesel to cut or thin it is a very lousy idea.

Mark

Operator's manual for the Yanmar diesel in the NH skidsteer had a gasoline to #2 diesel mixing chart. They allowed 30% at -40F and colder. If memory serves 10% gasoline/90% #2 diesel was ok for 20F down to 0F.
Now that was a simple diesel engine with a mechanical injection pump. I think it had glowplugs.
Never tired mixing gasoline with the diesel however with that yanmar. #1 diesel up here has a high ratio of kerosene in it.