Wife put gas in my Diesel truck...

srt20

Active member
And of course, she is 3 hours away from home.

Fun Saturday for me, drop the kids off at our friends house. Her husband goes with me for a road trip to drain the tank on my 2005 Dodge Cummins.

My wife works a block of shifts at a hospital 3 hrs away every few weeks or so in Eau Claire. She pulls into a gas station, that happens to have a heavy police presence across the street at a kind of crummy looking motel.

So she's watching at whats going on across the street and just grabs the fuel pump handle and starts fueling. Truck was almost out of diesel, fuel light had been on for 30 miles. At around 20 gallons, she realizes that she's pumping gas instead of diesel.

She calls me immediately, and of course she's crying. I ask her if she started it, and she says no. Ok good. I tell her don't start it, and it will have to get towed and drained. She said theres an auto shop next door to the gas station. Awesome. She goes over there and talks to them. They can't do it until Monday, which is understandable its Saturday, and its going to cost a minimum of $300. I think $300 is pretty reasonable, but I don't like the "minimum" part. I have her start the truck and as quickly as possible, park it away from the pumps. She does this while Im on phone with her, it takes no longer than 15 seconds.

Screw it, Im going go up there and do it myself. My bud goes with me. We take a bunch of tools, a bunch of empty gas cans, and set off. We stop at a store on the way and grab some cheap 1/2" diameter clear vinyl hose, 2 quarts of cheap 2 stroke oil, and a new fuel filter.

We get up there, remove fuel filter from canister, which smelled like gas btw, and replaced lid. I remove the factory drain line from the fuel filter canister, and put the 6ft vinyl hose on the drain. Luckily, the 1/2" house fit perfectly, so that was a good guess.

Ran that hose to a gas can, opened drain valve, and turned the key on. Fuel pump kicked on and started sending the gas into the gas can. We make a half way attempt to run power directly to the fuel pump via the fusebox under hood. It didn't work easily, and switching the key on and off was working very well. So we just forgot that idea. Although, switching the key on and off was also kicking on the grid heater as well. So I was draining the batteries very quickly. But we did bring jumper cables, so we hooked up to the other truck and continued. I did find out, if you leave the key on, and just click the starter, the fuel pump will cycle on again, but the grid heater stays off. So I started doing that way.

Anyway, about an hour to drain the tank. Put new fuel filter in. We brought a couple diesel cans along. Put 10 gallons of diesel back into the truck, along with the 2 quarts of 2 stroke oil and started it up and drove it back to the pumps and filled it as full as I could get it. Went for a 10 mile ride and all was good. Dropped it off at her work, and drove another 3 hours back home.

Temp was 25* F, so it wasn't too cold out.


Oh BTW, the reason for the heavy police presence was because somebody did an armed robbery at that gas station and ran across the street where a officer shot and killed that person. The TV channels were setting up shop in the same parking lot that we were draining the gas. Maybe they got some video of us....haha


Sorry for the book, but I thought somebody on here might find it interesting.
 

dfattack

Well-known member
just bought my first diesel and have been hoping I don't get distracted and do the same thing. Your wife have to wait for you to get there or she get a ride to her destination?
 
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eagle1

Well-known member
I'd just be happy she realized it!!!!!!
Bigger issue is.....why are you letting her drive YOUR truck......with an empty tank no less!!!!!!!:dispirited: Lol
That'll be 25 points off your man card!!:biggrin: lmao
 

frnash

Active member
Holy sheet! At least she wasn't there for the armed robbery at that gas station!
It sounds like you may have saved the day! I hope that works out OK.
 

srt20

Active member
I'd just be happy she realized it!!!!!!
Bigger issue is.....why are you letting her drive YOUR truck......with an empty tank no less!!!!!!!:dispirited: Lol
That'll be 25 points off your man card!!:biggrin: lmao

I refuse to let her drive our "family car" to work. It has no scratches, or door dings in it yet. And she is hard on vehicles. I don't care if my truck gets dinged. Its old.
 

02Bracing

New member
Glad you were able to get it cleaned out and back going again. Live 10 minutes from that Kwik Trip, funny thing is I used to live in Juneau and took care of the HVAC at Watertown schools.
 

srt20

Active member
Glad you were able to get it cleaned out and back going again. Live 10 minutes from that Kwik Trip, funny thing is I used to live in Juneau and took care of the HVAC at Watertown schools.

lol small world. My bud that went with me, and his wife that took my kids live in Juneau.
 

gary_in_neenah

Super Moderator
Staff member
Boy, that's a call that I don't want to get from the wife or daughter. Mine has a habit of knocking the rearview mirror off when backing out of the garage and that's bad enough.

Glad you got things running again.
 

srt20

Active member
Glad you were able to get it cleaned out and back going again. Live 10 minutes from that Kwik Trip, funny thing is I used to live in Juneau and took care of the HVAC at Watertown schools.


Oh and speaking of having good luck in Eau Claire, my wife had her wedding ring stolen from the hotel, the Hampton, a few weeks ago. The housekeeper took it. Tried to pawn it. The pawn shop called the police because in his words "I knew it wasn't hers, because she wasn't the type of person that could afford a ring like that."
Cop came and busted her in the pawn store parking lot after she threw the ring in a snow bank. Cop watched her throw it and kept his eye on it and retrieved it.

Felony theft, up to 18 months prison. I guess it was in the local paper up there recently.
 

Modman440

New member
Your very lucky she realized her mistake!!!! My boss made this same mistake except he drove it till it started running funny and then till it shut off had to drain everything replace filter had to crank her over a million times it was a nightmare.!!!! Glad it all worked out for you!!

MOD
 

harski

Member
Bought my first diesel just over a year ago and this has been one of my biggest fears. Every time I pull in a gas station I keep reminding myself "diesel, diesel, diesel".... Going good so far! Glad things worked out for you given the distance.

Harski
 
T

Tracker

Guest
SRT20...I got some tips for you....the wifes truck.....no diesel...GAS ONLY....and no locking hubs....AUTO AWD AND 4X4.....no problemos...ever...can you say LINCOLN NAVIGATOR....drive it in a river honey if you so desireth....thru the field....yes honey...point and shoot just like the sled you let me have...LOL...can you say PREMIUM ONLY honey????? a womans mind does 50,000 more calculations than ours in one hour and yer not sure HOW she messed up with action going on around her...simplify my man....PREIUM ONLY HONEY and then DRIVE....its all good.....LMAO
 
Our first cold weather trip with the diesel i thought the fuel was jelling i think it was -20. Couldn't change the fuel filter because everything was closed. Talked to my buddy's dad who drives truck for a living. He said diesels are tough. First he told me to put a few gallons of kerosene in. Then he told me to put a few gallons of gas in to un-jell the fuel. Neither worked because it wasn't the fuel it was a clogged fuel filter. Finally at 1:00 am i took the fuel filter out and cut a hole in it. We got to our hotel at 3:00. No problems.
 

rtrypwr

New member
haha we don't even live there.

That area of town specifically the hotel where the suspect was shot has gotten bad in the past 5 years. There was another old hotel they shut down a few years ago that was rampant for crime and it seems this hotel has taken over. The Hampton's quality has gone down as well. If she has a choice of places to stay there are a couple of new hotels off 53 North (Staybridge and Fairfield) A bit further to drive but much nicer!.

The restaurant next door is great for home cooked meals though!!

Glad it all worked out, quite the story. BTW the local news hadn't even reported that the suspect had committed the robbery, only that they had a gun.
 
T

Tracker

Guest
Our first cold weather trip with the diesel i thought the fuel was jelling i think it was -20. Couldn't change the fuel filter because everything was closed. Talked to my buddy's dad who drives truck for a living. He said diesels are tough. First he told me to put a few gallons of kerosene in. Then he told me to put a few gallons of gas in to un-jell the fuel. Neither worked because it wasn't the fuel it was a clogged fuel filter. Finally at 1:00 am i took the fuel filter out and cut a hole in it. We got to our hotel at 3:00. No problems.

yes that certainly is on the EASY side of things....whilst you was doing that...we gassed the truck with gas....turned the key....and was 150 miles north BEFORE you got that hole cut...and that was easy peasy too eh?....you guys slay me on the working on them and the jacking around for endless hours and then say....easy and no problemos......ROTFLMAO...sounds easy too flatlander LOL
 
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