So a local grocery with gas pumps accidentally put diesel in one of the regular pumps. The news said it was about an hour before they figured out the error and several people had filled up. I'm guessing the error was discovered due to disabled cars stacking up outside the filling area.

How far would you get with diesel in a regular engine??

Well having grown up in a farm and operated tractors etc, I would think the smell should have told them something was up- I doubt I would have filled up all the way before noticing- I know most may not have smelled diesel fuel -

You can drive a car a long way on diesel before it gets upset.

With all the evap controls on fuel systems and pumps, there is not a whole lot of vapors that come out. Not like it used to be where everything would smell like gas after you filled up.

Zach

I know older cars would just keep going 1977 Mercury couger albit they ran like crap and smoked and even with only putting a few gallons in to get home and realising what I had done in just a few miles and stop lights filled the tank with gas a few hours later ,,no matter the car still ran crappy for a very long time after that and always smelled funny no idea what the new injection cars would do i cant amagine it would be good hahaha somebody has a bill coming

If you filled up an empty tank you're screwed but if you mix it with normal gas, you should be fine.

The car will run like crap though ...

And smoke a lot

If the tank is almost empty (like my 1995 Nissan Primera was when my wife accidentally filled it with diesel ) it went about 10 feet before it died.

My wife said she was doing me a favor by putting gas in my car...after that incident I ask her not to do me any more FAVORS.

The opposite is much worse. Gas into a diesel motor is pretty much a complete rebuild and R&R of the fuel tank forward. Happens about once a year to the ambulance companies. Brand new baby EMT's putting gas in the diesel tanks...

A good friend of mine filled up his 73 911 with a 3.2 with diesel. I was following him when he hit the interstate doing about 70. The smokescreen was impressive and I thought he might have blown his engine, but there was no oil on the tarmac. Pulling along side as he was hitting 75 I signaled him to pull over. He then saw the smoke and said the engine was running rather lumpy. After purchasing 6 5 gal gas cans (3 filled with premium gas) we used the fuel pump, while sitting on the side of the interstate, to pump out all the diesel. We then filled it with gas and off he went, no harm, no foul. The car ran great and never had an issue to this day. I bought him a ' Diesel Only' sticker for the inside of his filler lid which he still sports. Of course he suffers endless ribbing.

In Holland we have a different size nozzle for diesel and for normal gasoline at the gasstation.
That way the diesel cars cannot tank the normal fuel to prevent a lot of problems, but the other way around is possible. It happens a lot and (sorry ladies) mostly by women.
According to the stats it happens to about 80-100 people a day and to about 25.000 persons in our country every year (on a population of total 17 million, around 10 million people have a drivers license )

In case it happens that you tanked wrong, it depends on the car and age how far you get. My neighbour had this last month and she came to a stop within 1 mile.

You see privates do that all the time in the Army too. It's extra sad because the gas is only really for lawn mowers and is stored in different cans...

My buddy "managed" a fuel point during one summer training assignment, and he "managed" to put diesel in one of the few deuce-and-half's back then that still ran on Mogas. Blew a big cloud of smoke, and the crew of the truck had to drain the fuel tank, put in Mogas, and spend the next half hour running up and down the street trying to clean out the engine. We still give him crap about it. Then, in a nice twist of fate, last summer we visited Normandy, France together, and he managed to put gas in his diesel rental car. Car died on the side of the road after a few miles, and a mechanic came along and successfully swapped out the fuel.

In the Army they teach you: you need to be smarter than your equipment

Distracted and usually in a diesel Mercedes, I once put diesel in my Harley. I made it about 500 yards onto I-75. Very embarrassing conversation with the Harley dealership the next day when they diagnosed the problem.

You don't want to put gasoline in a VW TDI. The high pressure fuel pump uses the diesel as a lubricant; dropping gas in there causes all kinds of nasty spalling and small bits and pieces of metal to go through the fuel system, reportedly almost immediately. You bring it to the dealer, they stick the tank to get a sample to check for gas, and then present you with an $8k+ repair estimate (and then you reply, "I want VW to buy it back now...")

There have been cases of light twin aircraft being fueled with Jet-A (dry kerosene/diesel) instead of AvGas, and fragging engines on takeoff. Many have resulted in fatal accidents.

Edit: NTSB Safety Recommendation. http://www.ntsb.gov/safety/safety-recs/rec...ers/A86_135.pdf

Edit 2:

http://www.planeandpilotmag.com/article/ti...n-in-your-tank/