Amidst a tiring and stressful
trip hauling your fifth wheel, you stop into a
gas station to fill-up with diesel. You look for
the green diesel pump and start your fill-up.
Unfortunately this gas station has gas and diesel
on the same pump and there pump handles are all
green. You grabbed the green handle thinking it
was diesel when in fact it was gasoline.
You get back in the truck and proceed on your
trip. After less than a mile you hear strange
noises coming from the engine. Gasoline has entered
the engine. Now what?
Unfortunately the above scenario is not far and
few between. Gas stations do not always adhere
to the "green is diesel" color coding
and it is fairly easy to pump gasoline into your
diesel truck.
Once gasoline enters a diesel engine, the diesel
engine will need to be over hauled with a fuel
contamination kit by the dealer. The dealer will
apply a step-by-step process whereby all the parts
in the engine that would have been affected by
the gasoline are replaced. Approximate price to
install the kit is between $8,000 and $10,000
and takes about 4-5 days. That includes the kit
price and labor, of which the labor will be the
higher amount.
Things
to Know
One thing to know about this type of unfortunate
incident is that it may be covered by your insurance.
The key words for your insurance company are "Accidental
Fuel Contamination". Make sure you use those
words in all dealings with the insurance company.
You will probably have to pay a deductable but
will not have to fit the bill for the rest of
the amount. Not many people realize that insurance
may cover this so do not think to ask or put in
a claim.
When getting ready to pump diesel into your truck,
come up with some standard procedure that might
help eliminate a mistake. Never go by the color
of the pump handle. Always make sure you look
for the word "diesel" on the pump handle
you are going to be using. It is very easy to
get into a routine where green means diesel and
then we don't look any further than that. In different
states green does not always mean diesel and diesel
pump handles can be green, yellow, orange or any
other color and many gas stations have green gasoline
pump handles as well as green diesel pump handles.
If you accidentally pump gasoline and do not start
the truck before realizing what happened, it may
be possible to drain the fuel tank before any
damage is done. Either way, hold onto your wallet.
it's gonna hurt.
