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diesel fuel in Prius

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by drlarkin, Apr 23, 2008.

  1. drlarkin

    drlarkin New Member

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    Reciently I mindlessly added 8 gallons of diesel my 2001 Prius which has just over 60K on the odometer. I immediately drove to the local dealer which was less than 2 miles away. The car operated normally. The dealer said they would siphon the tank, drop it and remove all the fuel. They would also purge the fuel line. When the mechanic test drove it after adding 5 gallons of mid grade fuel, the car drove normally at first and then sputtered and cut out. They could not start it again. I was told that I had driven it on the HV battery too long and had drained it. It probably could not be recharged and I would need a new HV battery and probably a catalitic converter. The price I was quoted for the battery was 5K to 7K and because I drove it on the HV battery I voided the warranty. The price quoted seems excessive. I think the mechanic ruined the battery when he attempted to re-start it. Does anyone have any experiences with diesel to gas problems with a Prius. I understand I have the option of replacing some of the battery cells.
    Thanks, dlarkin
     
  2. Flying White Dutchman

    Flying White Dutchman Senior Member

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    i think you do not need to replace the Hv bat.
    go to a different toyota dealer!
     
  3. Submarine Dude

    Submarine Dude Junior Member

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  4. mingoglia

    mingoglia Member

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    Definitely has some potential signs of being a troll. The single post combined with the fact that someone would have to be pretty unlucky to be able to put diesel in their Prius as I haven't come across a diesel pump for as long as I remember that is small enough to fit into the filler neck. Yeah, gas in a diesel tank, but diesel in a gas tank is much much harder.

    Mike
     
  5. Sheepdog

    Sheepdog C'Mere Sheepie!

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    Dr Larkin is certainly *not* a troll!

    Maybe an attempt at trolling?:second:
     
  6. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

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    Around here the diesel pumps have a larger nozzle, so they won't even fit into a narrow neck unleaded gasoline car

    What happens here is somebody by mistake will pump regular unleaded into a turbodiesel pickup. Now *that* is an expensive mistake
     
  7. HardCase

    HardCase SilverPineMica, the green one

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    Perhaps a member from North Carolina could comment. Where I live it would be pretty tough to put 8 gallons of diesel (at least at a typical filling station......from a private supply or from cans it might be possible, but the likelihood of that happening is remote) into a Prius. The nozzle is too large to fit into the Prius, not to mention that they are green, not red, tend to be filthy, and stink to high heaven. As others have mentioned, I've seen the opposite happen more than once, a person fill a diesel vehicle with regular gas. And an acquaintance of mine recently filled his motorcycle with diesel which ended up costing him about $500 to fix, so people do make mistakes.
     
  8. usbseawolf2000

    usbseawolf2000 HSD PhD

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    He has 01 Prius. Does it also had small nozzle hole?
     
  9. Scummer

    Scummer Eh?

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    Yep. Every car I've driven so far (96 Probe, 98 Contour, 01 Odyssey and 08 Prius all of them had a small enough receptor, which you would not be able to stick a Diesel nozzle in. Sometimes size does matter.
     
  10. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    Could this relocate to the Technical forum?

    So did the engine stop and/or not stop and you got a check engine light? What error indicators?

    You drove it off the lot or was this just driving around the dealership? Did the engine actually start and run?

    This sounds a bit suspicious _IF_ the engine started and ran. Were you part of this exercise?

    Sounds like a lawyer question.

    Past attempts to make a 'diesel Prius' resulted in fatal engine damage . . . bent rods and terrible engine problems. Other than sympathy, there wasn't a whole lot we could do. The problem is diesel doesn't like to 'evaporate' so it tends to collect as an incompressible fluid and 'bad things' (tm) happen.

    The traction battery options are a different issue. The last Toyota replacement was closer to $4k with $2.3k for the battery assembly alone. The other options are to find a salvage battery pack, ~$1k.

    I'm doing some work with traction battery refurbishment but this is a work in progress and VERY experimental. Unless you feel comfortable doing the work yourself, I do not recommend this approach for non-technical folks. One user in Germany had a year's success but another user in Florida is discovering that with a weak traction battery pack, one module fails . . . and in a couple of months . . . another one fails . . . there are 38 modules. Did I mention it is VERY experimental!

    Bob Wilson
     
  11. buckiebo

    buckiebo New Member

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    I am in NC and I also have diesel powered machines and an oldie but goodie diesel Volvo.

    It is impossible to put a diesel nozzle into a gas powered vehicle made since I guess the mid-80's:confused: maybe earlier. It will not fit...PERIOD.

    Also, most of the diesel pumps around here and all over NC for that matter are separate from the gasoline pumps. In other words when you pull up to the pump, you have a choice of 3 grades of gasoline...just like most other places! The diesel pumps are 9 times out of 10 in another part of the station.

    I cannot even remember the last time I pulled up to a pump that had all 3 grades of gas AND diesel. I am sure they are out there but, they are few and far between.

    Regardless, if it doesn't fit...you must acquit! It will not fit!:)
     
  12. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

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    Ok I checked both my FJ and Prius the fuel fill neck are the same size. I do know for a fact the '84 Ford at my hobby farm has a large fill neck, but that is because the truck was made in Canada, for the Canadian market. It was meant to run on leaded gas

    On the way to Safeway, I stopped by a cardlock truck fuel station. It's physically impossible to stick the diesel nozzle into the Prius

    Of course, it's always possible for a tanker truck to put diesel into the unleaded tank by mistake. That recently happened in NM
     
  13. SparrowHawk60

    SparrowHawk60 Happy to be green!

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    Me thinks me smells a troll.... :eek:

    Can't be done, besides wouldn't there be enough "gas" left in the lines before the diesel kicked in to run the car the two miles to the dealer? :bored:
     
  14. alanh

    alanh Active Member

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    The narrow filler necks have been mandated by law in the US since 1975, to prevent leaded fuel (which used the bigger nozzles) from being loaded into vehicles designed for unleaded only. This has the side effect of also preventing diesel nozzles (which are about the same size as the leaded nozzles) from being inserted, either.

    The only times I've heard of people getting diesel by mistake are the distribution goofs, like the one mentioned above. There was a case some years back here where stations got a delivery of jet fuel by mistake.

    I can't see how you could possibly get diesel in if the station has the right nozzles.
     
  15. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

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    As far as a distribution mixup, diesel fuel or jet fuel accidently pumped into a gasoline fuel tank usually will not cause catastrophic damage. The motor will run roughly then quit, and you will have to drain out the gas tank

    A mixup where gasoline is put into diesel tanks usually *does* cause catastrophic failure. If you really want to see something exciting, watch what happens if a person operating a backhoe hits a natural gas line. They try to shut off the backhoe motor, but once it snorts a bit of the natural gas, it screams out of control until the motor goes
     
  16. Devil's Advocate

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    This is either:
    1. A trol
    2. A Dr. you should avoid
    or
    3. The shiftiest Toyota Dealership ever

    Diesel in the tank isn't an issue, drain refill with gas, flush the lines if you want, but all should work as normal afterword. Plugs may need to be replaced. It's not as big a deal as putting gas in a diesel, which lets you know how bad it s real fast.

    The interesting (and Troll like) question is why is the HV Battery involved at all!!!! He said it drove normally to the dealrship, then died, so how did he drive "too long" on the HV battery? I don't see diesel causing a stall after its been siphoned out and flushed. (maybe fouled plugs?)

    As for replacing the battery, I've drained mine once to the point where the car stopped. period. There was no apparent efect on the HV Battery.
     
  17. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    That's when it's nice to have something at hand to put over the air intake; a wet towel comes to mind (is it legal to waterboard a diesel?).

    Tom
     
  18. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

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    Tom

    Sorry, it's considered illegal and a war crime to waterboard a diesel motor. Unless the towel is only "damp" not completely soaked, and Vivaldi is playing in the background

    Though seriously, a lot of folks don't realize that when you shut off a diesel motor, you are shutting off the fuel supply. The "throttle" so to speak is wide open, there is no throttle plate

    When a diesel engine accidently ingests natural gas - the broken line example - just the residual fuel still in the motor, and the oil on the cylinder walls, is enough to allow the motor to scream out of control.

    Puzzle me this - "Call Before You Dig" has been around for a long time, and is free. Not too many folks actually do though

    j
     
  19. Spectra

    Spectra Amphi-Prius

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  20. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    "Well St. Peter, I did and three gobblers came up and I got :laser: one. It's in the trunk. But then I had to dig this hole and suddenly the engine blew up and my cigarette exploded . . .:angel:"


    :attention: