is this a good idea

[ADV]

My dad ran his truck out of fuel in my driveway. 1992 f250 na idi. He took the air cleaner assembly off and had me crank it over as he pored about 1/4-1/2 gallon of diesel fuel in the intake.

It did start but I never heard of anyone doing this befor.

Good idea? Bad idea? If its a bad idea what could happen?

 

[79jasper]

Bad idea.
Could cause hydro-lock and bend a rod, Crack the head, blow a cylinder wall, blow the gasket, etc.
Plenty can happen.
Maybe mist it in with a spray bottle.

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[tbiagent69]

1/4-1/2 gallon? ********!

I've done it with a gasser before, that's a pretty dangerous game with a diesel though

 

[madpogue]

Bad idea, but then, so is running the tank that low and not switching tanks (not to mention idling it in the driveway in June)......

 

[theguruat12]

As above, I have also done it with a gasser (nowhere NEAR 1/4 gallon though). I'd go with very bad idea.

 

[icanfixall]

Well I'm hoping you posted the wrong amount of diel that was poured into the open intake. That much would have bent a rod or blew up the engine. These idi engines compress about 4 1/8 inch stroke into an area thats about 42 thousands deep. Thats the distance from the piston top to the head. We do have a little more room in the valve pockets and the precups but not much. Fluids will not compress like a gas air will. Compressing this much air as fast as we do creates the heat for ignition of the diesel. Hope this helps you understand why fluids down the intake is never a good idea. Now there is another reason fuel being added directly to the intake is a bad idea. You have no way to regulate the rpm and the governor is not going to slow the rpms when the engine over revs from free fuel going into it. The diesel is controlled by the amount of fuel going to it thru the injection pump. We have all the air going to the engine no matter what the injection pump is doing. In fact we don't need an intake for the idi to run. It can suck air from the heads and the diesel is injected into the precups where it ignites from heat. I kind of went deep into this but its for everyone to learn from. We don't want members learning what happens when things go bad..

 

[Brad S.]

After you guys poured the fuel, did you leave it sit for any amount of time or cranked it right after???

 

[ADV]

I knew that looked lie a bad idea. But he is my dad and he know best..... But he is also good for glow plugs and starting fluid together.

Here is how it was that day.

His front fuel gauge did not work so he was ruining the front tank down so he could pull the tank and fix the gauge. (To hard to pump out tank even tho we have about 3 different pumps to do that with. what ever its his truck he can do what he wants. ) He was at my house he started his truck it ran for a min and died. he cranked on it for a while so I grabbed a gallon jug of diesel I keep in my truck in case of road side fuel filter change and a strap wrench. I was going to take off his filter and fill it up. but he said just get in and crank it over then he dumped almost half the jug down the intake. When it started it kinda just took off. I was picturing run away diesel videos on you-tube at this time but it settled down and nothing bad happened.

It looked like a bad idea and its something I would not do to my truck.

Thanks for the information everyone

 

[FordGuy100]

If that much diesel truly went into it, the engine is *****'ed. No ifs ands or buts.

 

[79jasper]

Has to be.
There's just nowhere for all that to go.

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[FordGuy100]

Honestly though, I dont think the starter would even turn the engine over with that much liquid in the cylinders. Maybe he filled the filter and put a small amount down the intake. Besides, if he really put a half gallon in the intake, it would be darn near full of diesel!

Time to do a compression test and see how bad it is. Worst case, you constantly remind him to never put a liquid into the intake of a diesel while your swapping another engine in...

 

[4x4manonbroke]

I use Marine Fogging oil with my IDI if ever needed ... its flamable and lubricating too ...

My Experience with this fogging oil goes way back to my racing days ... after running Nitro in a 632 BBC you have to fog the engine or it will and can pit the cylinders ..

I got a can for a buddy with a 6.9 flat bed tow truck .. he said , Nothing works this good .. does smoke a bit , but works awesome ...


If you spinning the engine over, you can get away with pouring a small amount of fuel in at a time ... but "DUMPING" would Lock the engine for sure ... you couldnt even have enough blow bye to get that much into the crank case ....

Do a saturation test on your dads oil ... take a clean piece of card board .. pull dip stick and put a few drops of oil ion the CB .. the oil will spread but the Fuel will present a HALO around the oil very quickly ( hold CB still and level while doin all this ) ... if you have more than a 1" halo... Drop the oul or you chance Wiping out bearings and cooler ...

 

[madpogue]

His front fuel gauge did not work so he was ruining the front tank down so he could pull the tank and fix the gauge.

(You meant "running", right?) That's the one time that it makes sense to run a tank dry; I've done it twice, intentionally, to repair rusted tanks. But the _right_ way to do it is to make sure you have at least 1/2 tank of fuel in the other tank, and then DRIVE it (don't just run it in the driveway) on the tank you're looking to run dry, and then as SOON as it starts to sputter, SWITCH TANKS. If you catch it in time, you'll have the one tank about as dry as you can hope to get, and you'll still be running.

 

[ADV]

His truck still runs fine. I was cranking it over as he pored it in the intake. He never filled the filter.

I am interested in seeing if he has fuel in the oil now.

 

[ADV]

My gallon jug of diesel was almost full when I handed it to him and now its about half left. So it was at least 1/4 gallon.