Petrol in the Diesel Tank. Does it really kill the Diesel Bug?

Bertramdriver

Bertramdriver

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I will shortly be embarking on a tank cleaning / fuel polishing exercise. And boy do my tanks need it. The 15% olive oil now added to fuel in Greece has multiplied the bug problem big time.
A more experienced man than I suggested putting a couple of litres of petrol in the tanks to kill the bug before I start cleaning. I know that the bugs do not like petrol so it seems logical to kill off the infection before I start, but I'm worried about the effect on my two stroke Detroit Diesels of petrol altering the nature of the diesel. Will they be OK?
Tanks are around 650 litres each and are half full.
 
Bertramdriver said:
........., but I'm worried about the effect on my two stroke Detroit Diesels of petrol altering the nature of the diesel..
Click to expand...

These lumps will run on virtually anything combustible ... A1, Petrol, Olive Oil, Vodka, Ouzo, Tsipouro etc....and diesel .. :) ..... but petrol will erode some of the seals in the engine, so if you are running them purely on petrol, you will face a fair bit of surgery afterwards... however, as you are not planning to do that, I don not think a couple of litres amongst 1,300 will affect the engines in any way..... nor do I really think it will help ...

The "bugs" does not live in the diesel ... they thrive in a water layer underneath the diesel... get rid of the water (petrol wont' do that) and then you can get rid of the dead bugs...
 
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petrol is just thin diesel. Bugs don't multiply quite so well, but at the dilution rates you are suggesting, it will have no effect.

Use the proven bug-killing additives.


Oh, and bugs can live in the main body of the fuel; when they die they generally agglomerate into the diesel/water interface as their density is between the two.

Aircraft have a particular problem with bugs in jet fuel, hence the very stringent checking and data recording before it gets pumped into their tanks.
 
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bcs petrol is lighter (0.745) than diesel (0.832), when you pour petrol into a tank of diesel it disperses and mixes itself almost without you noticing. Add a bit of movement from the waves and voila, total miscibility.
 
Trundlebug said:
Er, no.
Click to expand...

the reason i did'nt think they mixed,Is because i once put petrol in the works transit which after a mile or two coughed and splutted until it stop'd and had to be recovered back to the depot.I drained off the petrol and manged to restart with diesel that was left in the tank.drove to petrol station and refilled with fresh fuel.
i even put the petrol through the grass cut that i removed from the tank.
 
in the military aviation world a form of ether is added to the kerosene type fuel to prevent water that may be carried in the fuel freezing. The Ether also kills bugs that may be present, I can see that somebody may have stretched this fact to suggest petrol may have similar properties however, the ether is miscible with water whereas I don't think petrol is....
 
Reminds me when Dun Laoghaire filled my stbd tank with 800l of petrol :ambivalence:
It took a couple of hours to pump most of it out. We diluted the rest with a full tank of diesel and went on our merry way.
 
I work as a fuel contamination tech . petrol in diesel is bad news . there is a new product on the market called aqiasolve . its designed to deal with water in diesel and kills diesel bug . at this time its only available via the aquasolve web site . or via AA fuel assist . have seen the results its good stuff .
 
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