Reluctant crook…

[stranded]

Wife arrived with car low in diesel today.

She felt awful because it had been beeping at her that it was out of fuel since early Paignton. What to do? Well hand keys over to me and go whooo whooo whhho woo, obviously.

Its m a very steep hill out of Kingswear, so hard to judge how much fuel it would need. I’ve got 20 litres of diesel in a can in the boat boot. Setting aside moral and legal objections (and wise cracks whether the car is diesel), can I use that in my car?

 

[Sandy]

You use white diesel in the boat?

Thankfully, I do so can use it in the car at the end of the season.

It is quite a nice walk from Kingswear to Brixham with an empty jerry. The fish and chips at Rockfish are brilliant and there is that lovely coffee shop The Chart Room just off the High Street.

 

[KevinV]

It'll burn just the same so it's just a matter of morals and criminality. Only you can judge whether you'd be happier just driving your car to the petrol station to buy a can of white for her.

I personally wouldn't have a problem putting a gallon of red in to prevent a lady ending up broken down by the side of the road. The chances of any comeback are miniscule.

 

[benjenbav]

Taxi to fuel station. Buy container. Fill with (white) diesel. Taxi back.

 

[TiggerToo]

It's a slippery slope.
It starts with a few drops of red...

 

[Ribtecer]

I buy white for the boat in car fuel stations in a spotlessly clean 25 litre cans - no problems with the boat.

One year I had some left over, put it in my car. Car went in to limp mode almost immediately, I drove to a fuel station to dilute it with fresh diesel.

It wasn't right for two further tanks.

Don't know why.

 

[steveeasy]

red diesel is fine to use in a car in an emergency.
Steveeasy

 

[johnalison]

Assuming that you use red diesel in the boat, I think that there is likely to be no legal way of using this in the car, since this is not what I would call an emergency. Setting aside legal matters, it could be argued that the moral answer would be to put the red diesel in the car and later the same quantity of white diesel in the boat, but this is opinion and not advice.

 

[Dellquay13]

How dilute does the red diesel have to be to not permanently stain the fuel lines, filter housings, lift pump etc?
I have some old ex army Jerry cans, and any white diesel that I put in them still ends up tinged pink after a few days, and I bought them from the proper army surplus stores about 25 years ago.
Maybe it was a different red marker that the MOD used?

 

[benjenbav]

One thing that grinds my gears is any suggestion of committing tax evasion because one’s ‘unlikely to get caught’.

I don’t think that’s what anyone is suggesting on this thread but it’s something that comes up time and again on this forum.

So, again, to the OP: just go and buy some white diesel.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

You use white diesel in the boat?

Thankfully, I do so can use it in the car at the end of the season.

It is quite a nice walk from Kingswear to Brixham with an empty jerry. The fish and chips at Rockfish are brilliant and there is that lovely coffee shop The Chart Room just off the High Street.

A nice walk with the empty jerry can. You’ll need a visit to the pub to dull the pain of carrying a full one

 

[Sandy]

If you do drop a bit of red in the car I'd miss the Devon County Show for a year or two. Spotted quite a few teams 'from the ministry' dipping fuel tanks there.

 

[dunedin]

red diesel is fine to use in a car in an emergency.
Steveeasy

No because it will leave a near permanent trace in the fuel system

 

[NormanS]

"They" will fine you a large amount, charge you the duty which "They" say that you have evaded, and if "They" are having a bad hair day, "They" may confiscate the vehicle. "They" have no sense of humour.
Once many years ago, when my fuel was being checked, I said, "Go ahead, as long as you put back the amount that you take out". Met with stoney face.

 

[steveeasy]

Whatever. Personally if I was faced with a assumed 5 mile trek to get 5 litres of Diesel and then walk back, I know what I’d do. In my defence I find long walks quite challenging.
If you really do take the moral route , then simply use this. Your get a ride in minuets. I’ve gone on a fuel run and successfully hitched a ride.

Steveeasy

 

[ProDave]

Interesting thread.

I have a 20L diesel Jerry can that had preciously been used for red diesel, quite legally to fuel a digger while building my house. It was also used with white diesel for same, it was not always convenient to make the detour to the one place I could buy red.

That jerry can sat empty for a while but I half filled it with white last year to feed my diesel heater (on a petrol boat)

I was considering putting the left over from that in my car to save it going stale. so the 6 million dollar question, would the TINY trace of red left in that can land me in trouble if my tank was dipped?

 

[Aja]

Wife arrived with car low in diesel today.

She felt awful because it had been beeping at her that it was out of fuel since early Paignton. What to do? Well hand keys over to me and go whooo whooo whhho woo, obviously.

Its m a very steep hill out of Kingswear, so hard to judge how much fuel it would need. I’ve got 20 litres of diesel in a can in the boat boot. Setting aside moral and legal objections (and wise cracks whether the car is diesel), can I use that in my car?

The question doesn't arise if the boat is taken out of the equation.
In a similar situation if you were parked elsewhere you wouldn't have the thought process about using red, you would just go to the filling station and fill up.

 

[penberth3]

red diesel is fine to use in a car in an emergency.
Steveeasy

It's not fine to use, it's illegal. The law doesn't say anything about "emergencies".

 

[dunedin]

It's not fine to use, it's illegal. The law doesn't say anything about "emergencies".

And deciding not to stop at a fuel station and therefore bing low in fuel when safely parked at home - is far from an “emergency”.
There might be other words that apply, but best not.

 

[stranded]

Thanks Stevee..