Morris Minor Owners Club

Well that got your attention!

As you may have read I accidentally filled my MGB up with diesel last week.

I thought it was my imagination, but after a drive this evening I'm sure it's running better than it did before, smoother and faster ( ask the BMW driver I just passed on the bypass!).

I noticed that the diesel had cleaned the inside of the float chambers on the carbs. Do you think it has worked like a big dose of redex and degummed the rings or cleaned the combustion chambers? I don't know what else it could be perhaps the valves were a bit sticky before and its cleared that.

Any other suggestions?

As I said on your other post Rog - It's good for the engine. Just not too much and not too often. A half gallon a year should be fine. My Gramps used to do this regularly on his Morris Eight to save having to keep taking the head off every 30,ooo miles.....

omg now everyone is going to put deisel in their engines

i am doing mine tom

Dennis - surely with all the 'new old stock' parts fitted it won't need a decoke?

Rich, Is this true for modern petrol engines aswell, or does it just work for the old ones? (I've no idea what goes on under the bonnet of a modern car )

oh so kind thats the body, need to work on the engine though

Andy - no way would I recommend it on modern cars (fuel injection / ecu's etc) as I would not know how each individual car would react - but - for good old fashioned "proper" cars it works wonders....

What's the best way to apply it then? 1/2 a gallon in a full tank?

As to it running better I would imagine it will have cleaned out the exhaust and manifold of a large amount of soot etc. Anyone who has applied Redex through the manifold of a stationary engine and waited the required 10 mins will know what it looks like. It's like driving the Flying Scotsman down the road Very unnerving. I did it regularly on all my carb fed cars and never got used to it. There wasn't a time when i didn't think I'd killed the car it was that messy - and how I didn't get pulled by the nick was a stroke of luck. I Redex'd a car in the motorway services once. Drove it to the start of the sliproad and bottled out. if I'd got back on the motorway I'd have caused a pile up.

Peetee wrote:What's the best way to apply it then? 1/2 a gallon in a full tank?

That will work fine...

Please note I did not make a recomendation about adding diesel to petrol. I simply made an observation that it seems to have cleaned my engine somewhat.

I made a mistake and filled up with the wrong fuel I didn't do it on purpose. I'd hate anyone to have a problem and blame it on advice they got here.

If one was to put in 1/2 gallon of diesel (2 Litres in real money ), how much smoke would be expected, is a bit extra, or will be generating a smokescreen?

John

You'll get a bit extra - shouldn't be too excessive though....

bear in mind that using diesel can be terminal for a petrol engine....

bear in mind that using diesel can be terminal for a petrol engine....

How does that happen Ray?

How does that happen Ray?

I'm only aware second hand, so I'm not saying it's gospel... however the diesel won't burn correctly so 'can' make a sticky varnish substance on the bores/rings and valve guides
However if you use 95% diesel on a refill, you're not likely to get far enough to do any damage. I have no info about using a low % diesel or how much it takes to cause problems, but I have heard of people using it in 2 stroke petrols as well, so it may well work.
It's just that diesel in Petrol engines is generally considered very risky.

Much worse the other way round - although sometimes petrol is added to diesel in v cold weather to stop it waxing.
I suggest rather than add it to the tank - where there is no turning back - just dribble some into the carb while the engine is running at a fast idle. Best done out in the country I suspect - because there will be a smokescreen. In fact - water does a very similar job - and is best sucked in to the engine via the little dizzy vacuum pipe! Same idea - fast idle with hot engine - suck in 0.5 litre water - should clean up the engine quite nicely, and zero cost.

Guessing the catalytic converters on modern cars may not like that much ? (Just a guess)