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Wife put E-85 in her Liberty CRD
After two (2) years of no mistakes with our Diesel my wife put E-85 in it this evening. It quit after she drove about a 1/2 mile from the Gas Station. She did not know what she did until I came to the rescue and smelled alcohol when I drained what I thought was "Water" from the Filter/Water Separator. A quick check of the receipt confirmed she bought E-85 instead of Diesel! Tomorrow, I plan to have it towed home so I can empty the fuel tank and put fresh diesel fuel back into it, and purge the remainder of the E-85 out thru the water separator/bleeder. Does anyone have any experience with this problem? What are my chances for minimal or no damage? What else should I do and/or look for before I start it up with fresh diesel? Would it be a good idea to change the oil before I try to run it? I'm hoping that since it shut down quickly when nearly pure E-85 got through the fuel system that there was no engine damage or very little. Thanks in advance for quick responses.
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tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper
tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper
We had the Liberty towed home today. After work I stopped by Autozone and picked up a few supplies and started the job at about 6:30 p.m. Disconnected the battery first.
Couldn't get the siphon pump hose into the tank from the filler spout so I disconnected the fuel line at the filter housing inlet and hooked the siphon pump to the line that comes from the fuel tank. I pumped out all the E-85 out, added about a gallon of diesel and pumped that out. Then jumped on the trailer hitch while my son pumped out whatever would come out. When I banged on the bottom of the fuel tank it sounded pretty empty to me.
I split the 9 gallons of siphoned out Diesel laced E-85 between my other 3 cars then topped off the tanks with fresh gas. All are running fine with the very diluted multi-fuel mix.
I disconnected the outlet hose from the fuel filter, then disconnected the wiring for the Water In Filter Sensor (WIF). After pulling the hoses and wiring away I was able to put a stap-wrench around the filter housing and loosen it. I jacked up the front end, put it on jack stands and finished removing the filter from underneath. Had to be careful not to spill any fuel since it was still full.
Took the WIF sensor out of the old filter and put it in the new filter. Filled the new filter with fresh diesel fuel with an additive, wet the gasket with same and spun the new filter on. Tightened it with the strap wrench. Reconnected the WIF sensor wiring.
Put nearly ten (10) gallons of fresh diesel fuel in the tank along with a healthy dose of a good additive. Siphoned some fresh fuel thru the line and into a can to make sure it was flushed out good. Put the hoses back on the filter inlet and outlet.
Opened the bleeder, attached a clear hose to a jar (like bleeding brakes) and pumped the primer until diesel fuel was coming thru the clear hose with no air bubbles. Shut the bleeder, removed the clear hose, and pumped up the primer until it was firm.
Cranked the engine a bit, pumped the primer again (crank-pump, crank-pump several times) and then it fired up, grumbled a bit and smoothed out quickly. Checked for leaks from top and bottom and found none. Drove to Speedway, filled it up with Diesel and went for a test drive.
Checked for leaks again from top and bottom, found none. Tomorrow I will change the oil and check everything out again, plus go for a longer test drive.
I feel lucky that there appears to be no damage to the engine from the E-85 experienceh and hope that someone finds this helpful.
tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper
I think you did everything right except for one minor thing that doesn't matter if your CRD is running okay now. As a general rule unfiltered diesel fuel should never be poured into the fuel filter. The filter should be put on empty and fuel drawn through it. There are instances on tdiclub.com where raw diesel fuel was poured into fuel filters and the injectors were clogged by something in the fuel.
Thanks for the detail. I hope you didn't get too upset with the wife. I got a little upset with my wife once because she locked herself out of the house and I had to leave work on a busy day. Then, about a month later, I did the same thing - pretty embarrassing.