Is it possible to put diesel into petrol car.... or vice-versa

I know that most of you people might be thinking that what will happen if I fill my vehicle with wrong fuel... Or since Diesel is much cheaper than Petrol, why don't I fill my petrol vehicle with Diesel, it will be profitable right. Wait! do you know what will be the consequences by doing so..
You will be surprised to know that more than 50,000 people do this every year. So what will happen if you put wrong type of fuel in your car..

Basic things you need to know about the fuels.

      1  - Flash Point

So what actually is flash point? Flash point is lowest temperature at which the vapors of the fuel will ignite when given an ignition source. To know in more depth about flash point click the link below.

Flash point-wiki

Basically more volatile liquid would have the low flash point. Since Petrol is more volatile than Diesel. Petrol will catch fire more rapidly than Diesel.

        Petrol    :-    −43 °C (−45 °F)  

       Diesel   :-     >52 °C (126 °F) 

        2  -  Autoignition temperature

Autoignition temperature is the temperature at which the vapor ignites spontaneously without ignition source. The reason why I made the ignition source bold is because that's the main difference between the Flash point and Autoignition temperature of fuel.

Petrol       :-      280 °C

Diesel       :-      210 - 230 °C

Since the Gasoline( petrol) has a larger auto ignition or self ignition temperature than the Diesel, the Petrol engine requires a external Ignition source that is spark plug whereas Diesel requires Injectors.

Putting Diesel in Petrol Car.

1.  What will happen?

This is not so common because the Diesel Nozzle is generally more bigger than the Petrol nozzle. Diesel is more denser than petrol. When Diesel is put into petrol car, the Diesel doesn't evaporate like Petrol does, hence there will not be any spark. If at all your vehicle gets started it may because the of petrol left in the tank, and eventually the engine will cutoff after running upto two- three kilometres. 

     2.  Damages it may cause.

Luckily if you got the idea of what you did "do not start the Engine". If at all you ended up in starting the engine, then the Diesel will clog the spark plug and the fuel systems, which will lead to the misfire, and the black fumes coming out of the exhaust system. This will damage some serious components of the Engine.

     3.   What to do.

First thing to do is, keep the key far away from the Ignition system(Do not switch on the vehicle). Second, call the mechanic as soon as possible. Or drain all the fuel in the tank and fill up with the Petrol. Don't forget to clean all the parts of fuel systems like fuel pipes, injectors, Spark plugs etc. Easiest way is to call the mechanic and he will do all required necessary things.

Putting Petrol in Diesel car.  

     1. What will happen.

This happens more often because the diesel nozzle has bigger as said above the petrol nozzle can easily get into the diesel fuel tank. The engine gets louder under load, the exhaust will get more smoky when driving and the vehicle may not get started.

What happens is, the Diesel has a lesser auto or self ignition temperature than that of petrol. Thus petrol needs an external source to get ignited whereas Diesel has injectors. So the compression made in the engine will not be enough to ignite the Petrol, hence the engine will not get started.

     2.  Damages it may cause.

When petrol is poured into the Diesel engine the lubrication of the engine decreases, which eventually lead to the rubbing of the metal components. These metals components will get circulated with the fuel to the engine system due to which some major parts of the engine will get effected.

     3.   What to do.

When such types of mistake happens it's always better to switch off the vehicle and call the mechanic. He will do the necessary things needed. Basically every engine components needs to be cleaned, the fuels is to be drained out and fill it with diesel.  

 

Image sources.

www.pixabay.com

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