I know this a Ford diesel forum, but I'm sure some of you guys are knowledgeable on the other diesel engines as well. My question is what will happen to a 2004 Dodge 5.9 Cummins if you continued to run the engine with gasoline and/or sugar mixed with the diesel fuel long enough....like say a whole tank full. The reason I am asking is that I am an insurance adjuster with a client that is claiming his injectors are bad because someone put something in his diesel and he didn't know it, so he drove it until it started to run bad. So he dropped the tank and found something in the bottom of the tank. (THe fuel sample has been sent in to the lab, although I'm not sure the sample has not been tampered with). As an adjuster, I am always faced with people trying to pull a fast one trying to get insurance to pay for something that is not covered under the policy. The truck has 200,000 miles on it. I want to be fair with him and pay him if this can cause the damage, but I suspect these injectors are possibly bad from normal wear and he has put something in the fuel sample to make it look like vandalism. I'm not trying to get out of paying him, I just need to make sure I owe it first. Have any of you guys had this happen before, and if so, what were the results?

 

maybe you could send in the injectors and have them test it if it's worn out?As for the sugar thing i couldn't help.

 

I know a PSD bad things can happen asap I know personally of one 04 6.0 that got a full tank of gas and didn't make it 5 miles before it was dead.

 

the only experience i have with this was on a semi. truck died towed into shop, no fuel pressure. put on new fuel filters ran fine for awhile died again. cut open fuel filter filled with white crude, hard to explain. drained fuel tanks same thing in tanks, owner came in and said former employee had put sugar in tanks and he found out from another source. after cleaning tanks and new fuel filters truck ran fine. from my experience suger will only plug the fuel filter but anything is possible. i know gas will take out the injectors on a dodge, my friend let his girlfriend drive his truck, she filled it with gas. truck started missing and running rough, after replacing injectors, truck still had miss, pulled engine apart and found hole in one of the pistons. hope this helps you.

 

I was under the impression that sugar would just plug the filters, but gas could possibly do injector damage.

 

sugar i would drain and flush the system. Gas depends on how much gas to diesel fuel there is. a little gas shouldnt hurt it.

 

sugar does not dissolve in oil.
The only way granules of sugar would make it to the injectors is if the filters were pulled out. Sugar would kill the lift pump but not the injector pump or injectors.
If someone put gas in it, there will be gas in the sample. (people don't generally put gas in a diesel as a joke or prank)
I'm thinking the injectors are just worn. I've been seeing lots of cummins dodges lately with failing injectors, and they are pricey.

The thing to do next time is get a mechanic to look her over. 50-100$ well spent. He can inspect the filters etc and figure out what the story is.


What does do the trick is drain cleaner/ liquid plumber. I know some of you heard this story, but I had a slip tank full of fuel in my yard, and someone was stealing from it at night. Stole almost all of it, I added 2 liters of that draino to the last inch or two. Next morning buddy was having some issues making it down the lane in daddy's brand new white dodge with blue down the side by the filler cap. toast. that stuff eats right through rubber seals and plastic and destroys. ahahahahaha...

 

I don't know about sugar, but last year I had a friend with a repair shop. A guy brought in an '05 Dodge dually with the 5.9 that had to be towed in. 3/4 tank of gasoline took about 4 or 5 miles to destroy the injectors.

Diesel ignites under compression. Gasoline takes a spark or sufficient heat. So as the gasoline is passing through the injectors, it's starting to burn already, thus literally torching the insides of your injectors. Also, gasoline does not have the lubricating qualities of diesel (known as lubricity) which, when you have high-precision parts moving extremely fast thousands and thousands of times against one another, wear becomes highly accelerated. On a 5 mile trip at 60mph, that's 5 minutes of run time. At 2000rpm, that's 10,000 cycles of the injectors. Not many compared to the lifespan, but with minimal lubrication.... bad things happen.

Could he be on the up and up? Sure. My dad was in insurance for 30 years and worked with adjusters plenty, as in, hands on, helping to bust people at times. Always a tough call. Good luck with it.

Should we call in Eugene....?

 

Thanks for the help guys. Sounds like gas will kill the injectors. Now the question is if a vandal put the gas in(covered under comprehensive of the policy), or the vehicle owner put gas in the sample to make it look like vandalism to get me to pay for worn out injectors(not covered under the policy, and is insurance fraud). I'm not saying I think the latter, but I just want to get it right.

 

What is the life expectancy of a set of injectors in an 04 5.9 Cummins if good fuel and good filters are always used and nothing bad is ever introduced into the fuel system?

 

Is it safe to say these injectors can go 250,000 miles or more?

 

SUBSCRIBING

 

Yes, they should be able to.

 

01 excursion morris,

Instead of posting a "nothing" post, why not just go to the very top of the postings, in a blue bar find "Thread Tools", click on it and then click on "Subscribe to This Thread" in the drop-down menu?

Easier for you, easier than all the rest of us looking past do-nothing posts.

Just an FYI.

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