A few fuel related observations

[impalator]

Given my latest bout of excitement with the Delica (regular unleaded vs. diesel in the tank) I was able to make a few observations that I thought I'd share with the rest of the Delica community (however unimportant these observations may be )

- The fuel tank capacity for an auto-tranny L300 is quoted at around 65 Liters
- In reality, a completely drained out system (fuel line empty, tanks purged, fuel filter empty) holds almost 82 Liters.

I drained all the mixed Diesel/Gas fuel out of the system due to the accidental fill-up with gasoline, disconnected and emptied the fuel lines, installed a new fuel filter and then put 40 Liters of Diesel in and primed the system up to then start the vehicle.

Then I drove 4.5 Kilometers to the next Petro-Canada where I filled another 42 Liters of Diesel. This amounts to 82 Liters (minus 4.5 Kilometers driven) of diesel that our automatic L300's can hold. Not that I will keep driving with the yellow "empty" light on, but clearly, after burning through 65 Liters of Diesel, there is still approximately 15-17 Liters in the tank.

I figured if the fuel line holds 1 Liter and the Fuel filter holds maybe half that, the tanks are indeed a bit larger than quoted in the manual...

Another thing that I noted with satisfaction is the fact that our vehicles are particularly friendly to work on when it comes to fiddling with the fuel system. I am not aware of too many other vehicles that conveniently have drain-plugs on their tanks. I was talking to my brother in law who had to drop the tank right out of a Dodge Cummins Diesel Truck to empty an accidental gas-fill-up on their way back from a hunting trip from Chetwynd... (this was done in the middle of the night, on the side of the road with flash light illumination...) - I bet they would have been a bit happier if they had had the opportunity to simply open up a drain plug on the bottom of the tank...

The other thing that is a very pleasant convenience is the fact that one can prime/pump fuel up from the tank to the filter, by simply pumping by hand on the fuel filter housing... imagine if the engine had to suck up all the diesel by use of the regular (mechanical) fuel pump... so much easier and quicker to get the show back on the road...

These are just little things - but if you do have a problem with an accidental gas-instead-of-diesel-fill-up, you certainly come to appreciate these nice features...

Nevertheless hope that nobody will have to deal with fuel mix-ups... I (and my wife) file this under the "lessons learned" category...

Cheers,
Chris

[92pajero]

Sounds like you had a hassle. With that, the feul tank is designed to hold 65l the feul lines (3 of them) will hold approx 1-1.5l and the filters depending on which setup will hold 1-2.5l for a total of 69l max. I like other people fill my pajero to the brim when I find cheaper feul and have noticed that it holds more than the manual stated 90l when she is pretty dry. So this means the manual is wrong or the manual is correct in stating the capacity of the tank is what is stated. I tend to believe the manual due to the fact that 65l or 90l is the capacity when filled to their level, and if people want you can overfill your tank with out leakin but remember the 10% rule for feul expansion and if you overfill and it gets warmout you may be leaving a puddle of money on the ground. So when the pump kicks out the 2nd time when filling your vehicle just round up to the next dollar and save any needless mess.

kelly

[thedjjack]

how does one depose of 65+L of gas/diesel?

[Profister]

- The fuel tank capacity for an auto-tranny L300 is quoted at around 65 Liters

As far as I remember the specs the actual number is 75. The fact that you managed to put 82 in tells me that the pumps were not as accurate as you might think. Plus the lines etc. of course.

[impalator]

Pretty sure that the fuel-pump is reasonably accuracte... As I couldn't move the Van to the gas station before purging and draining the system I did fill a 40 Liter Cherry-Can (40L as per imprint on the can) with 40 Liters of Diesel (40 Liters as per quantity stated on the pump) and the cherry-can was full to the brim.

And I pumped the remaining 42 Liters Diesel at the same pump at the same gas station (Petro Canada in 100 Mile House) once I had the unit running again... the gas station approximately 5km's away from where I was and I had the van running idle for about 10 Minutes once it started - I don't think I could have burnt more than 1 Liter in that process.

I feel pretty confident that I put 82 Liters in - where it went (aside from fuel hose, fuel filter, pump and injectors) I don't know - but I tightened all the bolts and plugs and it doesn't appear to be leaking...

Cheers,
Chris

[jessef]

- The fuel tank capacity for an auto-tranny L300 is quoted at around 65 Liters

As far as I remember the specs the actual number is 75. The fact that you managed to put 82 in tells me that the pumps were not as accurate as you might think. Plus the lines etc. of course.

75 litres
completely drained you can fit it 79.5 litres before purging the system. I did that when I had the tanks re-lined.

[impalator]

As to the use of the gas/diesel mix (almost exactly 60 Liters): Some of it (in VERY small increments) will be mixed into regular gas for lawn-mower, lawn tractor and quad (4 strokes), some of it will go (also in small portions) into 50:1 gas for chainsaw, trimmer, blower (2 strokes) and some of it will possibly be used to help burn a bunch of stumps and roots from some trees that got cut and pulled on the property. Although the majority of this gas/diesel mixture is regular gas (65:35 ratio) it cannot be used for regular gas engines without being diluted significantly - the regular 4 stroke gas engine will smoke and run poorly and stall if it's used undiluted.

[thedjjack]

DO not run it in anything that has a Cat Converter on it as it will plug it.

Cheers

[shealy]

[quote="thedjjack"]how does one depose of 65+L of gas/diesel?[/quote]

I was wondering the same thing. Probably not usable as fuel anymore as it's a mix....

[FalcoColumbarius]

Canadian Tire takes it, for one.

Falco.

P.S.: I didn't understand "depose" the first time. I thought maybe there was a coup d'etat in the fuel tank, which when you think about it ~ the gasoline had to go.....

I suppose one could use the diesel/petrol mix as a cleaner of greasy engine parts.
Perhaps pour it off into litre containers and sell it to all your engine tinkering friends