Oh! Oh! Serious mistake. Diesel fuel mix-up. What do I do?

[Seahunter]

My neighbor on the farm next door called me in a panic last night.
His '02 Adventure 550 ran out of gas.
He accidentally put about 1 gallon of diesel fuel into the tank.
He didn't realize the mistake until he started it. It ran very rough & smoked a lot.
He quickly added 3 gallons of high-test gasoline.
It started & ran OK but still smoked.
What should he do - just fill it up with Hi-Test & keep running or try to drain it all & start over?
Is there anything else to do - plugs, carb, etc. ?
It only ran for about 3 minutes on diesel.

 

[850Switchback]

I wouldn't sweat it, top it off with gas and run it. Diesel is harder to burn than gas so it won't pre-ignite for sure, just run smokey as you've already seen.
My buddy got a fill up of diesel & premium gas at a pump years ago in a high performance car when the delivery driver screwed up, he only noticed when it started smoking and running rough at idle several miles later. He drove close to 25 miles and only really figured out what happened when he got somewhere and it wouldn't restart.
He brought it to a high end shop, paid by the fuel carriers insurance, and all they did was pump out the bad gas, drop the tanks to clean it, and flush the fuel lines. They said this happens way more than you would think, still runs fine today and that was 15 years ago.

 

[Seahunter]

Thanks Switchback. I sure appreciate your advice.
In fact, as I had to use the sled, I pretty much did what you have suggested and, as you have suggested, I think all's well.
I added about 3 gallons of high test to the tank. It started & runs smoothly now, just smokey.
I drove it out to the cabin, about 2 miles, & back. It ran smoothly the whole way.
Another few of miles & another dump of high test & I'm sure the smoke will clear.
We had a good laugh. I don't think my neighbor will do that again!

 

[850Switchback]

Yeah you should be all set, just remind him about it every chance you get.
Now if it was gas in a diesel we'd be talking a whole different story due to all the precision components.