'85 Toyota 2.4 Diesel got petrol mixed into the diesel fuel

I ran the truck about five miles after screwing up the fueling (regular fuel stop, they changed the system, I wasn't paying attention and didn't realize 'til several days later that I'd put gasoline in the tank). Didn't miss a lick all the way home. This was on a Wednesday.

I shut the truck off in the yard and started it about 25 minutes later to park it. Cranked at least 30 seconds before it picked up fuel (when this engine is warm, it doesn't make a full turn before it's running). When it started, it ran smoothly at idle but started missing and blowing blue smoke around 1400 - 1600 revs. Also wasn't happy about accelerating. I didn't have time to fool with it (son and grandkid came in from Japan on Thursday) so I walked away.

On the Friday came the snow. I cranked as much as I thought safe before it caught, and when it  did it would idle, but wouldn't pick up speed. I shut it off and plowed around it.

On Sunday I had a roll-off flatbed truck it to the shop, where one of the resident geniuses said "Sounds to me like you put gas in it". Wait a minute, I been fueling diesel powered vehicles for 60 years and I put GAS in it? Yup, a couple of non-smokers with good sniffers said they smelled gas, and when I dug out the credit card receipt in black on white it says 8.9 gallons unleaded regular, so there's me lookin' like an idiot.

Siphoned out about 13 gallons, which figuring about five gallons of diesel in the tank when I fueled it made a fairly stiff mix of petrol to diesel. I rigged a two gallon plastic jug of diesel above the filter level on the firewall and filled a new filter through the filter inlet line. I cracked the banjo at the pump inlet and got clean fuel there, but also got fuel trickling out of the diaphragm on top of the pump, which I've never seen before. I could not reach the air plug on the pump body, so I cracked a line at #1 injector. When I cranked, it fired right up but wouldn't run any better. When I put ten gallons of diesel into it and hooked back up to the fuel tank, it would run but not real well, and died when I tried to accelerate. I managed to get it out of the garage and into the equipment line and it's going to sit until the weather warms up (headed for below zero for a while).

There were never very many of these 2.4 diesel pickups around here, and this is one of the few left, so no one in the neighborhood knows much about them. I've got the shop book on the thing, but it doesn't say anything that I need to know about the pump. I reckon that maybe there might have been more of them kicking around Oz and therefore more of a knowledge base there. Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers all,

Mark

I'd pull the injectors out & get them tested, As I think that the petrol would burn out the Nozzles in the Tips of the injectors.
If it's a Hilux There were heaps of them here with a 2.4 Motor..

I think its likely that somewhere in the fuel system there was a weak join that was held together with some combination of grease, wax or rust, and the petrol (gas) flowing through the system washed that away leaving you with one or more leaky joins. You could try pressurising the system (e.g. hook an airline in somewhere) and see is you can detect any leaks that way.

That sucks a bit... It's a VE (or made under licence) pump? They're not too hard to replace bits on I here. It's not a huge help but if you decide need a replacement pump or injectors and are struggling in the US I'm happy to help find/ship one

hayseed wrote: If it's a Hilux There were heaps of them here with a 2.4 Motor..

He's in the US, I don't think there were heaps of them there...

Skippy...
I did exactly the same thing to my old troopy with the 2H diesel donk.
We were about 30 Ks from home at the time & it stopped a few times
with general lack of power...I would bleed the fuel system & away it
would go ,half heartedly, for a while,,finally getting home.
When the penny dropped & I realised that a fair amount of petrol had gone
into the tank..(probably about 80 % of the tank content)
This is what I found....................
The petrol had softened the tar content that accumulates in the tank over
the years , totally blocking the filter & dragging air into the system via the
seal in the back of the lift pump.
The fix was to remove the fuel tank & pressure blast the inside of the tank
(to remove as much tar as possible)
through any hole you could find ,ie..filler pipe...fuel gauge hole...any bungs
you could remove.....then dry the tank as best as possible....then shove
a bottle of metho into it an give it a good shake..this will absorb any water
left in the tank..
Blow the fuel lines through with compressed air then fit a new filter(s)
I took my lift pump to a diesel place to have a new rear seal fitted( purely
because it was a finicky sort of seal).
You mentioned about fuel leaking from the diaphragm....it might have a hole in
it requiring a lift pump kit fitment as it could be sucking air.
I threw it all back together,& did another 200,000Ks without any trouble..
Didn't touch the injectors or the injector pump.
the old fuel systems could stand a hellava hiding & come out of it smellin
like a rose.....not like to days high pressure gismos.
PS , carry a spare fuel filter in case it still blocks up in future.
If it is an old inline injector pump with an air bleed screw,,,,you MUST.
crack that screw & actuate the lift pump till all air is gone.
hope that may be of some help.
......................Billy.......................

Thanks to all for the quick replies!

Seed, I don't think I've cooked the injectors 'cause when it does idle (which it will do smoothly for a few seconds at a time) it sounds fine. It only ran for a total of 15 minutes or so on the petrol mix, so I have high hopes for the pump too. I think Toyota called this a Hilux everywhere else in the world, but it's the same engine.

Scout, I think you're on the right track re: sucking air somewhere. When I get her back into the shop, I was going to rig an electric fuel pump back at the tank and see what results, but I suppose I can rig a regulator down to five pounds or so and give the filler pipe a quick blast, might be a quicker check. I already aired the tank with the line unhooked at the filter after I put the clean diesel in and got a good pint of clean fuel, no obvious leaks at tank or line, but I might find something with the lines all connected.

This engine has a Nippon Denso pump, Wedge, it's a rotary swashplate type, used to be under license from Bosch back in the day, I think. If I can't find what I need in the states, believe me, I will gladly take you up on that offer.

Billy, I think I'm going to get away without the tank cleaning. As above, I got clean fuel and no restriction at the filter inlet and I put a fresh filter on it. A few years back I put Synflex feed and return lines on the truck and abandoned the steel lines, haven't had any trouble since. I just wish I knew what that vacuum diaphragm does. If anyone has a link to a book on these pumps, I'd appreciate it.

Right now we've got a Freightliner log truck in the garage getting a twisted tag axle replaced. As soon as that's shifted, next week some time, the little Toyota comes back in and with all this good advice will soon go back to work. It's only got 250k (miles) on and I need at least that much again.

Anybody got more ideas, speak right up!

Thanks again,

Mark

Skipjack, ive had a little bit to do with the 2.4's, the lift pump on the filter housing does fail and suck air/ restrict fuel, ive gotten away with bypassing the filter twice now to get two different cars home (got em cheap coz they wouldnt run.)
The rotary injector pump will self bleed if its not sucking air anywhere else it shouldnt.

good little underpowered ute!

That's something I'll check. When I jury-rigged my plastic can of diesel to feed the filter before I siphoned the petrol out of the tank, the fuel ran into the filter and down to the pump inlet. After I hooked the tank back up, I didn't have any luck pulling fuel from the tank or pushing it to the pump (about 500 strokes on the filter pump), so that could have failed.

Thanks for the tip,

Mark