can a diesel engine run on petrol?

[Fanus]

Can a diesel engine run on petrol?

[fo3nix]

No.

[colin_j_84]

I once had a diesel Modeo Estate. The tank was nearly empty and i went to the petrol station to fill it full. I was �15-�20 up filling up when i realised it was petrol not diesel!!!!
After about 20mins panicking what i was going to do as it was a company car...i then filled the rest of the tank with diesel on top of the unleaded petrol and i never had a bit of bother. the car ran fine after that....

[BigDogsWang]

Diesel Engines work because the mixture of fuel and air 'explodes' rather than 'ignites'. Petrol needs a 'spark' to ignite it. Diesel fuel just needs to be 'squeezed' before it self combusts.

[BigDogsWang]

Sorry, meant to add....

A Diesel engine can run on a mixture of petrol AND diesel but it will evetually cause problems. However, a petrol engine CANNOT run on diesel, be it neat or mixed with petrol.

[fo3nix]

I should have added exactly what BigDog says.

It's possible, but not a good idea (and as far as I know, not without it mostly being diesel anyway to carry the petrol through).

[lajohn]

I always wondered what was the answer to this question. Thanks.

[scaniavabis]

I assume this question has appeared due to the high cost of diesel cmpared to petrol. It used to be perfectly ok to run diesels with anything up to 10% petrol but more than that and you'll start to burn valve seats and the like.

Up till about 15 or 20 years ago it was regular practice to put petrol in diesel engines at a 10% ratio to stop diesel waxing in the severe cold of winter. Nowadays diesel has winter addatives that remove the need for this.