Yes, you read that correctly. One of the older grand kids had been coming around lately and I've been letting him toy with the Hoe. It was low on fuel so he decided to put some in from my 5-gallon diesel can. I think he got about a gallon in before I stopped him. It is the off-road diesel (red stuff) if that makes a difference. What kind of damage am i looking at and should I drain the system? Thanks for your advice
If you didn't operate it after you caught what was going on I would just change out the fluid in the tank. I wouldn't risk leaving it. I don't think it will separate like oil and water.
I am with NH575E. Drain and refill tank. Will not cost that much, and may save ripping off cylinders or a pump. If it already ran, I am not sure what I would do?? Probably at least dump the tank in that situation too. Bleeding out all of the system is a chore.
Diesel is oil based, so it will mix with your hydraulic oil. If you are talking about 1 gallon diesel to 15 + gallons of hydraulic oil......it will just thin it a bit. I've seen this done 1000 times and it is usually a small amount. It's a judgement call in each situation. You won't lose much lubricity if the mixture is small. How much of a gambling man are you?
It really won’t hurt anything at that mix ratio . Probably just drain the tank and refill with new , call it a service.
I'm in the drain and refill camp as well.
Please clarify the above statement. #1: Did he put diesel in the fuel tank? #2: Was there hydraulic oil in the diesel can? #3: Did he add diesel to the hydraulic tank? Your title leads me to believe that the situation is #3. If so, you can just drain the tank. But the diesel isn't going to harm your hyd system. It won't detonate from the pressure, because there isn't (well, shouldn't) be any air (oxygen) in your hyd system. If you drain your tank, you can add the drained fluid (keep it clean) back to the fuel tank and your machine will not know the difference. Add it in 10 parts fuel to 1 part of the drained fluid. This keeps trips to the oil recycler to a minimum. The diesel will run on anything that has a flash point of less than 5,000º F.
If it were my machine I would drain and refill. Call it a service like Mb said and log it in the maintenance book.
Tell your Grandkid to not feel bad. I have experienced fuel truck drivers that do that same thing.
I actually saw a dump truck driver fill the hydraulic tank with diesel when the bed was up. He let it down, and there was a river of fuel/oil all over the lot...was like 30 years ago, so prolly wasn't a big deal. Today, clean harbors and a dumpster easy 50k.
Wouldn't be a big deal if it were on my lot.. Just keeps the dust down.
Looks like ya got 20 gallons of fire starter now! Drain the tank and move on. I rather have diesel fuel in the hydraulic tank than water like I had for 2 years.
At least it wasn't DEF! That'd be an expensive bill!
Back in 2009 I arrived in an exploration camp, to swap out another geologist for time off. Saw two large enviro tanks…somehow managed to fill my 1998 Dodge diesel with at least half a tank worth of gasoline! The next day had to drive 12 km out to the drill site, truck sputtering, low on power real bad! Oops, realized my mistake. Drained as much gasoline as possible & re filled with diesel.
You are correct and yes, there was a full load of -to the site glass - hydraulic in the hydraulic tank. Thanks for the info and advice.
There is a story about some oil company filling the cow in front of Ben&Jerry’s ice cream plant with heating fuel, thinking the cow was the oil tank. In defense, it did have a cap on it and a whistle as it was built out of an old 275 gallon oil tank, unfortunately it had drain holes. I remember the time, I changed my father’s oil, except I drained the tranny. Thought he would be so proud of me, I was 11.