Oops - I put DEF in fuel tank!

[jmgratz]

Just wanted to pass along some information we did not know. Last week
while traveling to a doctor's appointment I stopped to put some Diesel
fuel in my 2012 Ford F350 pickup. This truck requires periodic Diesel
Exhaust Fuel (DEF) which is added in a separate tank than the Diesel Fuel.
The DEF filler is next to the fuel filler and has a smaller blue cap.
Anyway like a dummy I accidentally put less than a pint in the Diesel
fuel tank. Thinking this was such a small amount it would be diluted so
it wouldn't hurt anything. Well, after I finished filling the Diesel and
DEF tanks we left. We drove less than 5 miles and the truck displayed
water in fuel. I drained it via the fuel filter petcock and continued.
After a couple of more miles the truck displayed the warning Reduced
Engine Power and the check engine light came on. I limped another 3 miles
to the Ford Dealer.

The Ford dealer checked out my truck and advised me the DEF is highly
corrosive to the fuel system and to repair the truck it would require
draining and flushing out the fuel tank and a fuel kit. The repair cost
would be about $7700.00. WOW! Allen the service manager informed me to
contact my auto insurance company as they sometimes cover this type of
repair. Who would of thought. We have full coverage on the truck so I
contacted Progressive Insurance, my carrier, and after they inspected the
truck and looked at the service records on the truck they agreed to pay
for the repair minus my deductible. This amounted to them paying about
$7500.00 and we paid our $245.00 deductible.

Just wanted to pass this along to everyone that,
1. putting DEF in the fuel tank is a very bad thing and if that happens do
not start the engine but have the vehicle towed to the repair shop and
have the tank drained and flushed.
2. Your car insurance may have a 'dummy' clause that covers you for things
you wouldn't think
3. Keeping the service records on your vehicle is very important. We have
always had our vehicle serviced at the Ford dealer and it was a simple
thing for them to provide records proving we had taken care of the truck

Take care and have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

 

[scottyb]

Re: oops, DEF in fuel tank

Sorry for having to go through this. I have heard of this issue and how devastating the consequences are. One of our sub contractors has had this happen several times and decided to get away from using diesel engines in their crew trucks, for this reason. When I was shopping for my last truck, I remember thinking that GM's location for their DEF filler was asinine, but maybe there's some validity to it. I still don't like their location of the tank itself.

 

[kakampers]

Re: oops, DEF in fuel tank

That's one of the reasons we decided on Chevy instead of the Ram...their filler is in the same spot. Chevy is under the hood...little harder to fill but no major mistake can be made! Sorry this had to happen to you Jim...

 

[jbeletti]

Re: oops, DEF in fuel tank

Wow Jim - what a boo-boo. Thank you for sharing your story. Sorry I missed your call the other day but got your message.

On my truck, my DEF filler is in a tool cabinet. Not very convenient for filling but after reading this, glad it's not close to my diesel filler.

$7700 to drain the tank and fuel system sounds REALLY high. I'm sure it's involved - but ouch!!

 

[jmgratz]

Re: oops, DEF in fuel tank

Wow Jim - what a boo-boo. Thank you for sharing your story. Sorry I missed your call the other day but got your message.

On my truck, my DEF filler is in a tool cabinet. Not very convenient for filling but after reading this, glad it's not close to my diesel filler.




$7700 to drain the tank and fuel system sounds REALLY high. I'm sure it's involved - but ouch!!

Seemed high to me at first but then I saw the parts list. It takes a fuel kit which is all the fuel lines and filters and all injectors, and draining and flushing the fuel tank as well as several sensors and computer resets. There was over $4500 in parts and then 2300 in labor. Funny thing is now I am getting better fuel mileage.

 

[jmgratz]

Re: oops, DEF in fuel tank

One other thing to note in my story is now the Good Sam Road Service refused to tow my RV from the Ford Dealer to a campground. They told me that since my RV was at a Ford Dealer that it was safe therefore did not need to be towed. I even explained to them it was not hooked up and the dealer's driveway was not a secure place to keep the RV. They still refused.

 

[danemayer]

Jim, I appreciate your sharing your experience.

Something else to consider:

On our 2014 RAM, the DEF and diesel fill points are next to each other, similar to the Ford. There's a spring-loaded plate that "seals" the diesel fill-tube opening when not pumping fuel in.

The truck came with a plastic stopper that fits the diesel fill tube above the spring-loaded plate. The stopper looked like a disposable item, but I decided to keep it. With stopper removed, it looked to me as though overfilling the DEF tank could spill some DEF into the top of the diesel fill tube. I've been very careful to secure the stopper when filling the tank and put it back into the fill tube when finished.

And of course when adding DEF, I double check that the stopper is in place.

 

[jdfishing]

Re: oops, DEF in fuel tank

Sorry for having to go through this. I have heard of this issue and how devastating the consequences are. One of our sub contractors has had this happen several times and decided to get away from using diesel engines in their crew trucks, for this reason. When I was shopping for my last truck, I remember thinking that GM's location for their DEF filler was asinine, but maybe there's some validity to it. I still don't like their location of the tank itself.

I agree with you on the location of the DEF tank on GM products. It not only looks stupid, it could become a real issue for a guy who really uses the 4x4 option. Bring that right front tire down off a rock a little too fast, and you will have a badly damaged DEF tank. This is an issue serious enough to drive me away from GM after 40+ years. I thought they would find another location for 2015, but guess not.

 

[kakampers]

Re: oops, DEF in fuel tank

I agree with you on the location of the DEF tank on GM products. It not only looks stupid, it could become a real issue for a guy who really uses the 4x4 option. Bring that right front tire down off a rock a little too fast, and you will have a badly damaged DEF tank. This is an issue serious enough to drive me away from GM after 40+ years. I thought they would find another location for 2015, but guess not.

Would rather risk replacement of the DEF tank than a $7,700 repair to the entire fuel system...JMHO....

 

[jnbhobe]

Not to point fingers and accidents happen, but you have to pay attention when fueling these trucks, don't let your attention be drawn away from the job at hand, very costly it could have got to the pump and added another 10K to the bill.

 

[61Hawks]

Re: oops, DEF in fuel tank

I'm also really shocked at the cost of repair and sorry you had to go through it. Just another reason I will keep my 2010 Ram.

 

[Westwind]

Re: oops, DEF in fuel tank

I usually go into serious recheck mod when traveling and filling the truck, I even had a station manager come out and check a pump before filling because the indicator on the pump didn't light up right and the pump didn't indicate gas or diesel - so I went in and made him check it and it was OK. His response was well you have a separate pump hose, my answer was "Maintenance" of your equipment.
I'm not crazy about the GMC DEF filler location but it will keep me out of trouble.

 

[sengli]

Re: oops, DEF in fuel tank

Wow, I am also shocked at the cost of the repair. I am also not liking the Good Sam response you got on the trailer towing.

 

[cookie]

Jon brought up a good point.
If all the fuel lines and injectors were replaced, why not the high pressure fuel pump.
It's what sent the fuel to the injectors on the first place.

Peace
Dave

Sent from my awesome Galaxy S5 using Tapatalk

 

[danemayer]

The high pressure fuel pumps don't do well with water. If it comes apart in another 10,000 miles because of this, you'll have another huge bill as the pump and everything downstream will have to be replaced. I'd get it done now. Your insurance will likely pay for it now, but not in the future.

 

[jmgratz]

Jon brought up a good point.
If all the fuel lines and injectors were replaced, why not the high pressure fuel pump.
It's what sent the fuel to the injectors on the first place.

Peace
Dave

Sent from my awesome Galaxy S5 using Tapatalk

The HP fuel pump was also replaced...everything in the fuel system is in the fuel kit.

 

[jnbhobe]

The HP fuel pump was also replaced...everything in the fuel system is in the fuel kit.

Wow, your price is less than half of earlier failures

 

[porthole]

Jim, I appreciate your sharing your experience.

Something else to consider:

On our 2014 RAM, the DEF and diesel fill points are next to each other, similar to the Ford. There's a spring-loaded plate that "seals" the diesel fill-tube opening when not pumping fuel in.

The truck came with a plastic stopper that fits the diesel fill tube above the spring-loaded plate. The stopper looked like a disposable item, but I decided to keep it. With stopper removed, it looked to me as though overfilling the DEF tank could spill some DEF into the top of the diesel fill tube. I've been very careful to secure the stopper when filling the tank and put it back into the fill tube when finished.

And of course when adding DEF, I double check that the stopper is in place.

???
Does the Ram not use a traditional filler cap?

Not to point fingers and accidents happen, but you have to pay attention when fueling these trucks, don't let your attention be drawn away from the job at hand, very costly it could have got to the pump and added another 10K to the bill.

Keep in mind, some fuel stations still have green covers on the nozzles that are not diesel pumps.

http://blog.goodsamclub.com/2014/06/green-gas-nozzle-handles/

If it comes apart in another 10,000 miles because of this, you'll have another huge bill as the pump and everything downstream will have to be replaced.

Correction, not everything downstream.
Everything in the fuel delivery system from the tank back to the tank, including the tank.

Wow, your price is less than half of earlier failures

Package pricing maybe ???
Offer a reduced cost kit which would encourage complete replacement and no shortcuts..

 

[scottyb]

Keep in mind, some fuel stations still have green covers on the nozzles that are not diesel pumps.

Guilty as charged. A local station had green handles on the gas nozzle and black on the diesel, on shared pump islands. The 1st time I did it was in my 93. It still had dual tanks and I caught it after only filling the 1st tank. I was able to drive off. The 2nd time was in my 2000 with only 1 tank. I was parked at the pump for hours on the hottest day ever recorded in Austin, 112 (Sep 2000). While I was sitting there a friend and I were siphoning the gas out into 5 gal cans, with little more than a straw, a guy on the other side of the island did the same thing. We also helped him. I complained to the store and they said "you should pay attention". However, a short time later, they changed the nozzles. I did see one other person do it in her Mercedes. I told her that she couldn't drive it off and she called a wrecker. Talking on the phone while fueling was usually the cause of my screwups.

 

[14f350]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune, but thankful your insurance company was willing to step up.

When I was waiting to take delivery of my truck, one of the service writers warned me of DEF in the fuel tank. At that time, they had 2 trucks in the shop awaiting new fuel systems. One was going to be covered by insurance and the other was not. He told me that the bill would be around $15,500 for the repair because the entire fuel system has to be replaced, including the fuel pump.

I hope that your repair lasts and that you don't end up with a fuel pump casualty down the road. As obvious as they try to make the 2 different fill points, I think there is room for improvement. I know I have stood at the pump on at least 3 different occasions verifying that I put the nozzle in the correct fill tube.

Who would have ever thought that we would one day be talking about exhaust fluid? I'm patiently waiting for the need to lube the muffler bearing next! LOL.