Yep, I did that.

Long story short, went to fill up with diesel and DEF, the station I pulled into had bulk DEF out of the pump, normally I use box DEF, was on the phone not paying attention and slapped that bad boy right into the diesel tank. Put about 2-3 gallons in before realizing my mistake, bad thing is, I left the truck running while pumping it. Truck almost immediately threw an error saying water in fuel and shut down. Pushed it to a parking spot and now it's at the dealer.

How bad is this one going to hurt? Vehicle is a 2020 Chevy 1500 with the 3.0L Duramax, which I have loved every bit of. Have 43k miles on it and never have been this bone headed before.

Hard to say without knowing how much damage it did. There is a good chance that the dealer is going to recommend a full fuel system replacement. Wide range but $12-15k is my guess. See if you can get insurance involved.

May have luck taking it to a diesel specialist vs dealer.

Sorry that happened, OP. I have no advice to offer, just letting you know that I've been a bonehead plenty of times myself. Car-wise the dumbest thing I've done is try to torque water pump bolts to 70 ft-lb intead of INCH-lb which snapped a few of of them into the engine block, and seemed to have stripped the threads in the block as well.

So.... yeah. Good luck.

TecRecAg said:

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Hard to say without knowing how much damage it did. There is a good chance that the dealer is going to recommend a full fuel system replacement. Wide range but $12-15k is my guess. See if you can get insurance involved.

May have luck taking it to a diesel specialist vs dealer.

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I was thinking about the insurance route and wasn't sure what would be covered etc.. Guess I wouldn't know until I asked them. Once the dealer gets back to me I will get insurance involved. Thanks for the suggestion.

"i made a mistake by accident and ruined my truck" don't tell them you were on the phone

$10k min

You should have several filters to help stop this. I'd stay in the optimistic side of things for now. Truck may have shut down before anything terrible happened.

Yikes...DEF is heavier than diesel so it it didn't take long to make its way into the fuel system, your water separator was able to help some, but not 2-3 gallons worth. I guess it just depends on how quickly your truck was able to shut down. Best case scenario I think you're looking at $10K, worst case is they'll be towing it to the junkyard.

File a claim on your insurance. Some companies have exclusions for misfueling but not all. I have a friend that did this earlier this year and Germania covered it

Insurance should cover as a comprehensive claim, a saying in the insurance industry is "they insure stupidity and ignorance as well as accidents."

They don't make them like they used to.

I have hydrolocked my ford diesel tractor. Replaced the fuel in the tank and the filter, popped out the glow plugs, turned it over a few times to blast the water out of the heads and clear the injectors, and fired it right up.

Appreciate all the feedback, I feel horrible, have had the truck 2 years and never been so dumb!

I'll work to get insurance involved shortly and see what the dealer has to say. Just got a set of brand new damn tires also three weeks ago!

User name checks out.

Had this happen at work (not me). $18k about 6 weeks ago.

Update here. DEF got into the motor and injectors. $17k to fix all in. Luckily my insurance will cover. Still feel like an idiot.

Now just hope they can get a motor for it. The Duramax is in short supply. Insurance might go used

$Bill said:

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Update here. DEF got into the motor and injectors. $17k to fix all in. Luckily my insurance will cover. Still feel like an idiot.

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Ok. Time to be pessimistic. Sorry that happened. Glad insurance is taking care of it.

I know someone that put gas in his diesel truck. Idling while fueling. His insurance took care of the bill to replace the major parts of the fuel system. When I did it I drained the tank through the water separator while it was running. Put a fresh tank of diesel in and drove it. Mine was a 13 ram.

If DEF is not the dumbest thing this useless government mandates, it's easily in the top 5.

$17k? Wow

Damn

That's insanely expensive. Probably knew the insurance would cover it. Can always delete the def system.

I want a side by side environment savings of creating a cardboard box, plastic container and the energy spent to create DEF v old diesel motors polluting the earth?

Are we actually coming out of ahead here?

Somebody is coming out ahead. The environment...meh.

rebelag62 said:

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That's insanely expensive. Probably knew the insurance would cover it. Can always delete the def system.

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No, you really can't anymore. Some out of country companies still sell kits but they are levying heavy fines on any shops caught installing them.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a41104777/epa-hits-two-more-diesel-tuners-with-dollar10-million-fine-for-defeat-devices/

Drain tank. Refill with diesel. Change all the filters and separators, drive the dog **** out of it.

Also, I feel like "We gotta replace the injectors" is standard money making policy anytime a truck goes in for something like this. I think it's bull***** I can't believe modern diesels are so fragile.

TexDill15 said:

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I want a side by side environment savings of creating a cardboard box, plastic container and the energy spent to create DEF v old diesel motors polluting the earth?

Are we actually coming out of ahead here?

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Absolutely not.

KaneIsAble said:

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(not me).

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Suuuuuuuure…..

Dang. Just gotta know a guy I guess. Probably harder on the newer ones too.

Being without a truck has me looking at new trucks. Holy hell, these half tons are expensive right now!

Contacted a ford dealer as the price said contact for availability on a F150 Lariat and they said $81k. Lolol, told them they were higher than giraffes you know what.

Houses and trucks bout to get cheap.

BrazosDog02 said:

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Houses and trucks bout to get cheap.

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*for cash buyers

BrazosDog02 said:

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Houses and trucks bout to get cheap.

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They're the cheapest they're going to get right now. Entitlement programs and largesse aren't going anywhere for the next 2 years and this administration will keep inflation going strong.

I did the exact same thing! The dealership tried flushing the system, but that only lasted for a few months. Ended up replacing the fuel system.

BrazosDog02 said:

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Houses and trucks bout to get cheap.

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Demand may drop, but material costs are going to continue upward. It may reduce or eliminate ADMs, but cars and houses are going to continue to increase with inflation.